“Crying Doesn’t Bug You, Right?”

A few days after I gave birth to my fourth child I found out that I didn’t have enough milk for him. This was very stressful, which, I am sure, didn’t help the milk production. I supplemented him for a long time.

After 3 months, my mid-wife told me that I should either do one or the other. She said that I should have him just breast feed for a few days and see if my milk would catch up.

I said “OK” and stopped using the formula. He cried and cried for a couple of days. After the first day, my mid-wife called to see how he was doing with the change. I told her that he just kept crying. She said something that has come back to help me many times.

“What child is this for you?”

“Number four.” I said.

“Oh, then crying doesn’t bug you, right?”

“No, crying doesn’t bug me.” I said.

I heard myself say that. I couldn’t actually believe that I had said that. I had made a declaration that crying didn’t bother me. I had been through tons of crying children in my life and it didn’t need to be a stressful thing for me any more. I will forever be grateful to my mid-wife for this great question. Now when life gets wild and people cry, one of the first things that comes to my mind are these wise words from my mid-wife, “Crying doesn’t bug you, right?” This helps me calmly handle many situations.

After a few days, I was producing enough milk to not have to use any supplement.