American Mother Breastfeeding in Argentina
Where to begin, where too begin. I am from Michigan originally. Currently, however, I am living in Barranqueras, Chaco, Argentina. I know, it’s a mouthful right? 🙂 I am 25, a full-time mom, wife, and co-owner of a mini-market in our city. Oh yeah, I’m also a linguist! 🙂 Long story short, I met my hubby while I was studying in Buenos Aires.
He came to visit his family and I just happened to be his cousin’s friend. His grandma invited me to come to the northern province of Chaco to visit another part of Argentina. We started dating on my trip (December 2010). I then had to return to Michigan to finish my degree and when I finished, I got a job in a Chile teaching English. A month before I was to report to teach, I made the long journey to Chaco to be reunited with my boyfriend after one year and six months of our long-distance relationship. From this point, the rest is just history! We have never left each other’s side since. 🙂
This made me feel a liiiitle bit better, but not much. Elías was crying and I was latching and relay hung trying to get him sucking right and trying not to think of myself as a failure! First time mom, alone in a country that is not my own, waiting for my husband to come during visiting hours, hormonal and bleeding like crazy with my uterus shrinking every time my beautiful baby boy ate, I mean come on! Breastfeeding should be easy right? Wrong! I now understand why so many women get discouraged. It’s hard! Your boobs hurt, your milk won’t let down, or it lets down so much your baby like chokes, you can’t get a good latch, you get a good latch after what seems like 50 million tries, you fall asleep while nursing and your boob gets left out so you leak alllllll over the place, etc etc etc…. Yeah, I think you get the drift. Plus, here at least, your baby starts crying and people start yelling “Dale la teta! Dale la teta! Pobrecito! Tiene hambre y no le estás dando de comer!” “Give him the breast! Give him the breast! Poor thing! He is hungry and you aren’t feeding him!” I think I about bawled my eyes out to my mom saying that I thought that everyone thought I was a horrible mom or something. Man, those hormones are soooooo up and down. High highs and low lows. C.r.a.z.y. No wonder we feel so overwhelmed with everything. I would, however, like to give props to my husband. To this day I thank him for standing by my side in everything and even helping me with nursing our babe. He helps me remember which breast was given last, ideas for the now solids we are introducing, telling me his opinions on breast feeding and what he thinks works for us as a family, supporting co-sleeping, even though we were given a bassinet with all intention of using it, and many other things. Breastfeeding is so much easier when you have someone to support you, whether it be your spouse, mother, grandmother, or any other person. Today, I sit in our store and breastfeed whenever Elías wants. The bond is indescribable, incredible, emotional, and so much more. We have no restrictions. There is no time limit. Even during the night, when he wake up beside me and starts opening his mouth to feed, I’m right there to comfort him as he is sleeping. How much more could I want? How much more could I be thankful for? On one side sleeps my husband and on the other, my precious baby boy.