Breastfeeding
When breastfeeding sucks: why we might experien...
“When she latches, I just feel overwhelmed with anger and I get this rush that makes me want to take her off and leave the room. I just hate it all. I don’t really know why it happens – we had such a good breastfeeding journey. It was a total shock when I first felt like that, and the guilt afterwards makes me feel I’ve failed as a mother.” Anabelle, Nottingham We don’t often hear about mothering with such negative emotions, especially when we think of breastfeeding and all the images of love that we see. Yet, many authors, like Jacqueline Rose in Mothers: An Essay On Love and Cruelty, and Naomi Stadlen in What Mothers Do: Especially When It Looks Like Nothing,write not only about a mother’s love, but hate as well, and how they are inseparable. Many of us don’t know that in the 15th century, motherhood didn’t carry expectations of feelings, nor the notion...
When breastfeeding sucks: why we might experience breastfeeding aversion
“When she latches, I just feel overwhelmed with anger and I get this rush that makes me want to take her off and leave the room. I just hate it all. I...
Breastfeeding: the power and complexities of br...
Human milk. Not words we often hear or say. We’re not really used to thinking of ourselves as mammals, let alone talking about our own milk. It’s… Well, it’s not something we’re often called upon to ponder. It can feel strange or even uncomfortable thinking of ourselves as part of our planet’s ecosystem, rather than in charge of it. The thing is, there is a heavy price being paid for this disconnect. One of these prices is breastfeeding. In the UK, a majority of around 85% of new mothers starts out breastfeeding. By six weeks, this figure has almost halved. The distressing figures continue: the vast majority of these mothers say they did not want to stop, and in many cases, stopping lead to a profound distress which Professor Amy Brown goes into in heartbreaking detail in her book Why Breastfeeding Grief and Trauma Matter. And when breastfeeding doesn’t work for...
Breastfeeding: the power and complexities of breast milk
Human milk. Not words we often hear or say. We’re not really used to thinking of ourselves as mammals, let alone talking about our own milk. It’s… Well, it’s not...
How one mother overcame her breastfeeding preju...
I have a confession: I used to think breastfeeding women were a bit weird. For years I simply couldn’t understand why women would choose to expose in a public place a part of their body usually kept under wraps, and create a whole world of awkward for the people around them. After all, don’t we have bottles for that sort of thing now? Before you decide I’m a horrible human being, please let me explain how my views on breastfeeding were formed – and how I eventually managed to move past them. I first encountered a woman breastfeeding when I was around 4 years old. A friend of my mum’s – let’s call her Sally – was at our house for a children’s party when she suddenly whipped up her top, produced a boob and began to feed her newborn. I remember being hurriedly ushered out of the room and...
How one mother overcame her breastfeeding prejudice
I have a confession: I used to think breastfeeding women were a bit weird. For years I simply couldn’t understand why women would choose to expose in a public place...
Why Breastfeeding Matters: it's more than just ...
If you ask women why they want to breastfeed, the response many will automatically give is often based around how human milk helps protect babies’ health and development. I mean, that’s what we’re told is important, isn’t it? Most health promotion campaigns tell us that breastfeeding is a good idea because it helps reduce the number of colds and stomach bugs babies get, and so on. And yes, that’s very important. When women can’t breastfeed, one of their main concerns can be that their baby will be harmed by not being breastfed. They want to increase their baby’s protection against illness, particularly if their baby was born too soon or had a difficult start. As mothers, parents, human beings, we worry about our babies and we want the best for them. But. This is not the only reason why breastfeeding matters. Many women who cannot breastfeed find that their baby...
Why Breastfeeding Matters: it's more than just milk
If you ask women why they want to breastfeed, the response many will automatically give is often based around how human milk helps protect babies’ health and development. I mean,...
Natural term breastfeeding: ten mothers share t...
Ann Owen hopes to support other mothers through her photographs My first born, my daughter, arrived after a traumatic birth. I had dreamt of a natural water birth, but instead I ended up having an epidural, an episiotomy and a forceps delivery. I remember feeling so sad that my birth plan had gone out the window, but I found tremendous comfort in the fact that breastfeeding came naturally for us. From the first moment the nurse finally laid her on my chest, she latched on, and from then on, breastfeeding became a part of our everyday. To me it’s the most natural and most normal thing I could possibly be doing.I knew it wouldn’t last forever, but I wanted to continue to nurse her until she chose to stop. Anthropologist Kathy Dettwyler’s research suggests that the normal and natural duration of breastfeeding is between two and a half and seven...
Natural term breastfeeding: ten mothers share their journey
Ann Owen hopes to support other mothers through her photographs My first born, my daughter, arrived after a traumatic birth. I had dreamt of a natural water birth, but instead...