A mum has touched hearts all over the world with her searingly honest post about how she is feeling, now that her son has stopped breastfeeding: rejected.
While it’s a regular part of life and development for both us and our little ones, New Zealand mum Emily can’t help but feel sad over the revelation that she is no longer the centre of son Ziggy’s universe.
Emily took to her blog, Raising Ziggy, to share the update – with a photo of herself and a distressed looking Ziggy in the shower.
“This is what misery looks like. When breastfeeding no longer offers the comfort it used to, and you don’t know how to take away the pain,” she wrote.
You see, breastfeeding was the greatest source of comfort for Ziggy – and not just when he was hungry.
“I’ve always been able to fix Ziggy, and last night I couldn’t,” she wrote, recalling his sore bottom, hot cheeks and streaming tears.
“From the moment he was born, breastfeeding has been more than just a source of food. It was what he needed when he was upset, in pain, when he was tired. There was nothing boob couldn’t fix.”
This time, however, when she offered him her breasts, he turned away, leaving her feeling helpless.
“We ended up in the shower. Skin to skin, holding him close. And he sat there, hurting and upset. I cried, quietly. I felt so powerless,” she explained.
Now, naturally, Emily knew that this day was going to come, and she did wonder when it would happen. In the end, it was Ziggy who made the decision – after Emily fell pregnant.
“As the weeks have passed, his need for breastfeeding during the day has lessened. He stopped coming to me for cuddle feeds. He stopped asking for it when he hurt himself. By around 19 weeks pregnant, the only time he would breastfeed during the day was when he needed to nap, and even that was taking so much longer than it used to,” she wrote.
While this was always going to happen, and it’s a sign that Ziggy is ready to move on to the next stage of development, Emily has been hit with a wave of emotions that so many of us can relate to.
“I used to be his world, and now his world is expanding,” she observed, admitting that she’s now faced with figuring out what ‘life without boob’ is going to be like.
Emily’s post has garnered plenty of love as well as sad face emojis on Facebook, as scores of mums took to the comment section to share their own similar experiences. It seems many mums have been in her shoes, and unprepared for ‘the hard part’.
What are your thoughts, mums? Can you relate? Let us know in the comment section!
