As someone working with parents, I have heard so many horror stories when it comes to feeding support. As a mother of 2, I have my own stories to tell.
After the birth of my first child, I was very trusting and received much misinformation from the team that I expected support and evidence-based information from. Having little knowledge and experience myself, at the time, I took what they said at face-value, with an additional layer of societal pressures and pre-conceptions, and went on a path that I didn’t really want to go down. It took me a while to receive the right support and return to feeding in a way that aligned with my wishes.
Along the journey I accessed valuable support and knowledge, so by the time my second child came, I felt ready for any challenge.
Well…. They say they send you the children you need…. My daughter’s feeding journey was complex. We could nurse lying down or in a sling. We could not make in-arms feeding work. It took 10 months to get to a point where she would consistently accept in-arms feeding.
The more I reflected, the more anger, frustration and disbelief I had at a system that glorifies breastfeeding in pregnancy but does not equip anyone with the tools to reach those goals.
What if I hadn’t met the compassionate support with my first child? What if I didn’t know how to feed in a sling with my second? What if my first and my second had been in my life the other way around? What about all the other stories I heard?
Infant feeding support can be amazing if you know where to look for it. La Leche League, the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers, the Breastfeeding Network, local peer supporters like Milk Mentors, IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultants) to name a few, do an incredible job at supporting mothers and nursing parents.
Baby-carrying support brings tools that make child-rearing a smoother ride for many.
Well, sometimes, bringing the two together can make such a difference! Clearly it made all the difference to my daughter. Knowing how to feed a child in a sling or a carrying aid can be a supportive tool in so many ways. Does it mean it needs to be used all the time? No! but it can be one of the tools that unlocks the journey.
I believe that as carrying-consultants we need to have the tools to support parents with their carrying needs, including feeding (any type of feeding) and I believe that as feeding supporters we have a duty to explore any tools that can support mothers and nursing parents to achieve their goals.
The next Feeding and Carrying Advocacy courses can be found HERE and we will spend the morning understanding why feeding and carrying advocacy is so important and the afternoon learning the practical tools to support any type of infant feeding.