Breastfeeding made me the mother I am
by Sinead
A long time ago, when I was a girl, breastfeeding didn't mean all that much to me. It was simply something some mothers did. I thought it was a lovely thing to see but I thought about much.
These days I look back and see that breastfeeding has played a life-changing role in my life.
From the moments after the birth of my first daughter nine years ago when she attempted her first sleepy latch, to the end of my time as a breastfeeding mother just 20 months ago, I can honestly say breastfeeding is one of a handful of decisions I have taken on my life's journey that I have never once regretted.
Yes, at times it was a tiring journey, at times I felt restricted by my choice but looking into the eyes of each of my babies as I fed them, I knew there was no other way I could have fed them. Their bright eyes, toned bodies and luminous complexions proved to me they were thriving on my breast milk. It made me more aware of them as small people; I knew what every noise they made and every look they expressed meant. When I held them close and felt their skin against mine the sweet scent of baby often brought tears to my eyes.
When they were ill I instinctively knew, even before they exhibited any symptoms.
Breastfeeding made me fiercely protective and that is something that will stay with me forever. Today, as my daughter discovers that some of her friends aren't always the loyal people you believed them to be, I feel her pain and trip over myself to help her through a difficult but necessary life experience.
I feel deeply connected to each of my children and when they lie sleeping in their beds and I tuck them in before my own sleep, I can't help but smile as I sometimes glimpse them making a breastfeeding suckle in their dreams. The frantic suck, the pause, the slow deep suckle. None of them breastfeed anymore but they still find comfort from it in their deepest sleeps.
Becoming a mother, my life changed overnight. Becoming a breastfeeding mother, my life changed forever...
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