Breastfeeding Grief and Trauma

When a woman wants to breastfeed her baby but encounters difficulties, is unable to or has to stop before she is ready, she may experience a range of emotions from grief to regret to guilt through to anger. It may also feel like a loss. 

She might feel frustrated that her body didn’t work as expected and that doesn’t seem to be queried on a medical level, or anger that she weren’t supported despite being told antenatally that breastfeeding was so important. She might grieve not being able to mother her baby in the way that she wanted.