For a mother, breastfeeding is deeply personal activity that bonds a mother and her child. But many women, after they give birth, find out that they are unable to breastfeed, or that their child will reject the milk.
As a result, they are shamed by many people, usually total strangers, for not breastfeeding, even when it is not their fault.
One mom named Sionhan Rennie experienced this shame, not just from a woman who stared at her when she took out a bottle to feed her daughter, but on her own. She penned a post on social media explaining that she felt guilty as a mother for not being able to breastfeed her daughter, even if everyone, the infant included, felt happier and more at ease when she was bottle fed.
Rennie continues to say that she had some medical issues that interfered with her breastfeeding, and that it wasn't fair to her son, who was born just 17 months prior to her daughter.
She concludes that she, as well as many other moms, need to stop being so hard on themselves, because "fed is best!"
"I still feel guilty every day that I'm not breastfeeding Aoife anymore."
"I had my reasons for stopping. So many reasons (she took hours to B'feed, it wasn't fair on Harry, so many latching probs meant too much air then too much wind and reflux, ohh and my PND and anxiety…). At 4 months we called it quits and it was such a painful decision. Life definitely got easier, we were all a lot happier."
"But I still, 8 months on, think I gave up too easily. I didn't, I know that, but I still can't help being really hard on myself…"
"Add to that the stare I got from a woman today at the park when I pulled out Aoife's bottle… Jesus, it was SO judgey. The thing is, FED is best. Aoife was (and still is) more satisfied on the bottle."
"It doesn't matter how we feed our babies, as long as it's safe and they're nourished and happy."
"Never doubt your choices, you have to do what's right for you and your whole family – whether that be breastfeeding until they're toddlers or never being able to even start."
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