A good week.

One of the things they don't tell you about becoming a lactation consultant is how deeply you can empathize with other mothers' breastfeeding struggles. 

They never tell you, for example, that when you're standing in front of a screaming baby on a scale, you might feel a sudden urge to squeeze the mother's hand, or start bargaining with God for an extra ounce. 

It's one thing to provide information and hands-on help, troubleshoot, and try to puzzle through an unusual problem, but it's another thing to find yourself waking up in the middle of the night thinking about a mother or a baby.  Maybe it's because I was recently in her position, myself.

I don't mean in any way to suggest that I'm experiencing the same thing as mothers I work with.  I'm quite aware that, unlike those mothers, I get a full night's sleep, am experiencing no nipple pain, and can eat and shower whenever I want.  But these struggles really do get under my skin, and there are weeks when I carry a tiny bit of the pain around with me.

The flip side is that when there is success I get to share a little bit of the joy, too.  And this week there have been a number of small and large victories among mothers I'm working with.  Sometimes the accomplishments are overshadowed by new problems or just the craziness of having a new baby, so much so that I feel as if I need to grab a mom by the shoulders and say "You did it!"  The battles I saw won this week were hard fought and in some cases required a whole lot of stubborness.  I hope that they feel proud.

So when I'm standing in front of that baby flailing on the scale, I sometimes hold my breath.  But when the number comes up and a smile spreads across both our faces, I can't think of any place I'd rather be.

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Comments

[Rattling the Kettle]

One baby at a time...

[tanya@motherwearblog]

Amen.

[joanna patraw]

Ditto. I'm a lactation consultant buddy of Tanya's and I couldn't agree more with her sentiments. I see babies in the hospital in the first 4 days of life & share me own rituals of sort if you will. When troubleshooting with moms I often find myself giving the baby a verbal pep talk/bargaining agreement as we are working together. I find many mothers think the intial challenges with breastfeeding mean they have done something wrong. For me pep talking with the baby is my own way of trying to help show moms that the baby has a period of growth and learning as well. My hope for each day is that at least one family feels like their breastfeeding journey is changing in a positive way after we've worked on feedings.
Joanna

[Beth]

Well said, Tanya! I know exactly what you mean. Glad that this was one of those good weeks.

[Sharon Livingston]

Way to go Tanya and I feel the same way. Keep up the good work on your blog.Sharon

[Crunchy Domestic Goddess]

you are providing such a wonderful service to those women and their babies. keep up the great work, tanya. :)

[Amanda]

I got very choked up reading this. I was one of those moms and if not for LCs like you, nursing would be a distant, painful memory now instead of something I still do 14 months later.