After reading some horror stories about how tough breast feeding is for many new moms, I must admit, the idea of breast feeding, whenever, and if ever, I decide to have little ones of my own, isn’t exactly appealing to me except for the fact that I know I’m doing statistically the most healthy thing I can do for them when it comes to development and bonding. 

I just read an article about how new moms often think that breast feeding is going to be a piece of cake, and then after a few months of constant pumping, breast pain, and difficulty getting the infant to take the breast, they give up often after about three months and go to bottle feeding or a combination of bottle feeding and breast feeding their infants.  Who can blame them?  I have to say, if I were up around the clock and in constant pain from swollen and sore, engorged breasts, I’d definitely be throwing in the towel also.

Women often feel guilty about not being able to do it longer, but when the choice comes between sanity and comfort, many times busy moms these days have no choice but to bottle feed their children if they are having difficulty breast feeding.  The biggest problem for new moms trying to breast feed comes in when they do not consult with other mothers and share what they think their problems are for feedback from women who have had success with breast feeding their infants.

New moms are often isolated for hours on end due to maternity leaves, and their partners being at work for the daytime hours, and this feeling of isolation only seems to compound fears or insecurities that they are not breast feeding their child correctly, or that something is wrong if they baby isn’t latching on all the time, or they feel they are not producing enough milk.  Many support groups for breast feeding moms say that isolating yourself is probably one of the worst things you can do. 

It contributes to post partum depression and doesn’t allow you to compare your problems and feedback with other moms who have breast fed to allay any fears that they may not be doing it correctly, or to get feedback on how to better go about certain problems like breast or nipple pain, and not producing enough breast milk. 

This entry was posted on August 18, 2007 at 7:49 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in Breasts in the News by Breast News Girl No Comments Yet