Can we all just agree that ‘fed is best’ 
From the time your sweet newborn is placed on your chest, all you want to do from that moment on is keep them safe. As a first time Mom you might feel the weight of all of the decisions you have to make for your baby and worried about making the ‘right one’… I understand because I have been there too. So to help you feel a little less alone, here is my breastfeeding story…
Before Amalia was born I made the choice to breastfeed, and luckily after a few struggles we were able to find our groove and she was thriving on ‘liquid gold’. At the same time I was struggling with postpartum anxiety and trauma from her birth. I started to find breastfeeding isolating and my inability to leave her for more than a few hours fed my anxiety. I decided it was time to introduce formula for my mental health. When I asked the midwives they said they wouldn’t recommend a formula and that breastfeeding is best. This was WRONG, and made me feel like I was wrong to stop breastfeeding for the sake of my mental health. So I kept on breastfeeding while struggling with feeling isolated and with anxiety. In time I followed my instincts, and with courage I weaned her at almost 10 months. She finally slept through the night and I began to heal.
Fast forward 4 years to Alexander. There was no way ANYONE was going to tell me that breastfeeding is best for me, because I knew in retrospect how much it had affected my mental health. I made it very clear that if breastfeeding meant sacrificing my mental health again then there was NO WAY that I would be doing it. I prepared the bottles and my breast pump- and tossed aside the idea of nipple confusion. Let me explain that I was happy to breastfeed again, but only if I was mentally healthy enough to do it.
When Alex was born, he did breastfeed very easily and because it was a different birth experience, and I wasn’t a FTM, I was mentally healthy. I decided to breastfeed him for a few months- while also using a pumped bottle- and then slowly introduced formula. I didn’t ask a single person what they thought… because I knew what was best for me and my baby. You will too… just follow your own instincts.
xo Nadia