More than food, more than boobs.

I saw this today and it got me thinking about what Breastfeeding Support really is. I love my job, but far more than a job, I feel this role is really to relight the ancient and lost art of the most natural and beautiful thing of nursing our babies and to enable other mothers to experience this joy.

The questions come in about sleep, frequency of feeds, latching, milk supply etc. But more often than not, just about what’s normal. We have come so far removed from our instincts and trusting our bodies and our babies, that we trust books and the words of so called ‘experts’ over our own hearts and the cries of our infants. The medicalisation of birth, which has been necessary in many cases (including my own, I’m not preaching!), but perhaps overused in many more, has been drip fed over the years into infant feeding and nurturing our children.

Sometimes Breastfeeding Support doesn’t look like you think. It doesn’t involve nipples, latching or milk. It involves listening, empathising and empowering. It’s teaching and learning what is truly natural and normal. It’s enabling a woman to express her emotions. A space to talk about the complexities of motherhood and at times a safe place to cry. A time to remove your crown, expose your vulnerabilities, have it shined back up again and put back in its place.

Whatever type of support you need with breastfeeding, please seek it. Mother to mother peer support is crucial for this and can be found at my free Breastfeeding Support Café, 1st & 3rd Friday of each month at Rowan House.

Breastfeeding is about so much more than food, and Breastfeeding Support is about so much more than boobs.

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