For Breastfeeding Moms

Motherhood is a challenging endeavor, more so to a breastfeeding mother. Whether you are a first time mom or it’s your second, third or succeeding child, the experience varies. But most of the time you find yourself busy with your child that sometimes you think you don’t have time to fix yourself, chat with a friend and even pray.

Let me share with you below the insights of Catherine McNiel on breastfeeding from her book “Long Days of Small Things: Motherhood as a Spiritual Discipline“:

Catherine McNiel said that “when we mothers breastfeed our children, we physically portray a great truth: Sacrifice and beauty often intermingle into one. We nurse our babies literally feeding our children from our own bodies. We pour forth our time, body, and soul for the survival of another person, in a process that is painful, joyful, bonding, and demanding. This powerful mix impacts our spirits.”

Furthermore, McNiel shared that “breastfeeding is a difficult sacrifice, and it is not possible for everyone. It means physical pain, difficult latches, plugged ducts. It means howling infants to angry to latch on. It means getting up in the middle of the night again and again. And again. It means a tether connects mother to baby that cannot be severed even for a short time. Nursing mothers can only leave for so long and only go so far. The twin pains of an empty tummy and full breasts will certainly bring us back to our infants. Mother and baby need each other for relief in perfect synergy.”

“So much of our time, so much of our bodies, is given through breastfeeding,” according to McNiel. “But this sacrifice contains great joy. There is deep bonding in the hormones, emotions, decisions, and physicality of breastfeeding. Each of those hours is given and received. Each drop of milk binds two people together, as life flows literally from mother to child. It is beautiful, joyful, and good. And it is deeply spiritual — in all its forms.”

Lastly, McNiel suggested that when we practice breastfeeding we should:

Stay present. Use the stillness of nursing to awaken yourself to the present. Turn off the electronics, at least some of the time. Focus on your baby’s noises and movements, and store them deeply inside your heart. Allow the hormones released during letdown to quiet your own mind and soul. Reflect on your thoughts and emotions. Sort through them, offering them to God. Allow the stillness to usher you into a time of worship or prayer. Quiet yourself as you quiet your child.

Give and receive. Outside the womb, is there a more extreme example of gift- giving than breastfeeding? Consider the wonder of it: Your body is mysteriously connected to your child’s, producing the nutrients, comfort, and physical touch she needs to thrive and grow. As we nurse, we are poured out, emptied for the sake of another. As you feel your breasts empty and your baby relax, acknowledge the life-giving gift you have poured out. Then open your spirit to the Creator, and allow his Spirit to fill you.

Rejoice. This most physical of actions is profoundly spiritual. Enjoy the intimacy and mutual relief. Give thanks for new life, for bounty, and for nurture. Delight in this time with your child, in the dawning hours of his life. And in those in-between moments, those soaked-nursing-bra-and-damp-T-shirt moments, rejoice that you are dripping with sacrament, with the God-given nectar of life.

I hope you find the above insights useful whether you are a breastfeeding mother or not. Let us ponder on this Bible verse that says, “Yet it is you who drew me from the womb and kept me safe at my mother’s breast” (Psalm 22:10). Said verse emphasized that it is God who made it possible for us children to be conceived and connected to our mothers. With this, may we give all the help needed by breastfeeding mothers for their situation is not that easy.

“A child is fed with milk and praise.” – Mary Lamb