Warning for any male readers: The following involves a frank discussion of the biologic uses of breasts though no graphic images will be used you should refrain from reading if the subject makes you dizzy or uncomfortable
Well Adeline will be 9 months old on Wednesday and I can't believe how quickly the time has passed. She is getting so big and is such a little person now. She has favorites: her favorite food is carrots, her favorite snack is Teddy grams. Her favorite toy is the remote control. She loves bed time and her story, she waves (I can't say if she means "Hi mommy", "I want that" or "Hey look at my hand") She loves her giraffe and hates the Cheat. She is starting to crawl and loves to stand with a little help of course.
She loves to nurse and I love to nurse her. I especially love the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night nursing sessions. When I think back on learning to nurse and how hard it was in the beginning it is really amazing that I enjoy it so much. I am really happy with our little bonding sessions.
What I hate is pumping. I'm not exactly blessed with the biggest milk supply and I have to pump a lot to get enough to send with her to school while I am on a 24 hour shift. Granted she nurses less now than she did before she started solid foods but it still sucks to be tied to a pump especially at work. Adeline has teeth but she has never bit me. She's a good little nurser I've been very lucky. I just kind of want my body back...a little...I think.
I want to stop pumping but keep nursing. My hesitation is that this will mean that she has to have some formula when she's in daycare and I'll still have to pump when I do 24 hour shifts. I'm so happy to have made it to 9 months which is a lot longer than most professional moms make it and I don't like the idea of formula.... (evil empire peddling the most engineered, least natural product you could buy in the grocery store including Twinkies and hairspray) I just really hate the mechanical twins. I hate the setting up, the pumping, the constant cleaning...
Sigh
So if you have been there before or even if you haven't but would like to give me some advice I would really appreciate it.
S
3 comments:
the pumping was the only bad part of nursing....and the worst was when i was on call overnight, so i definitely feel your pain...
towards the end of nursing, about 9 months, i think i started to minimize pumping during the day, and would only pump when i was on an overnight shift, just so i could keep up my morning and bedtime supply, and when i was home to feed in the morning and at night, i would not pump at all....it wasnt bad pumping once or twice a day every so often...definitely much better than the q3 pumps when i initially returned to residency hours with a 4 months old at home.
also, think about it this way.....between now and 1 year, she'll start eating table food and she should be on less and less milk, so if she gets one bottle of formula a day, its not the end of the world. she is still getting the rest breast milk...
i stopped breast feeding completely at 11.5 months, and it was sad to lose that bonding that only a mommy and baby can have, but cuddling up together with a sippy cup of milk in the morning and a sippy cup of water at night was almost as nice...i promise...
You can do it! I think that I have turned into the crazy mom that I swore I wouldn't be. I am still nursing Bailey, at 14 months old. I know I have to wean eventually, I just don't know when. Thankfully, I'm down to pumping once daily at work. I never had to manage overnight shifts though. It is impressive that you have managed this long.
Lori
I am so old I don't remember when babies can start drinking real milk. I think with you Sarah, you went from the breast to the sippy cup- no bottle for you- that was your choice, not mine, but I wasn't working full time either. I learned my lesson with Nathan and started him with breast and bottle, but I was in Micronesia and made my own formula from the recipe in the Dr. Spock book. Back in the old days, we had a suction cup attached to a bottle and we had to do it by hand- not mechanical twins, but damned difficult and time consuming. You don't need to feel guilty about moving on and taking your body back. You have done a great job with DelaBear and I know that you will have more of a separation complex about it than she will. She will just merrily move on... love, mom.
Post a Comment