I know there are lots of different opinions about breast feeding over bottle feeding and I am not going to say what is right and what is wrong because its whatever is best for the individual.
I breast feed my son and he is now 4 months old. even though he has two teeth I plan to continue feeding him myself till he is one as I feel it’s the best thing for me to do and I get a great sense of pride knowing he is putting on weight and seems healthy (so far). I have to be honest with you before I got pregnant the idea of breast feeding really freaked me out and I was sure I did not want to go there, but during my pregnancy my husband and I had a discussion where he asked me if I would try and feed our baby just once and if I really didn’t feel comfortable then I could just stop, and trying once seemed reasonable to me.
The closer I got to my due date and the more I spoke to other mothers the more I wanted to feed our baby myself and the more confident I felt about my decision. I am not going to lie breast feeding is not always easy, the modesty issue has always been a big concern of mine using blankets that are both thick enough so they can’t be seen through and thin enough so Hudson can still breath and stay cool. There is also the problem of getting a blanket big enough to cover you properly even when the baby is kicking and messing about by coming on and off every time they hear a noise, “yes I’m talking about you Hudson you nosey boy” Now I chose to take the bests parts from all the blankets on the market and make my own wonder-blanket, but there is help out there for everyone in the form of websites like peekabooboo.co.uk and babybubu.co.uk who make feeding covers that can make breast feeding easier and less stressful if you wish to feed yourself.
There have been times when I have been brought to tears while Hudson was feeding. For me the pains lasted up until he was almost three months old and at some times it was unbearable. On one occasion when Hudson was only 3 days old, my husband and I decided to go shopping for some boys clothes as we had not found out what we were having in advance. Hudson needed feeding and I felt nervous as this was my first time feeding out in public. After going to one feeding room and it being engaged for 10 min I decided to try another as Hudson was getting cranky. The Tesco feeding and changing room was free so my husband and I went in with Hudson. If you have children you will know that it can take along time to feed them and during my time in there there were about 6 different knocks on the door and to all we gave the same response that we were feeding and would be a while, only 1 knock was met with a verbal response of “sorry I didn’t realise there was someone in there” this I think was a member of staff that had come after Dev (my husband) over heard some women complaining that “they’ve been in there for 10 minuets”
As frustrating as several people knocking while you feed your child is, it was not this that brought me to tears. Once I had finished feeding and before I had put myself together again the door was unlocked from the outside and two security guards burst in through the door to see me sat all exposed. Dev also in shock kicked the door shut immediately, but when the security guards persisted to push it open again Dev slammed it and locked it.
I felt humiliated. I still don’t like using the public feeding rooms as a result, the idea makes me panic. The explanation we got when we went to make a formal complaint was that they thought someone had passed out as they could not hear any response when they knocked despite our shouting louder in frustration with each knock, not to mention the first member of staff seemed to hear us fine. But I guess they didn’t want to admit there outrageous mistake.
All in all with my home made blanket I have become more confident when it comes to feeding in public so I rarely need to use the feeding rooms other than for a speedy nappy change. If I do chose to use one I will not stand for impatient or inconsiderate people and neither should you. I don’t beat down doors just to suppress my child’s whimpers… Just remember they are only wanting the room for the same reasons you do and in all respect and fairness they are no more important than you are. XxX
No comments:
Post a Comment