Breast Feeding, The New Normal Or Old Truth?

All is right, and sort of well, in my world of technical malfunctions. I’ve synced everything on my phone with the exception of my calendar events. My old phone is now a “toy” for my children to play the games that have been downloaded on it. Unfortunately, my two year old accidently did a hard reset on the phone before I had a chance to transfer over my calendar events…so I will be flexing my fingers and entering them in manually…with whatever information I can (hopefully) find.

It seems to me that breastfeeding is transitioning  and syncing as well. It’s becoming the “new normal”.  Research hammers home information that lactating breasts are perfect for a hungry babe. New studies that show the positivity of it all, are constantly circulating in the press. As of late, a new study now says that breast feeding is linked to fewer behavioral problems. Whether that may be true or not, is not the point I’m presenting. Instead I want to ask, who defines what is “normal” and why should we believe them? The normal has been the bottle-fed baby. The toy doll neatly packaged that comes with a pre-filled bottle for a little girl to feed her doll. This has been our normal for a last few decades. It is only as of late that doctors, scientists and researchers are “oopsing” our normal mindset with evidence …what was decided and taught as normal, is not actually so.

So based on research, now we have a new “normal”…breast feeding. But the truth is just that…the truth. Breast feeding is designed to nourish human babes in the same way cow milk is designed to nourish baby cows. All this research shows is that we are the last to catch on…what is considered normal, doesn’t mean that our “normal” reflects the truth of things.

So again, I ask who decides what is normal and why does everyone else agree? I truly believe that there is a serious lack of empowerment in the most free country in the world. We defer to those we consider to have higher intelligence than the average person as a way to shape our lives. Doctors, nurses, scientists and more are placed on pedestals when it comes to the definition of normal. We defer, digress and shape our faith based on their definition of normal. Now, I’m only using these examples of people and the example of breast feeding to make a point. This is an overall theme for our lives here.

Too many times, and I am speaking personally, I have defined myself and have had faith on another’s definition of normal, only to suffer the error in judgment(s).  What I have come to understand as an adult that “normal” and truth are not necessarily synonymous with each other. What I’ve come to understand that experts, especially doctors want the best of both worlds. They want to have an authorative voice in matters that can shape one’s quality of living, but are adverse to the responsibility of the fallout when their judgment fails.

There needs to be some balance to the extremity of the way we allow others to define normal in our personal lives. There needs to be more accountability for what we understand about ourselves and the way we live our lives. This is no joke, we DO need doctors, nurses, midwives etc. etc….as a guidance, as a way of support, but not as the end all for all things normal and true. The truth of it all is that YOU are the only human expert of yourself. We all operate, behave and live differently and it is not possible for an “expert” to understand what makes you tick without the in depth knowledge that YOU already have about yourself. Experts are trained to categorize symptoms without discrimination (recognizing and understanding the difference between one person and another). And sometimes they DO categorize symptoms and people by discrimination (prejudicial treatment).

We can better protect ourselves, our lives and our children, by embracing our bodies in knowledge, not brace against it, by deferring it. We can empower ourselves, by defining our normal by the truth as we live and discover it, not as others tell us what it should be. We can inspire our families to live free as we were meant to live…in truth.

And the truth , truly, as cliché as it sounds, does set one free. It is my  hope that as the benefits of breast feeding continue to shape our new perception of the lactating breasts, more and more mothers can feel free enough to nourish without the negative stigma of the norm.

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