There are some things I do daily without a second thought. Some of which of course are done in private. I rarely would think of sharing with someone that I did it or that I accomplished it as a goal. I am quiet about it, and not necessarily because I think it is a secret; but because I think of it as routine, or certainly not newsworthy. Things like going to the bathroom, brushing my teeth, number and color of bowel movements; how many glasses of water I had that day. And years ago, when I had my babies, it never occurred to me to consider a bottle, or how often in a day would we nurse. We are taught so much that data matters. If we don’t count it, if we didn’t write it down, we didn’t do it, or it’s not so important to us.
Sometimes I write things down, because they are important to me and I don’t want to forget to do it, or if I don’t write it down, it won’t happen. I would say grocery lists, new recipes, phone numbers fall easily into that category.
At 65, things that might have been new at age 20 or even 30 are second nature now. My daughter once told me that the longer you breastfeed your baby, the less you talk about it. You just do it! Habits or patterns are formed. You are not really interested in other people’s perspective or thoughts or you just don’t want the commentary, good or bad. Bold confidence, doesn’t really play a part, you have mastery, you have just figured it out.
If I had a question about nursing my baby. I would ask my grandmother, my mother hadn’t nursed me and though she was supportive, she was mostly just curious and we didn’t talk about it much. My dad would ask me from time to time when I would stop nursing that baby? Does he eat? Does he have teeth? I would ask my grandmother, and if we were together and not on the phone she would look at me and just smile as if to say why I would ask such a question. We didn’t talk about it much either, her response was almost always.
“just sit down a minute, nurse that baby and you’ll both feel much better”
Before I was pregnant with my son, my first child, I didn’t know anyone who had breastfed their baby, I never even saw a baby at the breast. It was one of life’s mysteries. I did get to a La Leche meeting https://www.lllusa.orgonce or twice before his birth and saw a room full of chatty women nursing their babies and it seemed both magical and easy. That was back in 1974. Like puppies, I thought, I didn’t think I would need a book.
When I asked her about the breast pump and the bottles I would need, she said the same thing.
“just sit down a minute, nurse that baby and you’ll both feel much better”
What about work, what about school, what about formula?
“When you are with the baby, nurse the baby. Put your feet up!”
“just sit down a minute, nurse that baby and you’ll both feel much better”
I found the breast pump painful, I had one that looked like a toy megaphone with a bulb syringe. My son wouldn’t take a bottle, or a pacifier, he decided to wait, meditate, take a nap, or cry until I returned. We figured it out, me and him.
Please share your story. Did you need a breast pump to nurse your baby? Did you ever feed your baby your breast milk from a bottle? How did you feel?
Breastfeeding 365 
Not a big breast pump fan. I’ve seen them cause problems and get in the way of many breastfeeding couples. Try to avoid. If needed, delay their introduction as long as possible to give your nursing the best start. My sister went back to work but she would sit down a minute, put her feet up, and nurse at the sitters to make the transition home go easier for all.
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