Breast milk is the best food that we can exclusively give to our baby during their first months of life, and it continues to provide benefits for the entire time they receive it. But as in many life experiences, each woman experiences breastfeeding differently . For some it is easy, for others not so much.
For this reason, and due to the difficulties and challenges that she has had to face when working outside the home, the actress Hilary Duff shares in a very honest publication some challenges about breastfeeding , talking in particular about the moment of weaning and recognizing the effort of all mothers.
Since becoming a mother for the second time, Hilary Duff is used to sharing with her followers on social networks a little of her mother’s life and the challenges she has had to face as a mother of two, as well as some special moments she has had.
Recently, the actress stopped breastfeeding her daughter, for which she shared a reflection in which she not only talks about breastfeeding in general, but about the challenges of continuing it as a working mother , as well as the difficult decision of weaning her six-month-old daughter Banks.
Accompanied by a photograph in which she appears breastfeeding, the actress begins by saying that last week was her last week breastfeeding Banks , and that initially, she had set herself the goal of doing so at least until her daughter was six months old. and when the date arrives, decide if you would continue to do so.
THIS ONES FOR THE LADIES Just a few thoughts that I wanted to share on Breast-feeding.
Last week was my last week nursing Banks (my six month old)
I am a working mom of two. My goal was to get my little girl to six months and then decide if I (and her of course) wanted to keep going. Let me tell you. Pumping at work sucks. I had zero down time and am usually pumping in a hair and make up trailer while four hands work to get me ready for the next scene with lots of other people around. Even if I had the luxury to be in my own room, its not even considered a break because you have to sit upright for the milk to flow into the bottles Plus you are having your damn nipples tugged at by an aggressive machine that makes an annoying sound, that echoes through your head day and night (I swear that machine and I had many conversations at midnight and 3 am) Ttttthen having to find someplace to sterilize bottles and keep your milk cold (ok Im done with that rant lol) Anyway, I didnt know this because with Luca I didnt work until he was about nine months old, so I didnt pump very often. Your milk supply drastically drops when you stop feeding as often and lose the actual contact and connection with your baby (). So I was eating all the feunugreek goats butt blessed thistle fennel cookiesdropsshakespills I could get my hands on It was maddening. (Does fenugreek make anyone else smell like maple syrup and rubber gloves…not chill) With all of this complaining, I want to say I enjoyed (almost) every moment of feeding my daughter. Felt so lucky to be so close to her and give her that start. I know many women are not able to and for that I am sympathetic and very grateful that I could. For six wonderful months. But I needed a break. I was going to break. With the stress of a dropping milk supply and a baby that was getting bored or not caring about nursing when I was available to. I was sad and frustrated and feeling like a failure all of the time. When really Im a bad ass rock star. Moms get high on feeling like superwoman…because we are Doing too much, because we can KEEP READING in the comments below
” Let me tell you something. Expressing milk is a horrible thing, ” the actress begins to say about the effort to continue breastfeeding when working outside the home , as well as to talk about how complicated this whole process is, because in her case, the whole She was accompanied by her makeup equipment for some time and the few moments she had of rest she used to express milk.
She says that she did not know how difficult it could be , because with her first child it was different, since at that time she was without work for the first nine months after his birth, so she did not need to express milk so often, she had problems with her milk production, as she was breastfeeding on demand.
Instead, now that she only breastfed when she was with her daughter after work and expressed milk when she could during work hours, she noticed how this affected her breastfeeding : ” Your milk supply drops drastically when you stop feeding your baby so badly. often and you even lose a lot of that contact you had with him. So I started researching and eating whatever I could find that would help me produce more milk. I was going crazy! “
As time went by and having more and more difficulty maintaining her milk supply, the actress began to feel very pressured and frustrated : ” I mean I enjoyed almost every moment breastfeeding my daughter. I feel lucky to have been around her. her and having given her this good start, “says the actress. ” But I needed a break. I was about to break down from the stress of low milk production and a baby who was too bored or distracted to breastfeed when I had a chance. “
And so, share something that many mothers identified with: the pressure we put on ourselves and how hard we can be when for some reason we don’t meet our goals or things don’t go as planned.
” I was sad and frustrated and felt like a failure all the time, when in fact I am quite a rock star. We moms feel good when we feel like superwoman, and we are! We do a lot because we can. But sometimes we don’t. we get stuck in that feeling that we can do more, “says the actress, also acknowledging once again the work of all mothers .
” I wanted to share all of this, because deciding to wean was very emotional and very difficult . I was thinking about it all day, I was constantly in my head, going over the pros and cons, and half the time, they didn’t even make sense. At that point “It was about me and not about my daughter. I cried many times and felt very depressed while I was weaning Banks, ” she says. ” I was missing a very special moment with my daughter, but I really missed feeling good .”
Now, the actress shares that she feels very different from those last few months in which every day it was more difficult to continue with her breastfeeding, admitting that she feels relieved and even a little ridiculous for having stressed so much and having been so hard on herself before wean your daughter.
” Banks is thriving and even now I have more time with her and her dad also has the opportunity to feed her more often. And I have a little more rest. So it doesn’t matter if you’re pregnant or postpartum or a Very busy mom: you are a superhero for everything you do every day, “concludes the actress, before saying that she hopes her experience will help other mothers who are having difficulties with breastfeeding .
Hilary’s publication has more than 1,096,000 likes and thousands of comments thanking her for her sincerity and talking about a topic that is not always seen very often: weaning and how emotionally difficult it can be to make that decision .
Just yesterday we shared another publication in a similar vein, this time from the Youtuber Verdeliss, in which she also talked about the difficulties of breastfeeding, which are not always mentioned, but which are important to share so that other mothers do not feel alone. nor suffer in silence .
And going back to Hilary Duff’s post: it is true that breastfeeding is the best for the baby and that we must try it as long as possible. But if this is becoming a negative or overwhelming experience that affects us emotionally, we should not feel guilt or feel that we are less of a mother for deciding to choose weaning .
Via | Instagram
