Did You Feel Pressure to Nurse Your Newborn?

Posted by Dawn

August 3, 2009

Just after giving birth to my daughter, nursing seems to just be easy. Although, my milk hadn’t fully come in, there were no worries- after all I read up on everything, and I knew what I was doing. (Why yes, there was some delusional there.)

Until that point I had never given too much thought to how parents decide to feed their babies. The research had been done during my pregnancy and while the decision was a fit for us, it may not be for everyone.

Yet, the pressures upon already exhausted women to nurse their babies as opposed to bottle feeding are so prevalent, it’s intimidating. Women are pressured to feel as if they have to nurse their babies, or face some kind of tribunal.

Even though my daughter wasn’t fully awake it still seemed as if we were a natural nursing pair. Convinced everything was handled, I shrugged off the nurses and the classes offered.

Well, after we got home is did fully come in. My daughter however didn’t seem to be able to nurse. She was a crying and tired ball of fussy and I was about the same, if not worse. During the time from when we were first home, and the time her first doctor appointment came about, things didn’t get any better.

However, the problem was indeed with me, and a medical condition that was resolved with a minor contraption suggested by my daughter’s doctor’s office. However, I had done a bit of research into what had caused it beforehand, so it was after that suggestion that the problem was resolved.

It was rough, and a rather difficult time for both of us. Had the problem not been one to so quickly to have a remedy at hand to, we would have (with a guilty feeling me) switched to bottles of milk.

Should women be made to feel as if they have failed their child and ruined them for life if they haven’t nursed them? After all the decision is an intensely personal one based on so many different factors.

I would also like to pose this question to the readers here:

If you choose to nurse your child or not, did you feel as if you were pressured into it?