Breastfeeding has never come easy for me, not for the first baby and not for the 7th. Like many women these days I face some common breastfeeding challenges, one being an unsupportive society and growing up around women who didn’t breastfeed so there is a great lack of support for it in the community. Once upon a time new Moms would grow up seeing normal breastfeeding, they would learn about it, hear about it, and grow up understanding it better. By the time they became mothers they would have a strong foundation for it and back then the women around them were experts because it was normal and necessary. Add to the common issues I suffer from Mammary Hypoplasia, diabetes, and fibromyalgia all adding to making a full supply very difficult and painful. Baby was also born early, had low blood sugar issues, high bili numbers as we are of different blood types, no sucking reflex for the first week, and so formula right off was the hospitals recommendation. All these things added up to a struggle for a latch and supply. I put this list together as a reminder to myself of the reasons I fight to breastfeed. Perhaps this list will help support other struggling nursing mothers like me.

Together we can make nursing normal again, we owe it to our daughters.

Reasons Why I Breastfeed.

1. Breast Is Best
2. All Natural
3. Eat local
4. Free!
5. Recipe perfected over 300 million years.
6. Mammals nurse their young!
7. More sleep
8. No recalls
9. Easy to wash
10. Gives baby better IQ
11. Less chance of childhood obesity.
12. Baby loves it.
13. Breast crawl
14. Helps uterus shrink after birth.
15. Reduces post-partum bleeding
16. The body wants to nurse.
17. Turns mommy fat to liquid gold.
18. Adapts to babies needs.
19. Milk baths for baby for great skin.
20. Human milk for human babies!
21. Breastmilk cures cancer in petri dishes.
22. Best way to calm baby.
23. Always the right temperature.
24. World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life.
25. Recommended till at least age 2.
26. 73% decreased risk of sudden infant death syndrome.
27. My baby was born 5 weeks early so that increases SIDS risks so less SIDS risk is important to me.
28. Less likely baby will get childhood diabetes.
29. Less likely for baby to get asthma.
30. Less Dental Issues
31. Less ear infections
32. Fewer colds and flus.
33. Decreased risk of developing psychological disorders
34. Decreased risk of high cholesterol
35. If adopting Moms can lactate, I should be able to too!
36. Commonly helps Mom lose weight.
37. Reduces the chance of Mom getting breast cancer.
38. It is universally understood by health organizations that there is no commercial formula equal to breastmilk.
39. Bioavalable iron in breastmilk is safer for baby.
40. No getting up to find bottle parts in the middle of the night!
41. No boiling bottle Parts
42. Formula is NOT sterile, it is supposed to be boiled and cooled but no one does it.
43. Breastmilk contains antibodies and lymphocytes that help baby resist infections.
44. Colostrum builds up babies intestinal track to help their immune system.
45. Clean water isn’t needed to breastfeed baby.
46. Breastfeeding helps give baby good gut health.
47. Colostrum acts as a laxative to clear babies body of meconium.
48. Colostrum helps clear out bilirubin to reduce jaundice.
49. Breastmilk is ready when baby is ready to eat. Supply and Demand.
50. Breastmilk comes in different colors.
51. Breastmilk can be left out for 6 hours.
52. Breastmilk is good in a fridge for a week!
53. Breastfeeding releases hormones to relax mom.
54. Breastfeeding can reduce the chances of PPD.
55. Breastmilk can cure pink eye.
56. Breastmilk can heal some kinds of rashes.
57. Breastmilk can be made into baby ice cream.
58. If it is hot out the breasts produce milk with more water to keep baby hydrated.
59. Breastmilk tastes sweet. Formula is gross!
60. Breastmilk doesn’t smell as baby when baby spits up!
61. There are 200 types of sugars in breast milk found nowhere else in nature.
62. Oligosaccharides in breastmilk feed the good gut bacteria.
63. Helps sooth bug bites.
64. Helps sooth burns.
65. Breastfeeding saves lives.
66. Breastfeeding is easier in natural disasters.
67. Always have a way to sooth baby.
68. Babies love breasts as pillows when they are done.
69. Promotes bonding.
70. Can breastfeed while wearing baby.
71. No spilled formula.
72. Less “things to buy” to support breastfeeding.
73. Better for premmie babies specially.
74. Breastmilk is alive and wonderful!
75. Breastmilk changes flavor based on Moms diet!
76. It is believed breastfeeding can help baby develop their taste preferences.
77. Breastfed babies generally recover more quickly from illness.
78. Breastmilk hormones can help baby regulate awake and sleep times.
79. STEM CELLS
80. STEM CELLS
81. STEM CELLS  (Yes, this has to be said three times or million. This is a huge deal!)
82. Breastfeeding can help a working mother feel closer to her baby.
83. Men can lactate!
84. It is very rare that a woman can’t lactate, given help most women could overcome breastfeeding struggles.
85. Some Breastmilk is better than NONE.
86. Breastfeeding is Normal
87. Letting society see breastfeeding helps support other breastfeeding Mothers.
88. Letting our children see us nursing helps them grow up to better understand breastfeeding and be supportive of it.
89. Breastfeeding is important to fighting many issues of poverty.
90. Breastfeeding is NOT sexual.
91. Breastfeeding is helping free the nipple. (Look up this social movement for equality)
92. Breasts are made to breastfeed!
93. Breastfeeding has lifelong influences on mother and baby!
94. Breastfeeding can help Mom feel successful.
95. Breastfeeding does all these amazing things, it is the norm, that means formula is lesser, that is a fact.
96. We would not have evolved like this without breastfeeding.
97. What would generations of formula fed humans degrade to?
98. I was formula fed and I am fine, but is “fine” what we are striving for?
99. I wouldn’t forgive myself for knowing all this and not trying my hardest to breastfeed.

100. I CAN.   (If not fully, at least as much as possible!)