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BREASTFEEDING 2021/22: THE JOY AND AGONY OF MOTHERHOOD

I actually wanted to breastfeed and couldn't. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who believe I made a choice. I didn't. I've had people tell me I didn't try hard enough. I did try, but when your child is screaming because she's starving and nothing is happening with your breasts, you grab a bottle and some formula and you feed them so they don't die. It wasn't a choice. I'm one of the supposedly rare women who do not produce any milk or not even close to enough milk to sustain the life of their child. And when you grab that bottle and the formula and you feel like a failure because it's really not how you wanted to do things, you need to be thankful that the bottle and the formula exist.

About 5% of women are unable to provide enough breast milk to feed their children. This is said to be rare. However, if 1% of the world population having celiac disease has caused it to no longer be considered rare, I have to wonder how 5% is considered rare. More likely than not, my having celiac disease is the reason I couldn't and didn't lactate. And when I say couldn't and didn't, I'm not saying that I had a tiny bit of milk and it wasn't enough to sustain my child's life... I mean my breasts didn't grow during pregnancy, my breasts didn't become engorged, there was no letdown, and I never had any milk leak from my breasts.

LET'S CONTINUE FROM THE INSIDE PAGE AS WE CELEBRATE THE WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK