My breastfeeding journey had a horrible start. I had my son at 33 weeks and he was bottle fed expressed milk till he was 2 months old.
Everyone kept telling me that he will never take the breast as bottle fed babies get lazy to suckle. And I at some point thought why force the issue.
But my ex-husband was a nag about him breastfeeding so I used to offer my breast every day and every day he would look at me confused and I felt awful when he didn't latch.
One afternoon he was very crabby and niggly and I couldn't pacify him. And I don't know what made me do it but I offered my breast again and he instantly latched on and started sucking.
We went through mastitis a total of three times, a cyst and thrush, in our 2 and a half year breastfeeding journey. But we pushed through and I loved every single moment of it. I think I was actually more upset and heartbroken when we stopped than my son. But the calmness and peacefulness that comes with stopping everything no matter what it was, to nurse…those moments will never come back.
I know that every mom's journey is different and so are our circumstances, but nothing will come near to the feeling of being so close to your little one.
By Aamena Lockhat
Abdur Rahman at 9 months old (corrected age 7 months).
