Before I had babies, I did my research. I knew that I wanted to give nursing my kids a try, but I also knew it might not work out. I tried to figure out the best breastfeeding hacks and breastfeeding tips for new moms ahead of time, but honestly, it sounded like a whole lot of work.
However, I had read about all the benefits to breastfeeding, like that it made your kids smarter or helped you bond with the baby (which, yeah, not necessarily). And the biggest benefit of all from where I stood? It was cheaper.
And with maternity leave looming, and a strong desire to become a stay at home mom eventually, that was a VERY motivating factor for me. I was determined to press on and to find out how to breastfeed for a year, at least.
When the time came for me to deliver my babies and feed them, though, I found that breastfeeding was just not my favorite thing. It hurt more than I had expected (even though everyone had TRIED to warn me), and Lila took AGES to eat. We got in this infuriating eat/feed expressed milk with a syringe/pump cycle that took a full hour and a half…leaving me with thirty minutes before we had to start again.
I almost gave up, but decided to push through (because CHEAPSKATE). I set short goals for myself, like making it to two weeks, and then a month, and then two months, and slowly but surely, we made our way to a year.
And I still didn’t like it. And that’s okay.
However, in the process of learning to make breastfeeding bearable for myself, I came up with a few strategies that made it seem a lot easier. I’ve got to admit, making a few little changes made it SO much easier for to breastfeed for a year, even when you don’t like breastfeeding. So if you find yourself in a similar position, give yourself some grace. And don’t worry, because we’ve got some FANTASTIC, super-easy breastfeeding hacks for lazy moms for you to try.
