Words from the lovely Heather about her breastfeeding journey and experience of the Breastfeeding Project ♥
WHY YOU WOULD LIKE TO TAKE PART IN THIS PROJECT?
Breastfeeding is such a beautiful opportunity to bond with your child and to give them the best start in life. Right now I’m struggling to love my postpartum body. This body has grown my daughter and now it sustains her. That should be celebrated.
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR BREASTFEEDING JOURNEY SO FAR?
I struggled to breastfeed my son and ended up combo feeding for a while before getting back to exclusively breastfeeding. I fed him until he was 21 months old.
When my daughter was born I thought I knew what I was doing, and when I experienced a huge amount of pain it was extremely difficult and I felt like a failure. Now we are feeding pain free and she is 14 weeks old.
In total I’ve fed for over 2 years!
I’m three months post partum. My body has been through two difficult pregnancies and right now I hate every inch of it.
I hate mirrors, I hate being in public, I hate the fact my clothes don’t fit, I hate the fact I’m never comfortable. More than anything else I hate having my photo taken because I know I’ll look at them and see nothing but flaws.
I took part in the Hudson and Rose Photography - Family, Motherhood, Business Breastfeeding Project to celebrate Breastfeeding Awareness Week because I might hate my body right now but it’s achieved something incredible and that deserves to be celebrated. We’ve battled through low weight gain, horrendous pain and (mild) feeding aversions to get where I am today. I have breastfed for over two years of my life.
I do not enjoy breastfeeding and I’ve never felt an emotional attachment to it. It hasn’t come naturally to me but I’ve struggled through. That is worth marking, so despite feeling incredibly uncomfortable I went and had my picture taken.
As I suspected, the second I saw these photos I felt awful. All I could see are fat rolls, double chins, chubby arms. But I’m sharing them anyway because when this comes up in my memories in a year all I will see are HER fat rolls, double chins and chubby arms. My beautiful little baby. She will be 15 months old. Maybe she will still feed, but she won’t need my milk to survive. My body will have done it’s job and I know I’ll look at that and be proud of what my body can do.
This body has created and sustained two beautiful children and these pictures are beautiful. -Heather