A Brelfie Saga

What image does breastfeeding bring to your mind?

If someone would have asked me this question before I became a mother, it must have brought that ‘shh…shh…’ feeling in me. Isn’t it how many of us react to breastfeeding? Like menstruation and sex, breastfeeding is certainly another secrecy to hide, is it not?

My pregnancy days were mostly about tracking how the baby was growing inside and of course, trying to crack the baby’s gender by all insane means. I assumed that breastfeeding the baby is an effortless process and soon after the baby is born, I’ll become an expert nursing mom in no time. Out came the baby one fine day! Unlike to all my assumptions, the first few feeding days were nothing but pleasant. Frequent feeds, sore nipples, latching problem, engorged breasts- in addition to non-stop cries and sleeplessness – I badly wished my infant would grow to a toddler overnight. As a new mother when you don’t understand why the baby cries, nothing else shall seem to fall in place. Feeding doesn’t too.

As all thing in life, with days, with months, we did get into the best bonding mode during our nursing times. Over a year now, I can confidently feed her anywhere anytime without a tinge of embarrassment. I’ve fed her while placing an order with the restaurant bearer without him discovering a clue about what was happening under the table. I’ve fed her at a wedding hall while a group of relatives were chatting with me assuming the baby was having a nap in my arms. And yet elsewhere while cooking, while typing, while bathing – my daughter and I have been a romantic mom-girl duo!

Now that I am a mother of two and a presently nursing mom, ask me, what breastfeeding brings to my mind.

🙂 What more than the smile, the joy and the pranks of my little girl!!! 🙂

Our nursing times are one of the exciting times of her routine. Perhaps, she finds some magic in mom’s milk that surpasses the savouries of all solids she’s been fed. The glow of joy I get to see on her face when I am just about to feed her is indescribable. Her incoherent blabbers, her sweet fondling, her naughty plays, her sleepy face, that tight grasp of my tee – it’s one of the cherishing emotions for a mom to be that one source of security for the little one. There is a special warmth in the moment when every time I will have to loosen her tight fingers from my dress after the feed and after she dozes off – I’ve adored and admired much of her little girly things during feeding. Now that her natural weaning has started, I know in a few months, I shall miss this dear thing forever. It’s sad that one of the most prestigious charms of my motherhood is fading away. Yet, I am glad that I am not too close to it yet.

Header Image Courtesy – Huffington Post