Each birth, each child, each breastfeeding is different, whether we compare the experiences of several women as if we compare those of the same woman, and that is no two lactations are the same and one way to show it is through tandem breastfeeding, when a woman breastfeeds more than one baby.
To explain it, we found it great to publish, with mom's permission, this beautiful picture when she started breastfeeding her son, even pregnant, in a breastfeeding that continues until the moment the baby is born and even six months later.
Ashley Burke's Photos
It is not really "the photo", but the photos, because they are three images in one. In the first one, we see Ashley breastfeeding her son the day she goes out of accounts of what will be her second baby. In the next one, we see her breastfeeding the newborn baby, in the same position, with the older one looking for life to find food in the other breast, arriving almost from behind, and the third is the same image, in the same position, six months later.
Mother, son and daughter sharing their breastfeeding
Three images that come together in one to make a schedule of a shared breastfeeding that demonstrates once again, like so many similar photos, that we are mammals, that we come to the world prepared to be breastfed and that we can continue doing it for a long time, even when it has Born another baby.
Myths about breastfeeding in tandem
Surely you already knew tandem breastfeeding (There are those who have even breastfed three children of different ages, in what has come to be called "breastfeeding in tri-tandem"), but I think it is worth remembering what the myths are about it because they are still very valid in the society and can be heard even in some medical consultations. To provide information about it I leave you with the most common:
- During pregnancy you cannot breastfeed because there is no milk: In fact, it is possible to breastfeed, because milk does come out, although there is a moment towards the second trimester when production drops a lot. This makes many children end up weaned, as my older and middle children did, who left him in the pregnancy of the next.
- You cannot breastfeed during pregnancy because there is a risk of premature delivery: Breastfeeding generates oxytocin, which is the hormone that triggers labor, and that is why many people think that if nipples are stimulated, contractions and premature births are caused. However, oxytocin receptors in the uterus are not active until the end of pregnancy, so there is no such risk (making love also causes oxytocin secretion and sex is not said to cause premature births).
- During pregnancy you cannot breastfeed because the mother will consume many resources that are for the fetus: No, this does not work like this. The woman also spends resources when she walks, and when she speaks, and when she exercises, and is fully recommended that women exercise during pregnancy. Breastfeeding a child will not make the fetus develop worse, at all, so they are no longer told that they have to wean in case of pregnancy.
- When the baby is born, the older one must be weaned because the baby's food is eaten: the thing is not like that ... for a long time it was thought that yes, of course, because the mother produces milk for the little one but an "intruder" takes a good part of it, however when seeing the weight gain of the little ones it is observed that they earn the right and sometimes even more (having an expert pumping milk ensures a good production for the little one too).
I leave you again with the photo so that you look at it for a few more seconds. Surely they make you think:
