I’m going to share some stories that happened about 48 hours after I gave birth.
As a first-time mom, I thought that if I hadn’t been able to breastfeed successfully in the hospital—even with all the help I’d received—then I certainly wouldn’t be able to do it on my own at home. I’d tried day and night to breastfeed my little one, but she wasn’t latching on strongly enough and would fall asleep without managing to get her “treasure.”
So my partner and I decided to give our little one formula.
I was far, very far from understanding what a let-down was, when it happened, and how often.
The first time my daughter cried at the top of her lungs, I felt like I was in a wet T-shirt contest! My body felt the need to produce and expel milk, for fear that my daughter would starve. I was stunned! The human body is so well-designed when you think about it.
I have enormous respect for women who have the strength and determination to breastfeed. For me, it just wasn’t the right fit—I didn’t like the sensation, and I felt like a dairy cow. Of course, the people around us had mixed reactions to this decision. Many wanted me to try breastfeeding again or, at the very least, to pump my milk.
Personally, my milk came in strongly for three days. It would flow just as much when my daughter cried as when a baby cried on TV or even when I was running errands alone and a stranger’s baby cried.
I really hoped to regain full control of MY body—and I did, nine wet T-shirts later...