My mother nursed the first seven of us. It never occurred to me to do anything else. I nursed all of my children exclusively up to six months, then supplemented with formula when it was time for solids and weaned slowly. I'm still nursing a nearly 9 month old Maria, but mostly for comfort and not so much nourishment anymore.
I'm surprised at all the hooplah surrounding the decision to nurse or not to nurse. I will admit that I felt a little sad when I passed a room at the hospital--while there postpartum with Maria--and saw a formula bottle sitting on a tray just inside the door. That means mom didn't try, even. I'm not judging her! I don't know what her story is . . . she may have tried five times before unsuccessfully and decided to avoid the stress this time. She may be a full time student or worker who doesn't want to pump . . . and who can blame her? For all I know, it was a bottle given to a mother who was adopting a recently born baby. That said, I still felt a little sad for that baby; I couldn't help it.
My response to seeing that bottle surprised ME. So what made me feel that way? Initially, I made the decision to nurse my babies because I knew no other way. Now, after nursing five babies, I would strongly encourage mothers to do it. I love the cuddling, the bonding, the way that my baby will quit crying if offered the chance to nurse. It's so portable, people. It goes, heated, everywhere that mom goes. It is my perception that it is so much easier than bottle feeding. It does lay all of the feeding responsibility on mom, but that time goes so quickly; it is not a burden. It does restrict the medications mom can take, but there are almost always alternatives.
You know what's the best thing about nursing? It forced me to sit down and cuddle my baby often. We were created for this. Our bodies release oxytocin, a bonding hormone, while nursing. I go in to nurse Maria every night at midnight before I go to bed. Why? She doesn't need to be nursed. I miss her after five hours. This is the only way I can go in and cuddle her without waking her up too much. Plus it makes me sleepy.
I think all babies deserve homemade milk, if Mama can make it.
What's your favorite part, if you breastfed?
4 comments:
Very well said. I'm currently nursing number 4. Even tandem nursed the toddler aged baby when the infant came along - 3 times!
The newborn/infant stage passes sooo quickly and mothers have sooo many demands on their time, nursing does "force" you to slow down to bond with baby. Propping a baby with a bottle or handing baby off to someone else to nourish him/her is just too easy.
Also the health benefits for: baby (fewer allergies and illness), mother (reduced risk of breast cancer) and natural baby spacing with ecological nursing.
The list goes on and on and on!
(PS I found your post through some mutual friends: Amy & Matt Masek)
B/c I know all the benefits of nursing your baby, it broke my heart all the more when my milk was making my baby sick. It is a scary moment when you discover blood in your baby's diaper. After trying an elimination diet for myself, we saw no improvement in my daughter and ended up having to give her a specialized formula. I still feel sad every time I make up a bottle, even though I know it is what made her well again.
I feel so blest that I could nurse our three kiddos. I love it. Yes, it's taxing on me...because none of them would take a bottle except for Rebecca with a LOT of coaxing, but it is such a gift to just hold & snuggle & rest with them.
Teresa is down to just nursing for about five minutes before bed every other night. I feel both liberated that I don't HAVE to be here to put her down & SAD that this phase of her babyness is already over. Also, it was a nice way to keep my Whack-A-Mole toddler in one place for a while! ;)
idk I have breastfed them all and most of them for a LONGGGGGG time. I have probably been breastfeeding almost nonstop for 12 years take out about one year...lol. But, I don't find anything wrong with bottlefeeding. So I am very neutral on the subject. In fact a lot of mine were supplemented as infants with bottles in the hospital and then went on to breastfeed exclusively at home for 2 years! LOL.
anyway, the best thing about breastfeeding is it is something only I can do for baby. Its an honor, really.
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