For actress-TV host Coleen Garcia, breastfeeding has been a great personal journey, and which she will again do if given a chance.
In celebration of World Breastfeeding Week, Garcia brought to the fore her breastfeeding experience via her Instagram page last Friday, Aug. 5, sharing some photos of herself while nursing her son Amari.
“It’s #worldbreastfeedingweek! We celebrate the mothers who have gone to great lengths to do what they believe is best for their children. Don’t be made to feel ashamed of your decisions, and don’t you ever apologize for doing the best you can. Do what you feel is best for your family, and be proud as you do it,” she said.
“If you choose to breastfeed, know that there is a whole community that gets you. Also, we shouldn’t have to normalize something that already IS normal and natural,” she added.
Although breastfeeding is not “glamorous” and comes with “countless sleepless nights, frustration, sacrifices, discomfort, and a lack of time, energy and capacity for anything else,” Garcia won’t do it any other way.
“During the times when Amari is non-stop nursing cause he’s sick or teething, sometimes, it’s almost like I feel every last drop draining out of me. But I do see how it always quickly and effectively makes things better for him. And that’s what it is,” she noted. “Being uncomfortable but giving him comfort, feeling weak but making him strong… feeling like I’m not enough, then realizing that I have more to give than I could have ever imagined.”
Garcia admits that breastfeeding is hard but she also stresses that “it’s so worth,” because the permanent effects outweigh temporary discomforts and sacrifices.
“It gives me so much peace and a sense of fulfillment to know that I’ve been doing what I can to keep Amari as healthy as possible, but our breastfeeding journey hasn’t only been about that,” she shared. “I truly believe that it has brought us even closer and has strengthened the bond, connection and relationship we share in a deeply humbling way.”
Garcia feels she “wouldn’t be the mother — the person” she is I today if it weren’t for the times she decided to put her son first before herself.
“I could never imagine what it would have been like if we hadn’t chosen this path, and I would choose it again and again!” she stressed. JB
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