I have been reading a lot of controversial posts on this board regarding BF versus FF. I wanted to share my experience since I believe every Mother has their own experiences.
When I was pregnant with my Son I knew nothing about breastfeeding at all. I had witnessed my three sisters breastfeed at one time so I did have a visual of that. I also remember my one sister pumping and freezing breastmilk. It never even occured to me what I would decide to do as a mother or if I would even breastfeed at all? I decided to attend a LLL meeting when I was 36 weeks pregnant and I learned a lot about the benefits of breastmilk. I had also heard some comments about having trouble and getting support if you wanted to breastfeed. So I looked into possible reasons why I would have trouble in the beginning such as being tired, or poor latch or it hurting etc etc. I didn't feel that the women at the LLL were judgemental at all. They were there to assist you to sucessfully breastfeed whatever way you decided was right for you. One Mother had a 4 yr old latching in while she was speaking at the meeting and then shortly after going to play. He would come back every so often and do the same thing. I thought this was really strange. I also was uncomfortable with women nursing in front of me and acting like it was so natural. I thought to myself, when I nurse, I am going to do it in private only. And definetely never in public! I had all these guidelines in my head that appeared to be right for me such as nursing for 3 months and then starting formula. Letting my son cry it out since I didn't want to spoil him after all. I was also convinced that women that breastfeed long term had emotional issues of their own to work out. Boy was a judgemental...
And then I had my son and everyday I learned something new about breastfeeding. Originally I learned that it was much easier for me to nurse then give a bottle. For one there was less work involved. I also learned that I could nurse anywhere, anytime, regardless of climate. It could be boiling hot outside and my milk would be just right for my son. Seemed pretty easy to me. After about the first 6 weeks I saw how demanding it was to nurse every hour. I was destined to continue though because of the nutritional benefits of BM. I still wasn't comfortable with the idea of nursing being a way to pacify a baby or provide them with comfort. I thought that was spoiling them after all. In regards to the frequency of nursing I embraced it by setting up a nursing station with a table equipped with the vcr control, books to read and big pitcher full of ice water to hydrate. We had a recliner that became my bestfriend as well as my breastfeeding pillow.Whenever I felt a bit down I noticed that when I nursed I would feel this happy nurturing feeling from the hormone being released while I nursed. Little did I know I was curing my feeling of postpardum whilst providing nutrition to my baby. Eventually I got so good at it that I could do it hands free. It was harder to position a newborn to nurse. I read so many books, caught up on phoning friends and watched all the movies I have been meaning to rent for years! So I thought this is a piece of cake, I can relax all the time, how great is this since DH has to do all the housework and I get to sit here and nurse all day in my recliner. In between feedings I would prop my head with a pillow and take a nap right in the chair with the baby lying on me. At first I was caught up in the whole, your dh can't bond with baby if you don't let him feed too with a bottle. At about the three month mark is when people started asking me when I was going to pump and give a bottle so DH could participate. That was when I realised that my manual and automatic pump as well as advent bottles were going to be put in the closet never to see them again. I decided that there were plenty of ways that DH could participate...He could sleep with baby, bather him, cuddle him, burp him, change his diaper. I also noticed that I was rarely engorged if not at all since my son was getting just what he needed each feeding. I loved not worrying about how much I was giving him because the breast would tell him when the feeding was over by producing thicker milk at the end of the feeding. All this natural stuff was happening and I thought it was amazing. I was getting piece of mind everytime I nursed. As time went on I started to change my mind about all the things I thought I was going to do. I started to follow my gut instead of what I told. I decided I wanted to exclusively breastfeed, no bottles. I decided to out the crib in storage and have my son sleep with us since I could support my need to breastfeed on demand. I held off on solids until he really wanted them at 8 months. I started to carry him around in a sling and breastfeed him whenver, wherever. I had some challenges with mastitis and yeast on the breast and I uquickly got support when those hurdles came up. Everyday is so different in the world of breastfeeding. Now my son is 15 months old and still nurses, very inconsistently may I add. Some days he will nurse once when I come home from work and sometimes he will nurse non stop on the weekends. At this point I figured it is getting easier and easier for me to nurse rather than wean. I have no clue when he may or may not wean and I am less concerned about knowing when. I have noticed that he has picked up a couple of bugs since he has been at daycare. When he is under the weather he will only nurse. It is like pulling teeth getting him to drink anything else or eat anything else. This was a God send for me knowing I could hydrate my son while he was sick. Now regarding the comfort thing. It took me until now to be comfortable with the fact that I was also comforting my son too. I also see big benefits to this when I leave him every morning to go to work and come home at night to reconnect with him. I have had several people tell me how independent he is. This is a kid that is still nursed, sleeps in our bed. The latest thing that I am happy to say that I have come to terms with is the fact that I do enjoy nursing him a great deal. I used to be ashamed to say that since I thought people would think I was a pervert or something. Well guess what, I do enjoy providing my son with nutrition, comfort, nurturing and a connection. I know feel this is a partnership between the two of us and has really no bearing on anyone else and shouldn't.
What was my point of all this sharing with you? Simply to say that it is a personal choice wHat Mother's choose to do. This is what I choose to do and I feel I would be a hyprocrite if I expected everyone to do it the way I do or be opposed to women doing it another way.
I was reading the posts about someone being outraged about a women supplementing with formula. I would be a hyprocrite to sit and be opposed to that considering I didn't even know if I was even going to breastfeed at all in the beginning. People could easily look at me and say , what kind of mother is she to not even know if she is going to breastfeed?
What do I hope to achieve on my breastfeeding journey? To share with other Mothers what is right and working for me personally and support whatever choices they make regardless if they are different. Someone on this board had mentioned LLL supporting you only if you breastfeed. Well duh? That is what they specialise in just as there are support groups for women who choose other methods. Based on my experiences I will always encourage a mother to breastfeed whatever way they can until they decide they don't want my support anymore. I feel very strongly about it since it has done so much for me why would I feel anything but thrilled about it. I will never judge another Mom for other choices though. Thanks for reading.
When I was pregnant with my Son I knew nothing about breastfeeding at all. I had witnessed my three sisters breastfeed at one time so I did have a visual of that. I also remember my one sister pumping and freezing breastmilk. It never even occured to me what I would decide to do as a mother or if I would even breastfeed at all? I decided to attend a LLL meeting when I was 36 weeks pregnant and I learned a lot about the benefits of breastmilk. I had also heard some comments about having trouble and getting support if you wanted to breastfeed. So I looked into possible reasons why I would have trouble in the beginning such as being tired, or poor latch or it hurting etc etc. I didn't feel that the women at the LLL were judgemental at all. They were there to assist you to sucessfully breastfeed whatever way you decided was right for you. One Mother had a 4 yr old latching in while she was speaking at the meeting and then shortly after going to play. He would come back every so often and do the same thing. I thought this was really strange. I also was uncomfortable with women nursing in front of me and acting like it was so natural. I thought to myself, when I nurse, I am going to do it in private only. And definetely never in public! I had all these guidelines in my head that appeared to be right for me such as nursing for 3 months and then starting formula. Letting my son cry it out since I didn't want to spoil him after all. I was also convinced that women that breastfeed long term had emotional issues of their own to work out. Boy was a judgemental...
And then I had my son and everyday I learned something new about breastfeeding. Originally I learned that it was much easier for me to nurse then give a bottle. For one there was less work involved. I also learned that I could nurse anywhere, anytime, regardless of climate. It could be boiling hot outside and my milk would be just right for my son. Seemed pretty easy to me. After about the first 6 weeks I saw how demanding it was to nurse every hour. I was destined to continue though because of the nutritional benefits of BM. I still wasn't comfortable with the idea of nursing being a way to pacify a baby or provide them with comfort. I thought that was spoiling them after all. In regards to the frequency of nursing I embraced it by setting up a nursing station with a table equipped with the vcr control, books to read and big pitcher full of ice water to hydrate. We had a recliner that became my bestfriend as well as my breastfeeding pillow.Whenever I felt a bit down I noticed that when I nursed I would feel this happy nurturing feeling from the hormone being released while I nursed. Little did I know I was curing my feeling of postpardum whilst providing nutrition to my baby. Eventually I got so good at it that I could do it hands free. It was harder to position a newborn to nurse. I read so many books, caught up on phoning friends and watched all the movies I have been meaning to rent for years! So I thought this is a piece of cake, I can relax all the time, how great is this since DH has to do all the housework and I get to sit here and nurse all day in my recliner. In between feedings I would prop my head with a pillow and take a nap right in the chair with the baby lying on me. At first I was caught up in the whole, your dh can't bond with baby if you don't let him feed too with a bottle. At about the three month mark is when people started asking me when I was going to pump and give a bottle so DH could participate. That was when I realised that my manual and automatic pump as well as advent bottles were going to be put in the closet never to see them again. I decided that there were plenty of ways that DH could participate...He could sleep with baby, bather him, cuddle him, burp him, change his diaper. I also noticed that I was rarely engorged if not at all since my son was getting just what he needed each feeding. I loved not worrying about how much I was giving him because the breast would tell him when the feeding was over by producing thicker milk at the end of the feeding. All this natural stuff was happening and I thought it was amazing. I was getting piece of mind everytime I nursed. As time went on I started to change my mind about all the things I thought I was going to do. I started to follow my gut instead of what I told. I decided I wanted to exclusively breastfeed, no bottles. I decided to out the crib in storage and have my son sleep with us since I could support my need to breastfeed on demand. I held off on solids until he really wanted them at 8 months. I started to carry him around in a sling and breastfeed him whenver, wherever. I had some challenges with mastitis and yeast on the breast and I uquickly got support when those hurdles came up. Everyday is so different in the world of breastfeeding. Now my son is 15 months old and still nurses, very inconsistently may I add. Some days he will nurse once when I come home from work and sometimes he will nurse non stop on the weekends. At this point I figured it is getting easier and easier for me to nurse rather than wean. I have no clue when he may or may not wean and I am less concerned about knowing when. I have noticed that he has picked up a couple of bugs since he has been at daycare. When he is under the weather he will only nurse. It is like pulling teeth getting him to drink anything else or eat anything else. This was a God send for me knowing I could hydrate my son while he was sick. Now regarding the comfort thing. It took me until now to be comfortable with the fact that I was also comforting my son too. I also see big benefits to this when I leave him every morning to go to work and come home at night to reconnect with him. I have had several people tell me how independent he is. This is a kid that is still nursed, sleeps in our bed. The latest thing that I am happy to say that I have come to terms with is the fact that I do enjoy nursing him a great deal. I used to be ashamed to say that since I thought people would think I was a pervert or something. Well guess what, I do enjoy providing my son with nutrition, comfort, nurturing and a connection. I know feel this is a partnership between the two of us and has really no bearing on anyone else and shouldn't.
What was my point of all this sharing with you? Simply to say that it is a personal choice wHat Mother's choose to do. This is what I choose to do and I feel I would be a hyprocrite if I expected everyone to do it the way I do or be opposed to women doing it another way.
I was reading the posts about someone being outraged about a women supplementing with formula. I would be a hyprocrite to sit and be opposed to that considering I didn't even know if I was even going to breastfeed at all in the beginning. People could easily look at me and say , what kind of mother is she to not even know if she is going to breastfeed?
What do I hope to achieve on my breastfeeding journey? To share with other Mothers what is right and working for me personally and support whatever choices they make regardless if they are different. Someone on this board had mentioned LLL supporting you only if you breastfeed. Well duh? That is what they specialise in just as there are support groups for women who choose other methods. Based on my experiences I will always encourage a mother to breastfeed whatever way they can until they decide they don't want my support anymore. I feel very strongly about it since it has done so much for me why would I feel anything but thrilled about it. I will never judge another Mom for other choices though. Thanks for reading.
