Mrs. and Mr. Roberts were determined to breastfeed their first baby as long as possible from the outset. They had read up on everything there was to know about proper child rearing. They learned that breastfeeding is the best nourishment for babies, and wanted to follow it to the letter.
However, once the baby – a daughter - has arrived, the mother found breastfeeding very difficult. The family members and friends tried to help her with proper breastfeeding techniques. She tried to follow all the right techniques of breast feeding, but nothing worked. The process was too painful and her nipples began to crack and blood started oozing out while breast feeding.
Despite the suffering, the mother continued to feed the baby for two months. The baby was suffering too. The parents realized that she is losing weight. They had to ultimately consult their doctor. The doctor feared malnourishment and advised to start the baby on formula feeding. The parents were delighted.
However, the father soon became unhappy about the development. He had seen many of his friends’ wives breastfeeding their babies without a hitch. He wanted his wife to combine breastfeeding with bottle-feeding. But she refused even to try that because of the pain. The father became annoyed, and could not bear the sight of his wife bottle-feeding his little daughter. So he walked out of the room whenever his wife bottle fed the baby. He even stopped talking to her.
Then an unexpected thing happened. His wife fell sick one day and had to be confined to bed for many days. Now, it became the responsibility of the father to bottle feed the baby. He took the baby gently in his arms and then a wonderful thing happened. She reached out a hand to hold her father’s little finger, and looked straight at the father with her big brown eyes. The eyes were that of her mother’s.
They looked at each other’s eyes for a long time. Robert was overwhelmed by a feeling of paternal love that he had never experienced. He remembered his wife. His eyes welled with tears. He went to his wife’s side, lovingly kissed her forehead. Smiling through his tears he said sorry to her. Though surprised for a moment, she smiled back.
They continued to bottle feed the baby for five more months, and then settled on a formula and solid food diet. The baby is fine and healthy, raised on bottle feeding. And none is any worse for that!
Posted on May 18th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Baby, Breastfeeding, Diet, Toddler
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