I can hear my hardcore breastfeeders getting ready to attack but I am only kidding! You have to take time out to feed the kid somehow; on the boob, boob milk in a bottle or formula, they all take time to get in the baby. Although, I am sure there are people who choose formula for convenience, I don’t know any of them.
I am breastfeeding Abigail, through pumping. I started out dreaming of being able to breastfeed her even though it didn’t work out with Nathaniel. I was pumping to induce labor and getting milk, I had 15oz in the freezer, I was very hopeful that I would be able to breastfeed Abby. Within a half hour of her being cut out, she was on me, rooting around for a boob and trying to get hooked on. With a lactation consultants help, we got her on the boob. When left on my own, I couldn’t make it happen. We ended up using donor breast milk at the hospital until Chris could go home and get my stash. I vowed this time would be different and after a few days of pumping every feeding and trying to breastfeed, I made an appointment with Great Beginnings, the lactation people in the hospital to get some help. Help I got! She showed me how to get her on one boob and I was able to get her latched on too, hooray!
The thing is, in order to breastfeed Abby I have to have a nipple shield that takes several tries to get on and can be knocked off by her in about a half a second if she doesn’t get on. The we have to try several times to get her on what I have lovingly termed ‘robo nipple’ and endure several minutes of screaming. Not to mention it requires a boppy, I can NOT position her right without the boppy and she will only get on the left boob. So, public breastfeeding will not be an option for me and I have decided that even though I absolutely love cuddling her and looking down at her drinking from my body, it’s not something that I’ve continued. However, she is breastfed, through pumping. We have a can of formula in case we need to supplement a middle of the night bottle but my supply is now providing for her. It’s slowly increasing as her appetite increases and we are doing just fine.
So far there hasn’t been any judging looks from me and my bottle but I know they will happen, it happened with Nate, lectures about formula and how breast was best. None of us should have to explain ourselves every time we feed our kids in public, just feed your kid! We might have to go to formula if the boob runs dry and that’s just fine.
Not everyone can breastfeed, not everyone wants to breastfeed and not everyone keeps breastfeeding and that is okay.
I think this is an important post. We all make choices as parents and as a society, we’re so quick to judge without knowing someone else’s situation. You are doing awesome, Stephanie, and your little girl is so lucky to have a mom who is so thoughtful and working so hard to make the best choices for baby, mom, and family.
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Great post to remind anyone who starts to judge that they don’t know a) what’s in the bottle, or b) what any other individual’s choice or situation might be. My step-brother’s wife got some flack for formula feeding, but no one stopped to ask why. The reason was that she has MS and had to immediately go back on her medication as soon as the baby was born – medication she could not risk passing onto baby through her breast milk! I breastfed for three months and then switched to formula – mostly because I went back to work, didn’t have a very good pump, AND my little guy REFUSED the breast after he got a taste of the bottle. It was a whole bait and switch that involved a bait bottle and lots of screaming to get him to latch on for his nighttime feedings, resulting in much stress for both of us. In the end, I stopped trying. I decided he had benefited from three months of breast milk, and he would benefit more from a bottle of formula in a relaxed and loving feeding environment, than a stressed out battle every night!
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Mama, you gotta do what you gotta do. Breast feeding isn’t just about her, it’s about you, too. I never ever, EVER had any intention or desire to breast feed, so I didn’t.
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You have to do what’s right for your family!
That said…have you had the LC look into a tongue tie? You may be able to wean off of the nipple shield and make it all easier.