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Home › Articles › Breastfeeding › Life Before and After Breastfeeding

Life Before and After Breastfeeding

Finding a Happy Medium for the Active Woman

By Heather Johnson Durocher

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In the wee hours of the night, as you and your baby cuddle together for a feeding, nursing can feel like the most beautiful thing in the world. But in the light of day, as much as you may enjoy the closeness of nursing, life's demands on top of your commitment to breastfeeding may leave you feeling tied down, even wistful about the once active lifestyle you maintained.

Sharon Brantley of Wake Forest, N.C., experienced this when her baby girl refused to take a bottle. "I was planning to take classes and work part time, but since Sarah refused the bottle, I was unable to do anything," Brantley says. "When I realized that I had no acceptable options, I became frustrated and, for a short time, sad."

Judy Anderson, mother of twins, can relate. "For a while I did feel trapped at home and trapped by nursing; it's hard not to be trapped by twins," she says.

It's absolutely normal to feel somewhat trapped by breastfeeding – and motherhood in general. After all, it's you who is providing the bulk, if not all, of your baby's nutrients and care. Still, now more than ever before in history – with more and more workplaces and businesses providing nursing/pumping rooms for mothers – breastfeeding doesn't have to mean staying at home, donning pajamas and forgetting about life beyond your driveway.

Don't Isolate Yourself
What helped Anderson most was seeking assistance – and then taking it, she says. "Get help and take care of yourself," she says. "I made sure I got other people to hold my babies, and I went for bicycle rides or to the grocery store by myself to get brief breaks."

Anderson acknowledges that she certainly didn't recover her former "active, on-the-go lifestyle," which she says she did have, "with lots of travel and evening activities." She did, however, eventually strike a balance she's happy with. "I went back to work, but only one-quarter time, when the babies were 3 months old, going in one day a week and working from home an hour or two the rest of the days," she says. "I've gradually built that up to almost halftime, going in two days a week and continuing to work from home."

For some women, opting to introduce a bottle with pumped breast milk earlier rather than later made all the difference. This holds true for moms working outside the home as well as those who choose to stay at home full time. "By pumping and using bottles, I was able to leave Aidan and Amelia with my parents or my husband to do even simple things like going to the chiropractor, grocery store or just to rest," says Natalie Schuhler, mom to a 3-year-old daughter and a 14-month-old son, whom she still nurses. Breastfeedings do not alter her daily plans.

Nursing on the Go

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