If you’ll pardon the pun, breastfeeding sucks.

It hurts (even if you do have a good latch-on, it takes awhile to toughen up), and it’s actually kind of hard. During the depths of my despair in learning how to ever do it properly, I came across a saying that actually helped: Breastfeeding is a natural thing, but that doesn’t make it easy. It’s like childbirth: it’s a completely natural thing, but nobody would ever describe it as easy. I’ll post later about my foray into the world of lactation, complete with in-depth descriptions about nipple shields, and the medical miracle of food-to-spit up ration (whatever amount goes in, at least twelve times that amount will come back up if you don’t burp properly.)

Anyhow, I’m actually going to be going off in a few minutes to my first La Leche League meeting, in hopes of getting a few pointers from other moms on how to correct my mistakes. La Leche is, according to their website an organization dedicated to “helping mothers worldwide to breastfeed through mother-to-mother support, encouragement, information, and education, and to promote a better understanding of breastfeeding as an important element in the healthy development of the baby and mother.”

That’s a beautiful mission statement.

The only problem is THIS:

THIS is one of the photos at the top of the La Leche League information page.

Now, I’m all for breastfeeding. In fact, I know all the facts available for how healthy it is to breastfeed your child, and how the longer you breastfeed, the better off your kid will be. I know I shouldn’t poke fun at anybody, and that it’s wrong to mock….

Still.

Is it just me, or is that a REALLY big kid on that woman’s lap? It looks like he’s going to finish up with his snack and then ask his mom for some help with his pre-algebra homework. I sent an email off to my sister, stating that very same thing, and her response confirmed my suspicions:

“I’m thinking there were some real creative angles used to make sure she looked bigger than the kid. I bet she hands over the car keys when they’re done.”