Mom Tip of the Day 4

Honestly, I am having a hard time remember which mom tip this is. I enjoy writing these, and so I go on sporadically when I feel an inclination to share my thoughts as a mother. Today I wanted to talk about my experience with breastfeeding a new baby. It can be ridiculously hard to breastfeed for a long period of time, especially for working mothers. Strangely, something that should come quite naturally does not, and this makes it hard to continue on. As a handyman, I can say that breastfeeding for a long period of time was not going to be realistic for me, as I did not always have access to a plug so I could pump. I knew that I was somewhat set up to fail--which was difficult. The cost of living keeps increasing, and so we all have to work. Although I much prefer the state of the world that allows women to work and be actual human beings, it is certainly sad that many women cannot afford to stay home with their children. Even though women really aren't very different from men (they are just socialized differently), we still have a motherly instinct that causes many of us to have an irrational need to stay home with our kids. It's not that wanting to spend time with our kids is irrational, but it's amazing to see how much of our lives are changed once a child enters our life. Being a mother becomes a part of your identity, and it can be difficult to avoid getting lost in it. I will say, even though I was unable to breastfeed as long as I wanted, I still learned some breastfeeding hacks along the way. Once you do anything for a period of time, you will find ways to do the same thing--but easier. Either way, I would definitely recommend mothers to do their best with breastfeeding, but to avoid beating themselves up if they can't do it. They need to realize that society puts unrealistic and unfair expectations on them sometimes, which means they just need to roll with it the best that they can.