Breastfeeding has been practiced for as long as humans have walked the earth. For most of human history, there was no alternative to breast milk. If a baby wasn't drinking his mother's milk, he was drinking breast milk from another woman who was hired for such services.
According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, there is evidence of people having experimented with alternative infant feeding methods, like animal milk. However, it wasn't until the industrial revolution that a chemical analysis of breast milk was even possible.
Since then, formula has improved and become extremely popular with new mothers, but the breast milk alternative is the subject of a long-standing debate. Is breast still best?
There is no easy answer to the question. Some moms, like the one who still breastfeeds her 8-year-old daughter, certainly think so.
Maya Vorderstrasse, a mom to two daughters born within the same year, was confronted with the breast-milk-or-formula dilemma when her milk dried up shortly after she became pregnant with her second baby. She learned a lot from the experience.
Thumbnail Photo: Pixabay / seeseehundhund
Maya is the mom of two young daughters: Zoey and Hazel. She shares her adventures with them on her Instagram page.
Her posts are mostly funny and relatable for young mothers, but she recently shared a more serious insight into her seemingly perfect life.
She shares on her Instagram:
I will tell you a little about my journey. I always dreamed I would breastfeed my child as long as I could. I’ve seen so many beautiful and amazing journeys through the bonding and comfortIng experience that it is. I breastfed my first daughter until she was 6 months old, and I loved all of it. It was our time together, so special…and no one could take that from me.
I got pregnant when she was 2 months old and by the time she was almost 6 months old, my milk was gone, dried up, like, it disappeared. I felt my heart shatter, and the guilt consumed me.
We had to start bottle feeding and I thought our bond would disappear and that she would think I was not providing for her, until it hit me: nothing had changed. It was still our time, she’d still grab my hair and smile at me with her eyes. She was so happy. Fed. Loved.
Now I breastfeed my youngest, but the comfort of knowing that if life throws me a curve ball and I have to stop, or even if I decide to stop, she will be ok. Feeding them is beautiful. Providing for them, seeing them gain weight, grow and smile and be milk drunk makes my heart jump in happiness.
So I don’t know about your journey, but I can tell you that whatever your choice or circumstance, don’t ever feel guilty or like you are inadequate. Ever.
Just love them and do the best you can. You’re a rockstar. No. Matter. What. Whatever your feeding routine consists of, it is hard being a mother, so let’s show support for each other! To me, fed is best.
Make sure to SHARE this inspirational story with your mom friends!
