Looking for Breastfeeding Moms, Part One

by Alanna Shaikh · 2009-04-16 12:22:00 UTC
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(photo credit: mylissa)

I realized when I was writing the how to support breastfeeding women posts that I really don't know enough about the factors that support and prevent breastfeeding in women's lives. I've got a pretty got handle on how things go for women in the US and Canada, but most of the rest of the planet is theoretical knowledge, not first-hand. I've read plenty of articles, but I haven't seen it. I haven't talked to anyone who's done it.

When my son was born, he wouldn't latch on to me. He lost more than 10% of his body weight, he turned yellow, and he scared the heck out of his dad and I. I just couldn't get him to eat. My doctor did her best to help me, but we just couldn't make it work. You know who finally got my son to latch? My best friend. She put him to her own breast, in a position that had worked for her son. He grabbed on like a lifeline; he sucked so hard she let down milk and she'd weaned her own son more than a year ago. And seeing my boy there, on her breast, how his jaw and mouth were positioned, was a revelation. Then she took my son of her nipple, and took my own breast in her hand. She squeezed it into a funny shape, held up my son, and he latched right on.

You rarely find stories like that in journal articles. I might check off a box that said "support of peers" in a survey, or "help from physician," but that doesn't tell the whole story. It doesn't tell you how scared I was, or how disappointed that I might not be able to breastfed. Or that I was so grateful to discover that the baby knew exactly what to do, I just had to sort myself out.

Alanna Shaikh
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