Bethenny, Bryn & Breastfeeding

If you watch Bravo TV, chances are that you’re acquainted with Bethenny.  She was one of the Real Housewives of New York, having previously appeared on the Apprentice.  She’s whip-smart, quick and funny.  She also just had baby Bryn and allowed the cameras to capture some of her breastfeeding and pumping experiences.

As a nurse who has worked with new moms struggling to get a baby latched on in a variety of settings from homes and hospitals to clinics and offices, this was a rare glimpse behind the doors of just how hard, wonderful, emotional and also frustrating it can be to care for a newborn.

Bethenny is sitting in the back seat with her newborn in a car seat next to her. After they get on the road and are whizzing down the highway, the baby starts to cry.  Bethenny is beside herself.  She’s very upset and you can that she’s almost jumping out of her skin. Every cell of her body wants to comfort, nurture and care for her baby.

This is one scene that I’d like to have on my Mac and show patients, because it reinforces what I’ve been telling patients for years.  When a mother hears her baby cry, every cell in her body reacts.  She has to get to that baby, she can’t just sit still.  I believe that it’s hard wired for moms to let nothing stop them from getting to their newborn and caring for them. I believe that it’s one of the reasons that our species has survived. It doesn’t matter if the baby is breast or bottle fed, from her body or adopted, once that baby becomes hers, a mother will not rest until her baby is soothed.

Her husband, who by the way, is a great dad and obviously loves baby Bryn, isn’t as bothered.  The baby nurse, Gina is also not as concerned.

It’s normal for moms to jump out of bed in the middle of the night within a nanosecond, the moment they hear a whimper to attend to their baby.  It’s also normal for their partners to sleep right through any crying.