Baby questions. Part one

PArt one, because clearly I won't get this all written with my own 4 babes....


Last week I had a long time client come into my salon. I have been doing N's hair since shortly before my oldest was born. While clearly with her eye on her impending nuptials, her soon to be DH and N have been having the serious baby chat. She will be a fantastic momma. No doubt about that. And I was honored that she felt she could ask me some questions that had been on her mind. The main topic centred around breast feeding. I am a huge breast feeding advocate. But I totally get that some people are not At all comfortable with the idea. And you know what, thinking back 10 years go when I was reading everything I could., I wasn't 100% into the idea either. But I gave myself a goal if 6 weeks to see if I could do it. As it turned out, it took me that long to get the hang of it and I am so glad for the time I put into it. To be totally honest, and I know this sounds wrong, but I questioned if I would be comfortable nursing a baby girl up until I held her in my arms. I'm not sure why I thought it would be any different then the boys. M.J. was the one that had a perfect latch right from birth.
Anyway, I've been thinking about what N and I talked about. And I got to thinking, if she had these questions and I had these questions and thoughts, how many others did too? I'm sure this has been covered, but here is my version of events.

I don't know if I will be comfortable with a baby attached to my boob.
There Is a chance that you may not. But there is a chance that it won't be weird at all. I think part of the "weird" is the sexualization of breast. And hey, they are there for that too. But you can give yourself the time and chance to get out of that mind set by getting lots of information. I know that was a huge help for me. The info is out there waiting for you. Read as much a you can. Talk to and seek out those who have had success and ask lots of questions.

What about hubby/partner?
So my original answer to this was there are lots of things a partner can do. Bring baby to you ( if you don't co-sleep. We do so Todd missed out on this one ;) ), change diapers, take the babe for a walk when your about to pull out your hair, give snuggles, get you a glass o water or snack, make supper. I can think of a ton of things dad can do when momma is nursing the sweet babe. Later I thought about our convo and asked Todd what he thought. I needed to know if he thought he missed out or I had taken anything away from him by being a breast feeding mom. So for the record. He says no. He loved that the babies were nursed. He enjoyed making sure we were comfortable. And, last week, while I was Working, M.J. Fell asleep on his arms twice. Todd says that more then made up for all the time she needed only me. It was so cute to come up and see them. My perfect healthy breast fed baby. All my kids have gone through stages where they want to be with momma more then dad and then stages where they want nothing to do with Momma and everything is Dad,Dad, Dad. I was glad to know Todd had been ok with the babies needing me. And Happy with his role as my support and baby snuggler during their momma time.