Unreasonable reasons for not Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is my favorite part of motherhood. It makes me feel like I’m a superhero. You know, aside from bearing your precious babies in your tummy, you’re also capable of feeding them with milk that can never be better than any other formula.

Honestly, I’m curious why other moms don’t appreciate breastfeeding. I’ve heard so many reasons why some moms prefer not to breastfeed their babies. I guess there are only a few reasons why you shouldn’t breastfeed your baby. Those are the kinds of reasons that are required for you not to harm your baby — like when your taking medicines for some conditions or if you have some contagious disease. Aside from those, I cannot think of any other acceptable reasons.

Most of the time, moms who don’t want to breastfeed because of the following reasons:

1. Their baby wouldn’t take their milk
2. Their nipples are swollen or wounded
3. No milk is coming out
4. They’re working
5. It hurts
6. Or worst… they just don’t like it.

For real? I’m sure if you’re a breastfeeding mom you’ll agree that — we’ve been there and probably much worse than those but we kept on feeding our babies with our breastmilk for the best.

If you know someone or if you’re someone who has these reasons above and planning to stick with it, I’ll still try my best to tell you why they/you shouldn’t.

Let me tell you my thoughts about the said reasons above

• For the 1st reason, why babies aren’t taking your breast milk? There can be a lot of reasons behind that.
  • All newborn babies aren’t gonna take or latch to your nipples instantly. It takes time my friend. You should introduce your breast milk to your baby by using your best effort. And when I say the best effort, it means endless effort. Never stop.
  • Your baby may not be feeling well. Once again best effort is needed with added caress. If the baby is always agitated when feeding them, there may be something else that causes some discomfort. Always let the doctor know.
  • The position may not be working for your baby. Why not try other positions.
  • Babies can get distracted easily. My son, my daughter, my nieces, and my nephews were all breastfed. One thing I noticed is that even they’re so hungry and wanting some milk their heads will turn whenever something catches their attention. And if that thing keeps on distracting, the tendency is they won’t take your milk for a little while.
  • It can also be because of your nipples sometimes it may be too big or small for your baby. But don’t worry they adjust to it after some time. Just don’t stop feeding so that they’ll get used to it.
• Wounded nipples?
  • Okay, for some women, their nipples are very sensitive and get easily wounded. And it hurts! I know. I mean who doesn’t? Probably those who are not yet mom. ? The thing is, it is normal. Breastfeeding can be painful for us but that’s what gives our babies the best nutrition and pleasure. I’d rather feel the pain rather than giving my baby some other milk. It’s so much relieving when they laugh or smile after biting or pulling your nipples. Despite the pain, it feels good because you just made your baby so happy.
  • And here’s a fact, wounded nipples can be healed by your baby’s saliva and your breast milk(if you do breastfeed). It was told to me by the doctor when it was my first time breastfeeding. There are also some occasions where I thought that my milk had some blood. When we consulted it, the doctor advised us that breast milk color can sometimes be reddish or quite orange.

  I just want to share something too. A few months back, my sister had boils(or pigsa in Filipino) on her breast. The boils had reached the areola of her nipples. She was breastfeeding that time and as we all know boil is a skin infection. She thought she might need to stop breastfeeding while she has it. However, we asked her to consult the doctor first before stopping it. We’re quite shocked when the doctor advised her to continue breastfeeding her baby. She was advised that the pus of her boils won’t affect her milk. She was suffering from the pain of breastfeeding and her boils but it never stopped her from feeding her baby with her own milk.

• Another common factor, the milk supply. Most women are complaining about not getting enough milk supply. This lack of milk supply makes them decide to stop breastfeeding. Some mothers are getting disappointed with not having milk after giving birth too. This really happens. However, there are ways to make your milk come out. These ways are usually being advised by the medical practitioners where you actually gave birth. With my second child, It takes so much time before I was able to express milk. Nothing is coming out on our first few attempts. Good thing my baby was still at NICU for monitoring, she was able to receive donated breastmilk for a while. When this happens, buying a formula is not a great option. Here are the things that have proven to work and make your milk come out.
• If your baby is not in NICU, let them latch with your nipple. Our bodies are like computers. Once the baby is near you and your nipples were latched with your baby’s mouth, it will start processing milk.
  • Believe it or not, the milk supply depends on the demand. If you don’t breastfeed, your body would think that the baby doesn’t need much milk, therefore it will produce less or will not produce milk.
  • On the other hand, breastfeeding more often will help your body produce more or enough milk.
  • Make sure you’re eating healthy foods and you’re well hydrated. Moringa or Malunggay capsules are one of the best food supplements for lactating mothers.
  • Get a breast pump and express milk on a regular basis.
• What about working mothers? I’m a working mom and never had this a reason for stopping breastfeeding. To be honest, I like the privilege of a lactating mother at work. Yup, I call it a privilege. Here in the Philippines, it is mandated by the law for the office or companies to provide time-off during work shifts for lactation and clean private space for lactation and storage of expressed breast milk. In my case, I had a 45-minute break for lactation on top of my regular breaks.
• The second to the last reason would be the pain. As I have discussed in most parts of this post, pain is real. It’s actually part of the process of living. People usually say that if there’s no pain there’s no gain. The pain would be yours and the gain would be for your baby. If you’re just thinking about yourself, then you should have not taken the responsibility of being a mother. Breastfeeding is just a tiny part of a lifetime pain that you’ll experience for your baby’s future gains. If you’ll think about it, it will take less than two years only, and this is just a preparation for a lifetime of pain.
• Now if you just don’t like breastfeeding it is always up to you. But just to share another story, that my mom had told me in the past, a story of one of our relatives. I forgot if it was her cousin or aunt, but this woman never wanted to breastfeed her babies. She had three kids and breastfeed them for just a month. From her first baby, she was already advised by the doctor to continue breastfeeding. The same advice goes to the following children. She ended up having breast cancer and they concluded that this may have been caused by not continuously breastfeeding her baby for at least six months. Since that, even I was still young when my mother told me about it, I told myself that I’ll breastfeed my babies once I become a mom for as long as I can. I’m grateful to tell everyone that I breastfeed my son for two years and now my second baby is being breastfed for almost six months now. My target is to do the same thing for Mikayla.

So there we have it! Those were just the common reason. I’m sure there’s a lot more out there. Hope you enjoyed this post. Please share your thoughts about breastfeeding too 😉