parenting

Breastfeeding in the Shade of a Spanish Palm

Frogster Chronicles · 1 min read

Breastfeeding in the Shade of a Spanish Palm
Breastfeeding in the Shade of a Spanish Palm

The Fourth Trimester/Part 1 of 3

  1. 01Breastfeeding in the Shade of a Spanish Palm
  2. 02Sweat, Seaweed, and Postpartum Self-Care
  3. 03Finding Balance After Birth: Quiet Changes in Postpartum Life

Drip, drip, drip… Strange. I'm a bit too far from the sea. The waves can't be sprinkling me from there. Yet there is definitely something wet. Mystery.

Maybe she peed on me. Maybe she is peeing on me. Ah well—natural refreshment. It’s a warm day, the warmest I’ve experienced in a long while. The sun is gently burning the skin through the light shadow cast by the nearby palm. On a day like this, I could use some refreshment.

For Spain, this counts as a partially cloudy day. There was one partial cloud, like a grain drainer—one of the big ones that would let large white beans slip through. But even that cloud has disappeared. Only a light wind passes through now, spreading the warmth evenly.

Bon is sleeping. She recently fed from the right booby while in her carrier. First time she’s eaten from her “seat.” That’s not allowed, if you ask a specialist. So don’t do what I do unless you’re comfortable with it. I just found it much more practical to put her on the booby while in the carrier, let her take some milk, and fall asleep seconds later.

The alternative? Take her out, put her on the booby, find a good position—by then she’d be irritated and perform her self-learned acrobatics to escape because she’s too tired. Yes, kids make no sense: they fight harder when they’re tired. I guess adults are the same. Tiredness makes us lose focus and even get hurt.

Then she’d fall asleep, back into the carrier, and finally sleep. I even get frustrated just describing it.

Then I realized: it was the left booby leaking.

  • Breastfeeding
  • Mom Identity

Continue the path

The Fourth Trimester

Feeding, recovery and finding a new balance in the months after birth.

  1. 01Breastfeeding in the Shade of a Spanish PalmYou are here
  2. 02Sweat, Seaweed, and Postpartum Self-Care3 min
  3. 03Finding Balance After Birth: Quiet Changes in Postpartum Life3 min
0

Pass it on

If this was useful to you, it is probably useful to someone you know.

Write to the editor

Questions, corrections, a different experience, or something we should research next — we read everything and answer in person.

Write about this article

Newsletter

One considered email, twice a month.

New guides, assessments and directory listings. No sponsored noise.

Related reading

Parenting

Humanitarian birth: how the Dutch system takes care of mothers

The Dutch maternity system is built on a simple idea: birth is healthy until proven otherwise. Independent midwives lead low-risk care, home birth is a normal choice, and after the baby arrives a kraamzorg maternity nurse comes to your home for days — cooking, teaching, watching, reassuring. It is not perfect, and the home birth rate has fallen, but as a model of humane, mother-centred care it remains one of the best examples in the world.

8 min read · Sept 2026

Parenting

The uncomfortable conversations about birth

Enemas before birth, caesareans without a medical reason, medication to stop milk, early formula and supply, and why night breastfeeding really is harder. What each practice is, why people choose it, and where the criticism deserves to be questioned.

14 min read · Aug 2026

Parenting

Partum and postpartum friends: the merino pants that carried me through

One pair of oversized merino men's sweatpants from John Merino in Amsterdam, worn from early pregnancy through a year of motherhood, worn into holes, and then repaired with a patch made from barely-worn baby trousers. A small story about circular clothing, repair, and what motherhood actually does to a body and a mind.

6 min read · Aug 2026