Though breastfeeding is the natural way of nurturing your little ones, it is never an easy task. It requires a lot of determination and sacrifices for the mothers. Despite the challenges and adjustments that moms have to go through, it is a rewarding and fulfilling experience. Below is the list of things that only mothers that are breastfeeding can understand and relate to.
1. You’re Hungry All the Time
You have just had your full meal 20 minutes ago and now you are literally starving to death. Every time your little one latches on you, it seems that she’s also eating all the calories that you have consumed.
You are not only a milk-producing machine; your body has also become a food-devouring machine.
2. Teething Days are the Scariest Days
Most people see your baby as a cute and lovely individual when they flash their toothy grin, but you see them as that angry shark or that scary piranha. An occasional nip and tug of your nipple are fine, but what’s worst is when they try to summon all their strength and bite it as painful as they can.
When you are about to cry and get mad because of the pain, they would look up at you and smile playfully. Magically, the pain of their bite suddenly subsides.
3. Milk Has Been Your Constant Perfume
Don’t bother to put on your favorite perfume when you go out as this effort of making you smell good would just be in vain. You literally smell breast milk.
How could you not smell milk when your body seems to find ways of expelling out breast milk when your baby is not nursing?
4. You Feel Frustrated When Your Output is Not That Much
As a working mom, you are pressured to produce enough supply for your little one to consume while you are at work. The demand of being able to nourish your baby solely from your breast milk can put a lot of stress on moms.
We want to make sure that they have enough supply so when we only get a little output on each pumping session, we freak out.
5. Your Diet is Highly Composed of Galactagogue
I know it’s quite a mouthful but they are food that is said to increase your milk supply. Ask a breastfeeding mom what they had for lunch; for sure there is at least one food that belongs to this category.
Oatmeal, ginger, papaya, leafy greens, and chickpeas – we rely on those things to boost our supply. We have even created our own recipes with one or two of these foods.
6. You Feel Highly Accomplished When She’s Milk-Drunk
Before you became a mother, you may be competitive in your career and you would only get a sense of fulfillment when you get that acknowledgment from your boss or snatch that most coveted promotion everyone is after. When you are a mother, it seems that your whole purpose in life is to provide the best nourishment and care for your little one.
When she’s been latching on you for a long time and she finally had too much of your milk that she’s fallen asleep milk-drunk, that’s the best accomplishment that you can get.
7. A Change of Wardrobe Preference
You can’t just simply pick clothes from your closet absent-mindedly. Now that you are nursing, you have to make sure that your clothes would provide that easy accessibility when your baby wants to feed.
Maybe it’s time to say goodbye to some of your clothing pieces and invest in nursing clothes and bras.
8. You Don’t Need to Work Out to Get Back to Your Pre-Pregnancy Body
One of the perks of breastfeeding is that it helps you lose weight and get back to your pre-pregnancy body. Did you know that our body burns almost 20 calories to make just an ounce of breast milk? So if your baby consumes around 19-30 ounces in a day, you get to burn between 380-600 calories without even doing anything.
Who needs diet and exercise when your body does all the burning of calories for you?
9. If your nipples could speak, it would probably complain of being abused.
Breastfeeding moms have undergone all those kinds of nasty things that a nipple can go through. Cracked, swollen, bitten – name it, they’ve been through it all.
At the end of your breastfeeding journey, your nipple would get a medal for its bravery and resilience.
10. You develop a deeper bond with your baby.
Nothing beats the feeling when she stops latching and gives you that contented and happy smile.
Breastfeeding is not only about nourishment, more importantly, but it’s also about love, selflessness, and devotion.
You and your baby develop a deeper bond every time you breastfeed her.