The Waking of my Bosom* (getting my milk back)
If you are making this journey yourself, I encourage you to keep a log or journal weekly. I missed a few weeks and wished I hadn’t; even if all I would have wrote was “no changes.”
It is sweet now, looking back and remembering watching for that first drop. It seemed like forever between it and the stage of heavy consistent drops, but it wasn’t. I didn’t know exactly what to expect.
As you read my journal, know that each of us is different. Even the left breast can be different from the right, some times weeks behind the other. There are so many variables from one woman’s situation and method to the next. There is also the difference in partners, their time available and their own way of suckling and maybe massaging. Then for many, they are starting this journey without a partner. Even for those who are pumping and/or hand stimulating, there are so many variables. Then there are different combinations of partners and pumps, history, diets, herbs, drugs, mental imagery, meditation, stress and confidence.
I am not a lactation consultant. All I can offer you is my journey. (If any of you dear ladies would like me to link to your story or journal, I would be pleased to do so. ) There are also so helpful links to sites with even more links in the side bar.
When I moved my journal to this website, I posted new entries as blog posts. Some of the entries were given comments. If the entry received comments, there will be a link to the original post at the bottom of the entry.
I hope you find my journal helpful, or at least meeting a curiosity. You can find links to the individual pages below the introduction and in the side bar on the right. If you enjoy it, come back for up dates.
Introduction:
My husband and I had an ANR, (adult nursing relationship,) when I was nursing my children many years ago. We just didn’t know what it was called. (smile) I thought it was very normal and assumed most dads shared the breasts when mom was nursing babies.
Life gets busy and we have a tendency to drift apart. That is where we were before we started. Now we are closer than ever.
I am giving a part of me to him. This time it is all for him! It is not about the milk, as much as it is about the intimacy and the giving of ourselves. I love to see him attached to me in is such a sensual way. I love knowing he will be back there in a matter of hours, and that we will be waiting for each other, needing each other.
This is the actual journal I kept during my journey of re-inducing; getting my milk back. We made the decision to try to get my milk back on November the 8th, 2009. I started to keep the journal at three weeks.
Journal: Introduction
How young do you think is too young to want to induce to be nursef or to nurse off someon else. I am 16 and I love to research things; I like science. I learned of the health benefits of breastmilk recently and became interested in nursin/being nursed. Please contact me. I need help. My email is: ——-. Thank you
Dear Erica, At age 16 you have your whole life ahead for you. 16 is an important time in your life. You are making decisions that will affect the foundation of your future, especially your education. I enjoy science too, and research is both educational and entertaining. Yet, ANR isn’t something to toy with, especially when you have so much work ahead in laying your life foundations that deserve your full attention.
I personally want to encourage you to concentrate on laying the right foundation stones for your future, like your education, and to delay deep physical and emotional intimacy until you have enough of the rest of your future solidified. Deep intimacy, like what is found in ANR makes you vulnerable, precisely because of the science… hormones that flow and that can lead you to let your guard down. With that kind of vulnerability, it is best to wait for a long term commitment with the right person.
(PS> I am trying not to get involved e-mailing again. Answering personal e-mail became overwhelming before and zapped both my little free time and my emotional energy. If I answer for one person I feel I need to answer for more, and before you know it, I am spending hours answering e-mails and my sleep, personal life, and family suffers. Sorry.)
I would agree with HMM about waiting until you have a solid, long-term relationship before embarking on an ANR. As her journal entries often show, the oxytocin produced can form a lot of bonding and attachment–if it’s with the wrong person and they don’t reciprocate or didn’t deserve it in the first place, you could set yourself up for a lot of emotional hurt.
Signed,
TrashCanFoundling