by Tara Shafer posted in Parenting

When my first born was a newborn I supplemented my breast milk with formula.
In hindsight, I firmly believe that this helped me to overcome my new mom fears about whether I was making enough milk to feed my baby. I went on to nurse for years ? and I owe this to the fact that I did not exclusively breastfeed in the beginning.
Many new moms worry they will not make enough milk to feed their babies. Having gestated a tiny human for months, one would think that this leap of faith would be easier to make than it is. I will now lactate, versus will I now lactate"
For me, the unbridled love of an actual newborn at my breast quickly overcame all sense of trust where my own body was concerned. I couldn't really understand how this could happen, not really. How I would feed him from my own body" I mean, of course, I understood - but not really. I felt a kind of panic whenever I changed a diaper. I had to sit down if it was not wet, or wet enough (and what is wet enough") and my racing thoughts galloped away.
Sleep-deprived, hormonal, and teary I confided in my friends. ?You can do it,? they said and I?d look at them, perplexed, because how could they know that" Even when I could express milk myself it looked like such a tiny stream, so insubstantial and translucent. What if I add formula too, I wondered aloud and words like nipple confusion stopped conversations before they ever began.
Once I tried to pump and produced hardly ...