Bodyfeeding: Beyond the Nipple

The first time I heard the term “bodyfeeding”, my entire inner response was YES! I love this word, not just because it’s a gender-inclusive term for parents who do not identify with “breastfeeding”, but also because the experience of feeding a baby involves the entire body, including the mind and the heart.

We are so nipple-centric in the lactation world.

“Does the baby have a good latch?” is a question that most bodyfeeding parents are tired of hearing by the end of their first week (day? hour?) postpartum. As a doula and lactation professional, I myself am guilty of narrowing my focus down to latch. But the way parents feel beyond the nipple is equally important. 

Are they so tense that their shoulders are up in their ears while nursing? Are they hunched over trying to see what’s going on whenever their baby attaches at the chest? Do they have enough low back support? What about their arms, and feet? What about their bottom while sitting for feeds? If they had a cesarean birth, how’s the pressure on their belly? 

And how are they doing mentally and emotionally? How do they FEEL about the way bodyfeeding is going? Do they need more support? Nourishment? Encouragement? Do they feel empowered? Resentful? Both? 

Bodyfeeding also goes beyond the baby’s latch and their mouth. Latch and weight gain are important, but so is the baby’s entire response to eating. Are they mostly relaxed and becoming satiated during feeds? Or tense and frantic? Did an overzealous healthcare professional get a bit too aggressive with “shoving the baby on” at the birth, setting off a cascade of nervous system responses in both baby and parent? Or the opposite, where no one was there to help? 

Having appropriate support impacts the entire experience, for both parent and baby.

Feeding a baby goes well beyond the nipple, the chest, the pump, the bottle. It literally impacts the whole body, mind, and nervous system. It truly is whole-body, embodied feeding!