I would agree with all the opinions posted above. It does feel weird and unnatural and complicated and uncomfortable at first... but the more you do it, and the more you are around other women who do it, it becomes second nature. Some babies are calmer nursers than others, some wriggle around and squirm which makes things a bit more trickey....but everything works out in the end if you give it time and patience.
Obviously I'm in the minority by not agreeing!
It was not weird, unnatural or complicated at all. I put my first to breast and he latched on and sucked. Its been the same for all the other children. I've never had infections, blocked ducts, or anything. My biggest problem is when the milk first comes in....there's so much that the babies have a hard time latching on. I had express some milk and they have no problem after that.
I can certainly see why lots of people think its weird. Its not "normal" to see nursing babies, and what is not normal is typically viewed as unusual, or weird. This is reinforced all the time in our culture. We are taught that it IS weird to nurse. Just take a look in any parenting magazine and see how many bottles you see, and then see how many pictures of nursing mothers you see. Unless its Mothering magainze, you'll see lots more pictures of bottles. Look at baby printed fabric at the craft store. What do you see? Ducks, diaper pins, and....wait for it....bottles! On "Congrats on your new baby" type cards, you'll see the same things...ducks, bottles, bears, rattles. What comes with a baby doll at the store? Bottles of course. It IS weird to nurse in our world, because we don't see it that often. I never really noticed all of the bottles until someone pointed it out, and WOW! I was amazed at how we are so programmed to associate babies with bottles.
As far as unnatural, I didn't feel that it was unnatural at all. Was it something I was used to? Certainly not! But it didn't really feel unnatural at all.
Complicated? It can be if you let it. I found that once I put down the book showing all the positions, telling me all the things that might go wrong, and showing me step by step in the smallest detail how to latch the baby on, that it was a lot less complicated. Its kind of like reading step by step instructions on how to tie your shoes. It really is a simple thing, but if you try to follow every single step to the letter, its going to get complicated pretty darn quick. Its helpful to have a general knowledge of how a shoe gets tied, just as it is helpful to have a general knowledge on how to nurse a baby. But once you do it a few times, its pretty smooth. And if it gets bumpy, most nursing mamas are willing to help out, and there are lactation consultants and Le Leche League leaders around to help too.
. Then I nursed dd10 for 4 days before almost dying
. I couldn't wait to nurse the new baby (17mos), and it wasn't weird at all. Perfectly natural!
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