Let's start with ambition. This came up during some of my peer support training. It appears I have already fulfilled my ambition. From being very small I wanted to be a Mummy. And here I am, I have a lovely husband, two beautiful daughters and two beautiful sons. I like to think I'm not too bad a Mummy either :-) This doesn't mean there is nothing else I want to do with my life but if I achieve nothing else I will be satisfied and whole.
I had many failed preganacies before I carried Elizabeth to term (well, 43 weeks the child was not for emerging) and she was the most amazing thing to ever have happened to me, at least until the others arrived. She was my world and I loved her more than anything else in it. I could never have thought about feeding Elizabeth anything else. She nursed until she had turned two when I stopped feeding her as Francesca was soon to arrive and I didn't want to tandem feed (not sure why).
Francesca too was breastfed but being a really rather good eater she self weaned from the breast at around 18 months prefering to rest her head on my breast and suck her thumb instead.
Nathaniel was somewhat of a suprise baby, he wasn't planned. Francesca and I were hit by a young driver going waaaaay to fast and had to be cut from the car. She broke her arm, I was black and blue all over, it's a miracle he survived inside me. He was meant to come and live with us! He self weaned during an illness just before his second birthday. He was unable to nurse through the snot and coughing so just lay across my tummy for about four days instead of feeding and then never asked for it again.
It was when Nathaniel was very young that I started on my peer support journey. As both my girls had gone to school the circle of stay-at-home-mum friend's had gone so I plunged myself into as many new playgroups as I could. I attended some breastfeeding support groups and was shocked by the militant attitudes I found there. If I had been a new mum I would have been scared away. The development of our children's centre was underway and I asked them if we could set up a group. I believe that every woman should breastfeed her baby, it's not something special (well, it is but here language lets me down) it's so ordinary and in making it a white, middle class, middle aged, militant activity it takes away the availablitly of help and support for all.
Then Sebastian arrived, eventually, another baby I made far too comfortable in my belly. He too is a boob man! He has just started to eat the fruits and vegetables that we do, it was a little sad for me, having four children we don't plan to have any more so this will be my last leg of my breastfeeding 'career'.
I have completed a peer support training course designed by La Leche League and a Breastfeeding Management cousre run by our PCT in accordance with the Baby Friendly Initiative. I have been amazed by what I have learned and will share some of that with you. It has been a real eye-opener, I can tell you!
Anyhoo, probably enough waffle for one day, hope it wasn't too rambling and made some sort of sense.
And finally, here they are;
My beautiful, clever, amazing, wonderful breastfed babies!
Alex xxx
Fab start to your new blog Alex! It's a shame you feel you can't include it on your other blog - lots of people seem to take exception to others expressing their opinion on child rearing, which is a shame as the more we talk about it, surely the better parents we'll all be? I know you and I don't completely see eye-to-eye on breast feeding (although we nearly do) but I enjoy our chats on it as you (being trained and all) can enlighten me on the health benefits/implications and I like to think that I might present different points of view for you to think about.
ReplyDeleteSo hurrah for you trying to do something good in the world.
And don't forget my quote of the week from Einstein: "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds"!
Heather. Hertfordshire.
Hi there, I'll join the chorus of voices saying it's a shame you have to keep this part of your blogging "life" separate from the crafty one. I haven't had attitude aimed at me, but boy have I seen the stories! I can't quite understand why people who read an opinion which they do not share, on a blog or elsewhere, don't just click away - why be nasty?
ReplyDeleteI have five children, and breastfed them all. I'm still feeding my 22 month old twins, and feeling pretty pleased about it! They were 7 weeks prem and spent 35 looong days in NICU. I pumped like a prize dairy cow till mastitis knocked my milk supply drastically before I was even feeding them every feed. I ended up with just enough to feed them, only one of them wasn't a good feeder. It took 3 months and lots of help (and I'd already successfully fed three children and knew what I was doing!) to get him on the breast. Thank goodness for breast pumps and all the milk I froze while we stayed in hospital. I will forever be a bit sad that I didn't quite make it. We introduced a bottle of half expressed milk and half formula at bedtime because by the end of the day of constant feeds for two babies I was dry and exhausted. The bottle gave us a bit of sleep, after which I was nice and full for them again. It wasn't what I'd wanted, but I am so pleased that I managed to breastfeed twins, despite the difficulties. Especially since they were preemies - they needed my milk more than anything. So worth it!
Wow, that was a bit of a novel - I only meant to say Hi, and that I'm looking forward to following your thoughts. This is a subject dear to my heart!
Cheers, Judy