Our First Breastfeeding Story!

Tina
I grew up in a non-breastfeeding family. My mom did not bf us nor did her mother bf her. When I became pregnant for the first time I decided I was going to give it a shot. I had no expectations of it but I did try to learn as much as I could about it before my daughter was born. I took classes at the hospital and stocked up on all the bf'ing essentials. I even got one of the very first "nursing curtains" ever made from my friend, Evie, as a gift. When Elena was born she latched on and nursed like a champ for 9 months. When I went back to work (when she was 6 mos.) I pumped for 3 months. Then my body stopped making enough milk to sustain our nursing relationship (such is life). I was so lucky to have a baby that nursed well from the time she was just a few minutes old. Even the nurses commented on how well she did. My son had a little more difficulty but once he got the hang of it, he did awesome. Our nursing relationship lasted a little less time than it did with my daughter because I went back to work earlier (when he was just 6wks). I guess my body just doesn't like it when I go back to work and depend on pumping for too long. Oh well. I'm lucky to have so many friends that nursed aound the same time I was nursing my babies. It's good to have that feeling of support. I'm the proud owner of 3 nursing curtains and to be quite honest, I don't know what I would've done without them. As I've told many other moms before, I can honestly say I don't care what others think about my nursing (public or private). I don't wear the nursing curtain because I'm affraid of what others will say, I wear it because I am really modest about showing my skin to anyone. Especially when I was a new mom, getting used to the post partum body and the "jelly belly" as I like to say and the strech marks are really visible. I didn't like showing my body off before I had kids, and I really wasn't interested in showing it off afterward either. The nursing curtain gave me confidence to nurse any and everywhere I needed to. The curtain also came in handy while pumping at work. While I'm lucky enough to have a private office with a door, the door doesn't have a lock. I'd shut my door to pump but always with the nursing curtain over my front. That way, if someone didn't get the "hint" by seeing my closed door and happened to walk in, they didn't get a free show (so to speak). haha.

A funny nursing story that involves my nursing curtain; when my son was a newborn (mabye about a month old) my daughter took a huge interest in nursing. She asked all kinds of questions and wanted to be near me when Andres was eating. One morning I went into the family room and saw one of the cutest things I've ever seen in my life, Elena was sitting in the rocker, nursing curtain around her neck, with her baby dolls feet haning out the side. She was "nursing" her doll. My heart swelled with pride. I knew that I had started a generation of nursing mothers. Even though I don't come from a family of breastfeeders, I feel confident that my daughter will follow in my footsteps, nursing her own children. I don't have a picture of me nursing but I do have a nice picture of me with my babies.