We had a breastfeeding class at Swedish Covenant yesterday. Yes “we.” And we were the only “we” — no other husband/partner was there. I had a good time checking out nipple shields, nursing bras, breast pumps and numerous videos featuring multiple close-ups of the proper latch and how to achieve it.
It was actually quite fascinating and I think it’s a shame more men weren’t there. Because, let’s be honest, we men are really second-fiddle in the whole “baby operation” from just after conception to the time the baby is no longer breast feeding. And so learning about things like breast-feeding, going to all the midwife appointments etc. is a good way of being more involved than one otherwise would be.
The whole breast-feeding thing is really quite fascinating. On the one hand, it is perfectly natural and it seems like one impediment to successful breast-feeding is obsessing about whether one will be able to breast-feed. On the other hand, it’s not so natural that there is nothing to (consciously) learn, so you do need to think about what is involved in the whole process and learn the basic techniques that help the baby to get a good latch. Walking the line between conscious-preparedness and over-thinking the whole thing is challenging.
But we’re doing fine, in part because we know that if Em doesn’t breast-feed it ultimately means very little. After all, yours truly was not breast-fed. And I’m doing Ok (right?). Although after hearing all the benefits of breast-feeding (in brief: smarter, healthier babies), one can’t help but wonder what might have been. I could have been President. Or an astronaut. Or the first president astronaut. Sigh.
Whoa there… how about first prime minister astronaut? Which begs the next question: Is Birdie going to be registered as a Canadian? Always pays to keep your options open!
You are indeed right. I was just keeping things simple for our American readers.
And we will certainly make Birdie Canadian.