One Feeding Can Make A Memory

I read a blog entry on Cafe Mom today that really made me think. It is a fascinating piece on the ingredients in breastmilk.  The whole article can be found here. But this particular quote stood out to me on a very personal level.

Breast milk itself is an absolutely amazing substance. It's part of the reason why medical organizations strongly recommend that every mother breastfeed (or at least try). The stuff is good enough that even one feeding can make a huge difference for the newborn; and, the longer you go, the better. Even if the child is just getting one breast milk meal a day and the rest are formula, that's still very important and beneficial.

Wow. I just had a major epiphany. Now, you probably know by now that I am pro-breastfeeding. You may have also read my post about formula companies and why I dislike their advertising. But what you may not realize (being that I just figured it out myself), is exactly why I am so passionate about this topic. 

First of all, nursing my son has been the single most healing, life-affirming and powerful experience in my parenting career. Bar none. To me, breastfeeding IS love. I love all of my children equally and with all of my heart, but being able to feed and nurture Dylan simultaneously has been almost like discovering a new way to mother. Maybe if you are issue-free and nurturing comes very second nature to you, then bonding with your squishy baby is an easy thing. Maybe because skin-to-skin contact and cuddling is pretty much part of the deal with nursing, I wasn't required to "try" as hard with Dylan. Or perhaps the oxytocin released during nursing prevented post-partum depression for me this time around. Or maybe I'm just finally being allowed to breastfeed my kid like every other mom and I'm excited about it. And because I was told I couldn't nurse my others, I am willing to fight a little harder to maintain the breastfeeding dyad. Perhaps it's a combination of these things. 

I was not even allowed to try to breastfeed my first 2 children, because it was assumed that any small amount of medication that I am required to take would pass through my milk and possibly harm my babies. So be it, I thought. I didn't question, I was just happy to be pregnant and having a baby at all, given that the same medications would have to be taken throughout pregnancy. The worst part of all was that no one bothered to mention, after my son was born, that 3 days later my milk would come in. Imagine my surprise when I woke up in excruciating pain, breasts so full that I couldn't even express a single drop of milk to relieve some of the pressure. This is what happens when you haven't nursed AT ALL. I recall a frantic call to my OB, who instructed me to wear a very tight bra and apply ice until it dried up. I actually could have breastfed Harley, who was born in 2010, after new guidelines were released by the AAP regarding medications and breastfeeding. But I just assumed things were the same, so I didn't research the issue. Coming to breastfeed Dylan, doing the research and finding the medical support necessary to arrive at that decision is a long story for another post. 

Here's where I get angry, though. There is absolutely, positively, undoubtedly NO reason in this world that my children could not have been breastfed in the hospital. The notion that any medication I may have been taking at the time (we're not talking about illicit drugs or chemo or anything that was even totally contraindicated with breastfeeding at the time, we're simply talking about medication that hadn't been adequately studied) would have been metabolized and come through colostrum, the substance babies drink shortly after birth is absolutely absurd. Colostrum is ingested in such tiny quantities that this is a non-issue. And yet, colostrum is often called "nature's first immunization" it is so healthy and packed with good antibodies for babies. 

As the article states "Even one feeding can make a huge difference for a newborn."

One feeding can also make a memory. 

And my babies and I didn't get one feeding.