Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is place in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into it's soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no others hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." -JR Miller

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

My breastfeeding journey so far....

I realised that I haven't written an update on my breastfeeding journey for a while. Well......
I'm still doing it (which is the main thing) it's been very hard, very demanding but very, very rewarding!
I suffer (perhaps too strong a word) with PCOS, and in my case one of the symptoms of this, is problems lactating once I have had a baby. I only discovered this with my last baby (number 4) whom I managed to feed for 10 days - though I was exhausted and in a bit of a mess, when the specialist confirmed my milk hadn't come in!
This time though, I was prepared and we are on week 10 and still going!


My usual breast feeding postion (though I don't do rugby hold anymore) but still use it as computer time!!

I think there are a lot of contributing factors but mainly I thank the Lord for it.
Nancy Campbell of Above Rubies prayed with me last October while she was here ministering to families in the UK, and I am aware that lots of my internet friends have prayed too. I was also in touch with La Leche League  this time and the lady talked me through bioloical nurturing, and basically supported and encouraged me through the beginning, talking me through feeds, giving me information relevant to my own case and finding out specialist advice for me!

My favourite breastfeeding times are when I am laid in bed with her laid next to me, sucking away contentedly, getting all the comfort she needs along with nourishment and protection from disease and every other benefit that breast feeding brings. What a fantastic way to parent - now I have nothing against bottles and formula (without them my babies would not be able to survive) but breastfeeding brings a whole new way to mother - I love my children and I love mothering BUT there is something so different about how I mother this baby as I am able to breastfeed - you have to give yourself wholly, make yoursef available 24 hours a day, be willing to sacrifice things you may want to do so that you can provide for your precious baby's needs - I was willing to do that with all my others but breastfeeding didn't work out, so there were all formula fed and as much as I loved them and tended to their needs it was easy to let someone else feed them - just while I did my washing, or nipped down to my Mums.
This time I have to be available and do you know something - although it is a sacrifice at times - it is a joyful sacrifice - to be able to provide for my baby in this way - to be able to comfort her just by offering the breast, rather than giving a dummy and the best thing - I don't have to struggle listening to a crying baby because I don't know what's wrong and the next feed isn't due yet - I can offer her my breast whenever she cries because she can't overfeed!!!
Mixed feeding isn't without it's challenges, it's harder in some ways as I'm having to judge how much formula to give (don't want to affect my already low milk supply) and I still have the sterilisation and bottle preparation issues, on top of very regular feeding, but as I was commenting to my Mum just today - it forces me to sit down and relax - because I can't give the job to someone else - I have to do it - so I have to sit down and if I didn't have that I think I would end up with "burnout" I would be rushing around doing everything and forget to rest!
So I thank God that He has enabled me to experience this delightful new way of mothering and He continues to show me new things with each child, I've come a long way from trying to train my firstborn to fall alseep on her own at 6 weeks :-( to just cuddling my baby at every opportunity! And I still have further to go, I'm striving (but not too much as it's God who has to do the work in me) to be a more gentle mother - not an easy task! And I'm leaning on Him daily, as I mother my little brood and enjoy the experience of breastfeeding my baby!

2 comments:

Deedee said...

Well done Sarah! Congratulations on making it this far with the breastfeeding!!! I'm so proud of you!

You are a great mother and you are simply striving to do even better - as we all are. Your children are very blessed to have you as their mother! :o) - Deedee

Sarah D said...

Thank you - it means a lot to have you say that Deedee :-) xx