Dear The National Normalizing Nursing in Public League,
I was a formula fed baby. I was fed with a bottle as were my two sisters and one brother. Almost all of my relatives bottle fed and all of their friends bottle fed. From birth to 16 I had only encountered breastfeeding once.
When I was in the first grade my best friends mother had twins. My friend was the eldest of 7 children so they always needed a helping hand. I helped with anything and everything. They even taught me to change a diaper.
One day her mother started nursing her twins. I felt terribly uncomfortable. I even turned my back to her and stared at the wall. I was embarrassed, as if I was doing something wrong by watching.Eventually I got to the point where if I thought she was going to breastfeed I would actually run home and pretend I had chores to do. I didn't know that she was feeding a baby. I didnt know what she was doing.. I just knew I wasnt suppose to look at her private parts.
I didnt encounter breastfeeding again until I was 16. From then on I only saw babies being fed with bottles, it was my normal. When I was 16 my cousin had a baby, while she was pregnant I remember her saying she wouldn't ever breastfeed. I honestly agreed, I thought it was gross. Her mother wasn't amused by this statement and said "well that's just crazy, that is what boobs are for!" Although it "knew" what boobs are for I never heard someone talk about it in a social setting. Not too long after this conversation my cousin gave birth and she breastfeed. I thought it was a little strange, not to long ago she was border line bashing breastfeeding then all of a sudden she was doing it?
A few years went by and I got married. There was tons of talk about babies, everyone wants to know how many you will have, what genders you may want, and WHEN you will have them. With all the talk about babies I decided to start researching anything to do with baby. Pregnancy, Birth, Baby Gear.. I was crazy about gadgets and what gadget would you use more than a bottle? I started to research bottles and choose the Avent Bottles.. then the question was what formula would I put in that bottle? While researching formula I saw a lot of debate about breastfeeding.. I decided to look into breastfeeding. With very little chance I would actually do it myself.. That is when I found your page.
At first I felt bad for looking at the photos of women feeding their baby. To me breastfeeding was NOT normal. It was never anything I really knew about.. I started reading blog posts by you. Blog post by blog post I became more and more interested in breastfeeding. To the point where I wanted everyone to breastfeed.
Even though my views on breastfeeding were dramatically different than before I was still against breastfeed until 2+. Again, you continued to post blogs, women continued to post on the wall and that too became normal to me.
I want to officially thank you for normalizing breastfeeding for me. I know I am just a single person but after all the knowledge I have gathered from this page and similar pages I have gone from thinking I would never breastfeed, to I might breastfeed, to there being no doubt in my mind that I will breastfeed. I hope that I can help the cause by making breastfeeding normal for my children and their peers.
I was a formula fed baby. I was fed with a bottle as were my two sisters and one brother. Almost all of my relatives bottle fed and all of their friends bottle fed. From birth to 16 I had only encountered breastfeeding once.
When I was in the first grade my best friends mother had twins. My friend was the eldest of 7 children so they always needed a helping hand. I helped with anything and everything. They even taught me to change a diaper.
One day her mother started nursing her twins. I felt terribly uncomfortable. I even turned my back to her and stared at the wall. I was embarrassed, as if I was doing something wrong by watching.Eventually I got to the point where if I thought she was going to breastfeed I would actually run home and pretend I had chores to do. I didn't know that she was feeding a baby. I didnt know what she was doing.. I just knew I wasnt suppose to look at her private parts.
I didnt encounter breastfeeding again until I was 16. From then on I only saw babies being fed with bottles, it was my normal. When I was 16 my cousin had a baby, while she was pregnant I remember her saying she wouldn't ever breastfeed. I honestly agreed, I thought it was gross. Her mother wasn't amused by this statement and said "well that's just crazy, that is what boobs are for!" Although it "knew" what boobs are for I never heard someone talk about it in a social setting. Not too long after this conversation my cousin gave birth and she breastfeed. I thought it was a little strange, not to long ago she was border line bashing breastfeeding then all of a sudden she was doing it?
A few years went by and I got married. There was tons of talk about babies, everyone wants to know how many you will have, what genders you may want, and WHEN you will have them. With all the talk about babies I decided to start researching anything to do with baby. Pregnancy, Birth, Baby Gear.. I was crazy about gadgets and what gadget would you use more than a bottle? I started to research bottles and choose the Avent Bottles.. then the question was what formula would I put in that bottle? While researching formula I saw a lot of debate about breastfeeding.. I decided to look into breastfeeding. With very little chance I would actually do it myself.. That is when I found your page.
At first I felt bad for looking at the photos of women feeding their baby. To me breastfeeding was NOT normal. It was never anything I really knew about.. I started reading blog posts by you. Blog post by blog post I became more and more interested in breastfeeding. To the point where I wanted everyone to breastfeed.
Even though my views on breastfeeding were dramatically different than before I was still against breastfeed until 2+. Again, you continued to post blogs, women continued to post on the wall and that too became normal to me.
I want to officially thank you for normalizing breastfeeding for me. I know I am just a single person but after all the knowledge I have gathered from this page and similar pages I have gone from thinking I would never breastfeed, to I might breastfeed, to there being no doubt in my mind that I will breastfeed. I hope that I can help the cause by making breastfeeding normal for my children and their peers.
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