Mom Pride

Little Brother thus far has gotten something neither of his elder brothers did: a purely breastmilk diet. Due to circumstances beyond my control with each of them, they were given formula bottles in the hospital. Big Brother never learned to latch properly, so I pumped what I could and he got formula for the rest. Middle Brother moved to exclusively breastmilk within the first week, but then my supply lessened and we had to supplement again around six months.

I am completely supportive of any feeding choice any mother makes for any reason. As long as your baby is thriving, you’re doing great, Mama! This is not a “breast is best” post.

However, because of the plethora of posts and articles and random unsolicited opinions of strangers of the “breast is best” variety, I did have some mom guilt with my first two sons. I was shocked to realize that with the success of breastfeeding so far with this one, I am feeling a weird amount of mom pride, a thing we hear much less about.

When we talk about proud moms, we’re usually talking about them being proud of their children. We hear “mom guilt” and “mom shaming” constantly, in real life and on the internet, but not a whole lot about “mom pride”. In fact, this realization while nursing this morning that I’m proud I’ve been able to single-handedly provide the complete diet of a rapidly growing human for three and a half months was the first time in sixteen years as a mother I was aware of being proud of myself as a mom.

I feel like, for me, if I can focus more on what I’m proud of myself for, and less on what I feel guilty about, as a mom, I will be a better mother for my boys. I will be happier with myself, and that will reflect in every interaction with them. They won’t grow up hearing me mutter to myself about all the things I’ve messed up today. They’ll learn from modeling that it’s appropriate to tell yourself you’re doing a good job. I’d love to see a cultural shift towards this idea that as moms we generally have way more to be proud of than feel guilty for, and we should live as if that’s true.

What brings out your mom pride?