The Beverly Art of Breastfeeding

When I initially began breastfeeding I told myself I would do it as long as I could tolerate it or until Lucero turns one. Well, we're just a few weeks shy of her first birthday and I'm still nursing. I feel like a pioneer, not in the sense that I'm the first to begin this new venture, but in the sense of those early settlers we learned about in history, because I imagine a whole lot of those women pioneers were breastfeeding also.

The number one reason I wanted to breastfeed was because it was dirt cheap. I knew the cost of formula was outrageous. I'm not even sure why it's so expensive, but really it's ridiculous. I really saved us a ton of money. Money that was better put to use, say on diapers. Of course, the other reasons to breastfeed, like it being the best nourishment for the baby, being able to lose the weight quicker, and the sheer convenience of it, were additional benefits.

When I first began this long journey of nourishing my child by way of the breast, it was torture. Pure torture. It hurt like hell just to get the little one to latch on properly. It was one of the toughest things I've had to do: endure pain just to feed my baby. But I was constantly reminded of another mother I knew. She complains about everything, like everything is a big deal. I thought to myself, "if this lady can do it and she seems to have a hard time with everything, than I should be able to do it too." Yeah, so that was my motivation for pushing through the difficult times. Plus, I heard in order to truly give breastfeeding a chance, you should wait at least six weeks, 'cause it dramatically improves over time. And it did. It definitely got much easier after she began eating baby food. That meant less time on my breasts, which was so freeing.

Some things I had no idea about before breastfeeding: that while I was feeding her on one breast, the other would be leaking. Yeah, I discovered this early on when I looked down and saw one side of my shirt soaked. The other thing I didn't know was that it would be my hard boobs that would wake me in the middle of night and not my crying baby. More times than not I would wake from the sheer discomfort of full breasts, to which I would have to lay on my back instead of my side in order to get a bit more sleep before the baby woke. And no one ever told me that the milk comes out of more than one hole. Yeah, that was new.

And so here we are, almost a year later, and we made it! I think I deserve a medal. Or at least a tax break or something. But now my biggest question is: How do I begin the weaning process? Just to give you an idea of how it works for us lately...

I nurse Lucero first thing in the morning when she wakes.

I nurse her after her first nap.

I nurse her again either before her next nap or after, just depends.

I nurse her at her bedtime.

And then I nurse her pretty much throughout the night, as often as she wakes up, which you never know how often that'll be.


I would consult my handy Womanly Art of Breastfeeding book, but it's deep in storage, so I'm relying on my readers for guidance, that is if any of you have ever been through this before. Is it as painful as they say it is?

Truly, breastfeeding Lucero is one of the best things I could've done, even if it was a pain at times. I thought it was so cliche when mothers said they felt more bonded to their child through breastfeeding. In the beginning, this was not the case for me. But over time, I became attached to my little one more and more and mostly because we shared moments during feedings that no one else can ever have with her and that's the most special thing about it.