Especially in the beginning, breastfeeding can be overwhelming. You’re getting conflicting advice from way too many experts, you’re Googling things you never thought you’d be desperate to know about, and you’re hyperfocused on nourishing your newborn. Meanwhile—cliché alert—every baby is different (and so are our boobs!).
Of course it’s important to #normalizebreastfeeding, but we also believe in being honest. Nursing isn’t always as effortless as the dreamy Instagram “brelfies” suggest. Sometimes, it’s damn hard, even if it’s going well. Much like the rest of parenting, it can be both beautiful and complicated, pretty cool and also kinda gross, not to mention completely emotionally exhausting. We get it.
We hope our troubleshooting guide in the May 2016 issue will help you through all those issues that can make nursing tricky. And however you’ve chosen to feed your baby (seriously, let’s make this a judgment-free zone), you’re definitely earning a major mom badge, so we’d love to see your breastfeeding and bottle-feeding pics on social media using the hashtag #HowIFeedMyBaby.
A breastfeeding do-over: a letter from our editor-in-chief
Waiting for your milk to come in
7 tips every nursing mom has to read
The best breastfeeding advice I ever got…
18 beautiful photos of moms breastfeeding
14 beautiful photos of parents bottle-feeding
How to breastfeed in public with complete confidence
Nursing wear that makes it easier to breastfeed on-the-go
What nobody ever told me about breastfeeding
How to combine breastfeeding and bottle-feeding
How to store, heat, and clean bottles (breastmilk and formula)
15 cool facts about breastfeeding