Lessons from Childhood
by Michelle McKinney RN Well I wanted to tell you my story about how I learned to breastfeed. I learned along time ago when I was 10 years old.... from a goat. Yes, I said a goat. My dad bought me a Nubian milking goat (you know the big floppy-eared type) when I was 9. She was caramel color with white ears that had been frost bitten and missing the lower half of her ears. I loved this goat. The next year he got the bright idea to have her breed, and needless to say, she had twins five months later. She was so engorged that we had to go to the barn several times a day to express some milk so the babies could latch on. I watched her during the year that the babies grew and saw how she trained them to come to her with one special sound for her precious milk. As my goat herd grew, I learned that some mothers knew what to do and others had no idea. The years went on and I learned of problems that can occur from breastfeeding, such as cracked nipples (or in goat terms teets), mastitis (milk fever), and hard-to-wean babies (same in goat). I learned that expressed milk was the best thing for cracked teets. I even learned of nipple confusion when I tried to become a sub mother for a sick mommy and then tried to reintroduce the breast. I went to nursing school and when we got to the reproductive part I could at least answer some of the questions from my experience with the goats. It got a lot of laughs when I would say "I don't know about humans but goats do it...". It seemed that there wasn't much different other than where the milk was located on the female's body. Boy did I have a lot to learn...... Well when I had my little Tearson I thought I knew what to do. But I was one of the mommies who had no idea. I fumbled with the latch - broke my back trying to hold her in the right position (no pillows). Thank the heavens above my little one knew what to do. She would latch right on and suck while I figured out what to do with the rest of her. I still think about that goat as she nuzzled her little ones while they fed and I try to do the same to my baby. Thanks to a goat I have pushed myself to breastfeed. I have seen how natural it is and how much it means to a baby to be love in this special way. I will teach Tearson by example to breastfeed her babies. She will also see the goats too. |
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