Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Breastfeeding

Mom and Dad kept Nicole while we went out of town for my company Christmas party. Nicole was Mom's shadow all weekend and followed her upstairs to get dressed. Before my mom put her shirt on Nicole touched her bra and asked, "You have Grandma milk?"

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Yeah, I know this is personal but it's my blog so I'm allowed to be personal.

I really don't like pumping. I especially don't like pumping at work.

At home I see it as something functional - gathering back-supply for Chris most often. It's not something I really want Jim to watch, not because I'm embarrassed but because I don't want him to think of my breasts in a milk-producing way. I want him to only associate my breasts with sex (how's that for blunt?).

I don't like pumping at work because I have to lock the door and pull the shades and all my co-workers automatically know what I'm doing. Again, I'm not embarrassed but I worry THEY are embarrassed. Further, I do feel guilty about the 20 minute, 2-times a day break I have to take to accommodate it.

Last, pumping in general isn't fun. I don't have hands to really do anything. I can't type and to read anything online I have to do this balancing act to free up a hand to scroll my mouse.

Love my kid. Love the nutrition he gets from breast milk. SOOOOOOO looking forward to a Christmas break of no pumping.

Starting in the new year Chris will move to a eating schedule that only includes nursing when I'm doing it, not milk from a bottle. I'm already excited and I don't feel guilty about moving him to a permanent formula injection into his diet.
  • He'll be 6 months old tomorrow which was my base goal for breastfeeding.
  • I think formula is just fine
  • I'll still be feeding him 4X/day
  • He eats 5-6 oz at a time and I can't always collect that much pumping
  • He's eating baby food (avocado, blackberry, banana, & rice cereal so far)

Hooray for vacation and all the many and different ways it'll release stress.

4 comments:

LisaMarie said...

AMEN! I completely understand EVERYTHING you said in this entry. And I'm sure I will feel the same way again with a second child.

Boob is seriously convenient when you can give just boob. But when you have to pump, it's annoying and formula sounds better and better. I think with a second child I may even just supplement with goat milk sooner rather than later instead of agonizing over the pumping.

Now watch, I'll be like a freaking cow for the next one and be able to sell the extra stuff on the Internet! HA!

Finlands finest said...

I am sure Chris is super healthy from the breast feeding. So kudos to you for doing it for sooo long!

Laura said...

I hated pumping, too and was so lucky I only did it a handful of times. Kudos to you for sticking with it!

Mamma Sarah said...

:-) Sounds like we all have hated the pump, but realize that it has been a good thing.

Happy break!!