Formula is normula but breast can also be best…
So if you didn’t know, it’s breast feeding celebration week 🍒 and as you probably do know I don’t breast feed, but in the same way I hate it when people judge bottle feeders I also hate judges of breast feeders. After all they didn’t create the phrase “breast is best”…it really only exists cos it rhymes. I’m sure if breast rhymed with “good” that saying would be “breast is good”…I’d like to bow down and accept your praise for my new “formula is normula” saying at this point 😂…you are very welcome!
So in celebration of this lovely, if not a bit weird, week (I would like to petition for a formula celebration week too please!) I wanted to talk about a book I’ve come across that helps explain the boob to younger children (before you ask no I’m not being paid, I just really liked the book so thought I’d share), something that can be confusing for little ones as I experienced first hand and struggled awkwardly to try explain why my boob was out and being rammed into my babies mouth 😳….
As you know if you read my blog, during my first few weeks with Reu I did try breast feeding and for me it wasn’t a smooth latch on process, more of a battle with my nipple and Reu’s mouth involving me pinching my boob and angling it in a very crude way into his mouth. I did try do this in private most of the time, but I’m not one to shy away from an audience if they so wish to watch (ps I’m talking friends and family…of whom, for the record, non wanted to watch apart from the person this story is about!).
I was at my parents house, when Reu was about 3 weeks, and some family friends had come to visit to see the bub. They brought with them their gorgeous little girl Willow, who’s 4 years old and probably the most polite and confident little lady I have ever met. I had taken myself quietly into the kitchen to try and feed, and mid struggle little Willow popped in to say hello…
Confident and inquisitive, she swiftly asked me, bluntly…”what are you doing”, clearly she’s never witnessed this before. I literally didn’t know what to say, was it my place to explain?!? I just said that I was feeding Reu and to ask her mummy about it 🙈, as expected this was followed with question after question…”but doesn’t he eat food”, “why is your booby out”, “can I have a look?”….I mean I let her have a look…I didn’t know what else to say. Luckily my mum soon came in and took Willow away, not that I minded the questions, I just wasn’t quite sure how best to explain, I liken it to explaining the birds and the bees to someone else’s child.
I think when I have a second baby, and if I decide to breast feed, I will definitely whip out this little book…it’s beautifully illustrated and really simply explains “what baby wants” and the concept of breastfeeding.
It goes through all the things baby could want to stop them crying, ending with a feed…I particularly love the third to last page which is just an illustration of two boobs, I mean why should we shy away from them, for a lot of people they feed and nourish their baby and shouldn’t be something we’re embarrassed to whip out or talk about.
I think the book gets it out there that baby sometimes needs booby to make them happy, and I can really imagine a book like this being really helpful in tying to explain what must appear to be a really weird phenomenon to a child 🙈
So yeah, I just wanted to share it as I love it and think it’s a fab little find to help little ones understand the boobs and the bees haha 🍒🐝 you can get it here.
What Sophie Sees 