While many people know that breastfeeding can be incredibly beneficial for both the mother and her baby, less are aware that it doesn't always come naturally — and it's not always as easy as it seems.
Today Show anchor Dylan Dreyer recently opened up about her struggles with breastfeeding in an interview with People, admitting that she was "scared to death" when it came to making sure her son was well-fed.
"The first three months, Calvin was looking thin and svelte — he looked like a nice, fit little baby," she said. "We go to the doctor and the doctor says, 'You’re really not feeding him enough food.' I was exclusively breastfeeding. And he said, ‘[Calvin]’s getting about half of what he should get in a typical day.'"
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"Full disclosure, I don’t have big boobs," she continued. "Even my doctor said to me, ‘You have small Tupperware, so I don’t know how much milk you’re going to produce for your baby.'"
There's actually no evidence that breast size has correlation with milk production — and we're pretty sure that no doctor should call someone's breasts "tupperware" — but needless to say, Dreyer said that she was heartbroken and wracked with guilt.
"It broke my heart," she told People. "I cried when he said, 'You have to supplement with formula,' because I felt like I’d let him down and my body couldn’t do what Calvin needed me to do."
While Dreyer has now made peace with balancing between breastfeeding and formula-feeding Calvin, she's not the only one to have felt guilty over not being able to breastfeed the way she wanted to. Her story, however, is another reminder that breastfeeding isn't always a positive experience, nor is it something everyone wants to do — and that's okay.
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