One of the decisions I felt strongly about was breastfeeding my daughter. I had a rocky time of it in the beginning but by the end of the first week I felt like a pro. I was whipping my boob out at her first feeding cues and I've loved every minute of it since. Now that she's approaching the age of two I've decided to wean her from breastfeeding and the process has been a mixture of relief, sadness, stress, frustration and exhaustion. I have never thought twice about breastfeeding and I still advocate other mothers to do the same.
That prompted me to learn more about it. I wanted to be sure that I was knowledgeable and competent to answer questions that came my way or knew where to find the answer. After a little bit of research I found a CLEC or Certified Lactation Educator Counselor program through UCSD. This is not to be confused with a Lactation Consultant, those individuals go through a more in depth course and pass a international board exam. After "getting my feet wet" with this course I fully intend to go for the consultant course. That's another story though.
I've only been in three days of class and I absolutely LOVE it! I LOVE understanding the why, like the hormonal changes mothers go through during pregnancy and after birth. The little things that concerned me before now have a reason and I wasn't going crazy after all. Like, why did she SUCK all the time? I LOVE being able to answer all the myths and cautionary tales I heard on why not to breastfeed, like your nipples will get chapped. It feels EMPOWERING to know without a doubt that I made the right decision and I am excited that I will be in a position to help other mothers make informed decisions in the future.
that's so great! maybe i should start there before enrolling in school, too!
ReplyDelete@Ana Which program were you interested in? Email me or DM me for more info.
ReplyDeleteThat is wonderful! I'm thrilled to hear that you experienced something so fantastic, especially during the nursing process/experience - while you're still doing it. I was wondering where you were hiding out, so I'm glad it was for good stuff!
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent post and a large part of me wants to share it with my friends on facebook! I have a lot of about to be mothers as friends and they are very young... and there are just so many misconceptions about breastfeeding that I try to give them as much information as I can!
ReplyDeleteI write about breastfeeing/post informational blogs about it quite often and just try to get the information out there the best I can! I'm glad to see you doing it too. I wish you luck in your course.
I'm currently 18. My daughter is going on 8 months on the 30th of this month and we are still going strong with the breastfeeding. She knows how to ask for it (is starting to work on saying boob) and I've never had a problem giving it to her. In fact, I never had any rough spots with breastfeeding! I truly fortunate/blessed when it came to breastfeeding my daughter.