Growing Families
A Daughter's Story
Melissa Gallo
Murrysville PA USA
From: NEW BEGINNINGS, Vol. 20 No. 1, January-February 2003, p. 17
Melissa Gallo wrote the
following as a gift to her mother, Liz Healy.
Most women decide to breastfeed
to give their babies a healthy start in life. While it is well-documented
that breastfed babies have better health, lowered risk of obesity, fewer
digestive problems, and better bone development, one of the lesser known
benefits shows up about seventeen years later, when that baby grows
up. Speaking from experience, I know that breastfed babies become well-adjusted,
healthy, happy teenagers. Although that is due in part to excellent
parenting, breastfeeding also plays a role, as it helped my mother and
me become so close from an early age.
Because of breastfeeding,
my siblings and I are better off in almost every facet of our lives.
My mother shows how important her breastfeeding bond to her children
was through her commitment to helping other women discover mothering
through breastfeeding. She's very involved with La Leche League. For
my whole life, LLL has been in the background with meetings, phone calls,
and many pregnant women sitting at the kitchen table. From listening
to one-sided phone calls about the various nuances of breastfeeding,
I am the most knowledgable teenager this side of the Mississippi (probably
the other side, too!) on the issue of breastfeeding. Yes, I have had
to deal with the embarrassment of listening to my mother describe how
to increase one's milk supply while my friends are visiting. Those are
the times I'm thankful we have a basement. Last summer I attended the
LLL International Conference and met so many women who are intelligent,
informed, and love their families, just like my mother. I enjoyed being
around them and their children, who were beacons of health and happiness.
Of course, when I returned home, I had to deal with some heckling from
my friends, but it was well worth it. I have access to love and knowledge
that many of them haven't experienced. Unlucky them! Although I have
to put up with discussions on sore nipples and they don't, I am envied
for the wholesome, loving home life I have.
Perhaps even more important
than the physical gains of breastfeeding are the psychological effects.
Maybe it's just that my mother and father are the best parents in the
world, but I'm certain that breastfeeding has strengthened our relationship.
Sometimes I marvel at the commitment that my mother had to us as babies.
Before she even knew me, the real me, she loved me enough to want the
very best for me, and so I was breastfed. I was loved from the moment
I entered this world, and I have never forgotten it. The unconditional
love I received at birth has continued through today. I believe that
it is because of breastfeeding that my mother and I have such a great
relationship. One of my friends remarked the other day, after I got
off the phone with my mother, "You're so excited when you talk
to your mother, you sound like you're talking to your best friend."
I was. My mother has lived the LLL concept of providing all of her five
children with "loving guidance, which reflects acceptance of our
capabilities and sensitivity to our feelings," and the payback
is that she has a loving, happy daughter who is definitely going to
breastfeed her own children.
I guess what I'm trying to
say is that the benefits of breastfeeding don't end at age one, five,
or 17. They continue throughout the child's life, showing up in the
oddest places. Breastfeeding is the best thing you can do for your teenager.
Sounds weird, doesn't it? But it is so true. As a content, fit, intelligent,
former breastfed baby, I know that my mother's actions in my early years
have made me what I am. So, in trying times, remember that you're not
only feeding your child's body, but also his or her soul for years to
come.
Last updated Tuesday, October 24, 2006 by njb.
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:30:58 UTC 2007.
