Prayer Ideas for the Breastfeeding Mother

St. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to "pray without ceasing." However, breastfeeding mothers often feel like they have little energy left for prayer after nursing the baby for the tenth time or enduring the tantrum of a toddler.  I have seen it suggested in books that one could set the morning alarm a half hour earlier to allow for a quiet prayer/devotional time with Jesus.  But what if you are NOT a morning person or the baby is teething and you got less sleep than your body needs?

I want to mention just a few simple ideas for spending time with God that moms might like to
incorporate into their days.

The morning offering is a good prayer at the start of the day or even later in the day (if you forget or have your prayer time later in the day such as when baby is nursing to sleep for a nap, for example) because it dedicates all of your daily activities to Jesus.  There is also a Pauline version which I like a lot.

Invocations are another great way for mothers to stay connected to God even if they do not have time to stop for two seconds!  An invocation is just a short little one sentence prayer you offer up in the midst of trying to soothe a fussy baby or while getting dinner ready with a preschooler attached to your leg!  You can find invocations online on various Catholic websites or you can pray your own.

Praying one decade of the rosary is a mother-sized way of taking part in this special devotion.  Fr. Sauppe's Theotokos chaplet, which includes the "Five Mysteries of the Maternity of Mary," offers a  unique perspective on the rosary for nursing moms.  The mysteries focus specifically on the early years of Jesus' childhood including while he was in Mary's womb and his breastfeeding relationship with Mary.  A good time to pray one decade of the rosary is when nursing your baby, taking a shower, or even driving to an older child's sports practice.  Also, many little children can handle praying one
decade at prayer time much more easily than five.  CNML hand makes one decade rosaries as part of its ministry.  If you would like one, drop me a line at catholicbreastfeeding(at)yahoo(dot)com.

If you would like more ideas for enhancing your spiritual life while breastfeeding, see the CNML manual, Getting Started with Breastfeeding: For Catholic Mothers.