Breastfeeding is Not Just a Feeding Issue For Your Baby

Yes... it is very common for breastfeeding moms to get soooo exhausted because their babies do not want to be away from them. They just want to park on our breasts, we cannot even get up to pee. Every time they see us, they only want one thing, and won't even consider playing with us after.

Babies NEED their moms. I think most moms do not really know how much,

If we didn't take care of ourselves while pregnant, where would baby be? Their health and safety was totally dependent on ours. What a responsibility!

And then, if that wasn't enough, here we are, letting them become totally dependent on us after birth. When we do things, how we do things, how long we can be away, what we will wear, eat, do... all will have to adjust to our feeding schedule.

And have I mentioned that we cannot even pee? I have?  Well, imagine going through that almost every day... baby taking hours to settle down and at the first slightest movement to get up and pee, she wakes up and sucks with gusto. If I could pee in a diaper, I would have went that way, I swear.

But in all those hassles hide the truth... that we aren't just food for our baby. In fact, food is the last thing they get and need from us (because, after all, formula HAS been invented already). What are we then?

We are SAFETY, SECURITY and SHELTER, the most imperative of all the needs after food. When we keep holding them close, we tell them that the person they knew in utero is the same person out here that grew them and loved them and whispered prayers for them and dreamed dreams for them. They learn that they belong to us, and we belong to them. They learn they could depend on us.

When we touch them all the time and hold them all the time, we boost their immunity.

When they get our milk, they get antibodies and probiotics... which they don't really understand. They just intuitively know that when they are feeling sick, only our milk helps.

For one to understand that, maybe you can think of critically ill people instead... wherein no drugs can help anymore, but the only thing that can soothe is a loving touch, a loving presence.

We are WARMTH and LOVE and ALL THINGS WELL... for them. Because at our side of the fence, we are all things tired, sleepy, feeling violated and pressed upon. How unfair?

But what we sometimes feel is a drudgery (I will be honest, there were many times I felt it was so much responsibility) is actually God's way of training us to give... sometimes, till it hurts. To keep our eye on the goal. To be patient. To trust. To marvel at God's amazing design. To learn how to unconditionally give and love. To invest in things we may never see (as breastfeeding benefits are lifelong, and we may not be around to know for sure that our daughter did not have breast cancer).

Breastfeeding teaches us about our body's amazing capabilities and redefines what we know of motherhood.

So, despite the tiredness and tears and lack of sleep... when your baby demands for you, know that she is turning to you to satisfy a deeper hunger. Not one for food but for a need to know that AAL IZZ WELL (sorry, 3 Idiots fan).

This is a privilege, not just a responsibility. Because, sooner than we think, our babies will have grown up into self-assured kids exploring the world... and the most that we can do for them is guide them. We will not be HEAVEN for them forever.