What’s the worst piece of advice you got as a new mom?
Mine was when a lactation consultant told me, “Technically, every time the baby eats, it should come directly from your body.”
At that point, my 2-mo wasn’t gaining enough weight breastfeeding & I had postpartum anxiety exacerbated by severe sleep deprivation. I brought up the idea of pumping before bed so my husband could feed the baby a nighttime bottle & I could get a few hours of sleep strung together. That was her answer.
I was in such a fog & felt so guilty that I tried for a while longer, until the doctor said he literally had failure to thrive & we needed to start supplementing with formula immediately.
That was obviously terrifying, but then he started gaining weight & looking healthier & my whole existence didn’t revolve around pumping & trying to get him to latch properly & feeling like a failure so I finally started sleeping better & thinking more clearly & it was all such a relief.
He’s in kindergarten now, healthy & smart & sweet & wonderful, & it doesn’t matter at all that we failed at breastfeeding. I just wish I could get that time back with my baby. It still makes me angry to this day.
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