Zen and the art of Motherhood
by Barbara Dehn - 18th July 2008
I was talking to a friend, who is the mother of 3 children, about motherhood and what her experience with feeding her children was like. She breastfed her first child for 3 months, the 2nd for 3 weeks and the newest baby for 12 days. Her milk supply couldn’t keep up despite all of her efforts, and she had to supplement with all 3 children. “I just did what was best for my babies,” she said. "I couldn’t nourish them myself, what else could I do? I had to supplement and I don’t feel bad at all about it.” She then asked me if other women did feel sad, and was surprised to learn that some do struggle with their circumstances and not being able to feed their babies the way they had envisioned. “Hmmmm,” she pondered, “I never felt that I was doing anything wrong or that there was anything wrong with me. It just didn’t work out.” She then said something that I haven’t heard before when the sometimes controversial subject of infant feeding comes up. “I don’t judge other women, and I don’t expect them to judge me.” It seems like a very Zen like, accepting perspective.
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