Becoming a mother has taught me a lot of things. Things about myself I never knew existed. How strong I am, how resilient I am, how far my heart can stretch and the love I have to give. It has taught me to be a kinder person, more understanding.
Becoming a mother has taught me a lot of things. Things about myself I never knew existed. How strong I am, how resilient I am, how far my heart can stretch and the love I have to give. It has taught me to be a kinder person, more understanding. It has taught me how to effectively cover up dark circles and exactly how many consecutive days I can actually use dry shampoo!
Motherhood has taught me a lot about my body. My body I once as a teenager, didn’t like very much. A body I ironically once hated I now look at in awe. I am proud of this body for giving me four healthy beautiful children. And I love my body more than ever before.
More than any other part, I love my post-baby breasts. Here’s why-
It was their first safe place
The benefits of breastfeeding aside, they were the first place my baby felt safe after being born. When my baby first landed on my chest, placenta still attached, our hearts met for the first time in the outside world, and everything in my life changed forever.
During those first indescribable minutes, meeting my baby for the first time there were also incredible benefits of that uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact, including releasing the needed hormones to help my own body recover from labour and delivery.
Breast milk is liquid gold
It is fascinating when you really think about it. My body can make up the exact breastmilk tailored to my baby’s needs. It can change by the hour. It changes temperature based on my babies temperature and it changes based on babies sex and age.
It also changes depending on the weather. If the baby is in need of some hydration the consistency of the breast milk will be more watery. Amazing.
Breastfeeding at night helps my baby sleep better and me sleep better too
It is impressive enough that when you produce milk at night, it naturally adjusts to contain more melatonin and tryptophan to help baby's brain naturally stay in a sleepy state. But, it also gives a release of oxytocin in my brain to help me get more quality rest so I can fall back asleep straight away when baby finishes nursing. (Or sometimes mid breastfeed!)
They know what my baby needs even before I do
Towards the end of pregnancy, your areolas darken in colour. This change can sometimes go unnoticed but it is your body, your breasts way of preparing for the baby's arrival because baby's only see contrast in their first few days and now it was much easier for her to find her target.
When my baby cries I also get a let-down. Or when any other baby cries!! My body is always there for my baby even when it takes my head a few minutes to catch up!
They knew a baby was coming even before I did
When you're trying to get pregnant, you find yourself constantly googling things like "earliest signs of pregnancy" and "could I be pregnant if…"
One of the very first symptoms I had when pregnant on my little one was sore breasts. So, before I even knew I was pregnant they knew!
Written by Laura Doyle staff writer at FFHQ who also blogs at www.lovelifeandlittleones.com.
