SEX AND BREASTFEEDING
There is now no doubt that breastfeeding is best for a baby, yet few babies are still being totally breastfed at one month. It is true that more than half of mothers breastfeed their babies in hospitals in most of the Western world today, but as soon as they get home ‘problems’ intervene and the babies are soon on the bottle.
Men are well known to influence their partners’ choice of feeding method and successful breastfeeding is much more likely if the man is supportive. Breastfeeding counselling experience indicates that breast feeding is not so much a matter of nutrition as of sex; most women think of their breasts as having a sexual function first and a nutritional one second. Many men and slightly fewer women feel that a woman’s breasts (and therefore her sexual attractiveness) may be permanently affected for the worse if she breastfeeds. Research shows that this is not so. It is pregnancy with its breast enlargement that causes sagging, if it occurs at all, and not breastfeeding.
Letting the breasts become stretched and over-full (engorged) is probably detrimental too. It is sensible to wear a well-fitting bra in the last few months of pregnancy, even at night, so that the breasts’ natural supportive tissues are given some help, and to wear a bra all the time whilst nursing.
Many men are jealous of the baby being at their partner’s breasts so much and some create a real fuss. The woman herself, the man and their baby can all enjoy them. In fact a lot of women feel more sexy and breast-centred when they are breastfeeding than they ever usually would and this can be to the man’s advantage.
Making love while lactating needs a few words. Many women’s breasts become tense and uncomfortable when they are full, especially if squeezed or played with sexually. The answer is to express some milk or feed the baby before making love so as to reduce the tension. This also makes milk leakage less likely if the woman has an orgasm. One answer is to encourage her man to suck her nipples while making love. There will be plenty of milk left for the baby. Intercourse positions have to be chosen so as not to squash full breasts but this is usually no problem for most couples.
One important thing about breastfeeding from a sexual point of view is for the woman to encourage her man to fondle her breasts, even if he is reticent or shy. This helps prevent him from feeling completely left out.
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