I’ve spent a lot of time nursing over the last five years, and in a few months time, I will be right back at it again when our newest bundle arrives in the spring. I knew that I wanted to try to breastfeed before we were even expecting our firstborn, and as luck would have it, from the very beginning I was blessed with the ability to do so. I say “blessed” because I know that nursing doesn’t always come easy to women, and that the journey isn’t always a pleasant one. For me it was never really hard. All of my kids (so far) took to nursing immediately. From the moment that each of them was born, they latched on like pros, and continued to do so for a year and beyond. I never struggled with supply issues, or inverted nipples, or latch problems… however, I did serve as a human pacifier, and I managed to give birth to a couple of kids who outright refused bottles, which basically made me their milk maid for the first year or so of their lives. Thankfully I have been able to work from from home/stay at home, so the bottle struggle never became a major issue, despite the fact, that because I was “the” food source, I couldn’t go very far even if I wanted to. I’d like to think that with all of this time that I have spent nursing my babies, that I have learned a few things along the way. It goes without saying that I am continuing to learn as I go, but I thought that it might be helpful to a mama or two out there, to share some of the knowledge that I have gained throughout the years.
- There are at least two children with food allergies in every Kindergarten classroom. (FARE)
- Over 1 million children in the U.S. have type 1 diabetes. (American Diabetes Association)
- The rate of obesity doubles as children grow from toddlers to teens. (CDC)
- 9.6 million under the age of 18 have eczema, of this total, 3.2 million (33%) have moderate to severe cases. (National Eczema Org).
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A good nursing bra is everything
I would love to recommend a specific miracle nursing bra, but we’re all different sizes and shapes, and we all like different things. The best advice that I can offer, is to find a nursing bra that suits your needs, and that you love, and invest in a few. Being comfortable is worth its weight in gold.
Give yourself a pat on the back, you deserve it
Here’s the thing, being a mom is hard, and nursing is no easy task either. It requires time, patience, and taking care of yourself, along with taking care of your baby. I think that sometimes we don’t give ourselves enough credit for all that we try to do on a daily basis. If you’re working hard to feed your child on top of everything else, you deserve a pat on the back!
I hope that if you are just starting out on your nursing journey, about to embark on one, or are right smack in the middle of it, that you found some of these tips helpful!
I was blessed like you robot have any issues with nursing my daughter is 4 months and we’ve been EBF since she was born. I’ve really enjoyed the journey So much so I don’t know if I’ll be ready to stop after 1 year. How long did you nurse your first? Thanks for sharing I enjoyed the read !
I nursed until about 14-15 months with each of my kids, and really only stopped because we were ready to have more babies and never had luck while I was nursing. As soon as I stopped each time, I was pregnant again within just a month or two!😊
Probiotics! I am so grateful to have been able to obtain some (by lovebug, i want to get Evivo next for the potential strain variety, trying as many brands possible is ideal for probiotic foods and supplements) for my newborn. The first few months of life are especially important for developing a gut biome, and almost all of us are super deficient in a varied population. That’s 80% of our immune system, and those friendly bacteria keep bad ones in check–they can instantly cure bacterial food poisoning (try raw milk or miso) and promote health in all areas since it’s our gut bacteria that breakdown food into usable nutrients we can absorb. They even make some neurotransmitters..the gut is known as the second brain, and to be more correct, it is the first brain. Cannot recommend probiotic foods enough, try to get as much of a variety of fermented and cultured foods and probiotic strains as you can, especially after a period of dosing antibiotics. The whole reason we even have an appendix is to store a backup culture in the event of a defensive GI flushing when eliminating harmful bacteria (food poisoning runs) to quickly repopulate and bounce back. There is even a legit medical procedure of repopulating the gut flora with a fecal suppository from a poop donor to save lives, because it’s possible to have a morbidly low probiotic count. RAD!