The benefits of breast-feeding are far and wide, but what's often left undiscussed is that it's not easy for everyone. In a post to her Instagram account last week, a Nashville mom who goes by Leah wrote an honest account of what breast-feeding is really like when it doesn't come as naturally as you want it to.
"Ok, I'm going to say it for us all," she wrote in the caption of a photo of herself and her baby. "Breastfeeding is hard. It's really, really hard. Sometimes I can't even explain what makes it so difficult."
Leah opened up about the uncertainty and second-guessing that can come with trying to breast-feed, writing, "we trusted our bodies to grow our babies for 9 months and now we have to trust our body to supply the nourishment for our babes growth & development. Talk about pressure."
"We all so desperately want to survive and push through," she wrote. "We so badly want to have our baby thrive. We want that relationship. We want the experience... But all I know right now is that breastfeeding is hard."
Since Leah posted her photo last Tuesday, it's gone viral, with other Instagram users chiming in to share their stories.
"I struggled at the beginning my son wouldn't latch properly," one user commented. "I was in so much pain and felt so defeated."
"Breast-feeding is a skill that needs to be learned," another wrote. "Some people learn it easier than others."
Leah certainly isn't alone in her struggle.
"The most important thing for moms to know is that breast-feeding is difficult, and it is a learning process,” Fahimeh Sasan, DO and assistant professor of Obstetrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, told us last year. “For first-time moms, it can take several weeks to master the process.”
While we all want what's best for our children, it isn't always easy to make those things happen. That being said, if you're looking for ways to aid the breast-feeding process, take a look at our expert-backed tips.