The Breastfeeding Diaries: Meg from Henning Love

 Hi I’m Meg and I blog over at henning love, which is a daily collection of my life, the desserts (primarily) that I bake, the fashion trends I am lovely and most recently my adorable son. Caleb is my 6 month old (in August) and that means that we are halfway through our breastfeeding journey. My goal is to make it to his first birthday with breastfeeding. Will I go beyond that? Maybe. Will I stop shortly before? Only time with tell but that is the goal.

When it came to feeding Caleb, there was never any thought of formula, it was always straight breast. Fortunately it has worked out that way for me and him thus far. I admit that it has been a rather smooth although very wet journey at times. Although I admit I was a bit naive in this whole parenting process. We attended one birthing class, I did one breastfeeding class and frankly don’t remember a single thing from the class except I brought the Boppy (breastfeeding pillow) thinking we might use it and we didn’t. I even asked the nurse after Caleb was born so when will my milk come in and she said the colostrum is here already. I knew that I would be breastfeeding within the first hour of his birth but I think in the excitement of just having giving birth/meeting our son, that question of when will the colostrum come seems silly now. 

 I mention that our journey has been a wet one as in I leak out of the breast Caleb isn’t eating from every.single.time. I literally have to hold a towel up to that breast or else my, bra, shirt, breastfeeding pad will be wet. When the two of us went to Florida for a reunion with my family, I was sitting there at lunch and in came my milk clearly displaying two HUGE wet patches on my shirt. I subtly grabbed a blanket to cover my self. Once the meal was done and the check was paid, my mom said what are we doing now and I promptly stated, I need to go home and then proceeded to show her my entirely soaked shirt and then myself, my mom and my two aunts just laughed at the scenario. It was then I was told that the women in my family, especially former family members were known for their well-endowed chests. I am now starting to finally just leak or at least slow it down. 

What has surprised me is the wonderful bond I feel with Caleb with breastfeeding. I knew it would create a bond but I didn’t realize the extent of the bond that was formed. I love the closeness of breastfeeding so much that I put aside the Boppy because it was inhibiting the ability to have him as close to me as I desired. 

For tips and advice, I would say enjoy the experience, don’t be afraid to get help to achieve what you want for you and your baby.