Breastfeeding is the most beautiful thing in the world.
I guess that statement is as true as saying that red roses
are the most beautiful flowers there is in the world. Subjective? Exactly my
point! And I don’t like red roses.
Don’t get me wrong – I am, above all a big, fat advocate of
breastfeeding and I am completely sold on the benefits of feeding your baby
breast milk - but I do think that the actual act of having to breastfeed a baby
is purely functional and therefore over rated.
So, this second time round, I am only too happy to trade my
boobs for the bottle with pumped breast milk when Squirt was 6 weeks old. At Squirt's 5.5 months mark, I am feeling oh-so-ready to give up nursing. And unlike with my first, I had no issues whatsoever
if Squirt decides that he was going to reject my breasts.
Maybe I’m weird, but I am one of those who can’t seem to
correlate a baby stuck to my boobs as bonding. I don’t even find it enjoyable,
and I see no reason to go all crazy googoo-gaagaa over the act of breastfeeding
a helpless baby. To me, the baby needs to eat (or wants some comfort) and
he/she needs a source – the source need not necessarily be just from the boob.
If that makes me a terrible mother by not wanting to nurse
anymore, so be it. But there’s an upside to not nursing:
QuickerOh hell yes!! Feeding becomes quicker with a bottle. What used to be a half an hour or 45 minutes sessions which rendered me immobile several times a day, now takes me less than 10 minutes. I realized that as time goes by, I don’t have the patience to sit through a 15 minutes to half an hour nursing session per time.
Less fussyWith the bottle, the baby is assured of a very even and smooth flow of the milk. With the breasts, Squirt tends to fuss a lot more at my breasts as he tries to navigate the let downs – too fast and he chokes then get upset, too slow and he starts tugging and then get more upset.With my breasts on the line and subject to rigorous tugging and changing of sides every 5 seconds just to get him to feed, the entire experience do get extremely frustrating for the both of us. Most of the time, he fusses so much that I might as well just stay topless; because when you start changing sides every 5 seconds, there really was no point to cover the exposed side again.(Slightly) more dignityI don’t have to flash my boob in public under a breastfeeding cover no more just to feed and be subjected to uncomfortable stares all around! I don’t have to subject myself to embarrassing situation of being caught with both sides of my nursing bras down because Squirt was fussing so much between the left and the right in public places.With a bottle, I don’t have to be discreet.Quality timeMost often than not, I am always doing something else while I was nursing. When he feels relaxed, he usually tends to close his eyes and I’ll either be catching some zzzzs, or blogging on my laptop or meddling with my phone.Besides, other people - especially his Papa and his grandparents - can spend quality time with him by having the chance to feed him too.QuantityWith nursing, I have no clue of his milk intake, and sometimes there has been a tendency for him to “snack”. I don;t quite like the idea of being a snack bar. With pumping and bottle feeding, I have an idea of how much he needs and how much he feeds per feeding session.With a bottle, I can SEE when the milk in the bottle is diminishing. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.WeaningNo problem here. He can’t even remember being breastfed and that is a good thing. For me personally, I cannot imagine having a one year old still stuck to my boobs. After 6 months, my pair of boobs is no longer a shared property.
So there! I get that breastfeeding is the absolution of
goodness all around, but really, enough with romanticizing breast feeding,
because with me, all that beautiful, gushing feelings about breastfeeding and
bonding didn’t happen at all. There was no serenity – only fussing and probably
5 minutes of calmness.
In my case, I felt that it was good while it lasted. It was
necessary in the initial stages and it was, above all functional. There is absolutely nothing wrong with not
nursing, nothing wrong with bottle feeding and absolutely nothing wrong with a
child not being dependent on the boob at all. We bond in various other ways.
And yes! I do want to wear a regular bra again once this
pumping milk shit is over.
2 comments:
You make me feel great just reading this post. I don't know why I was so emotional about it when it didn't work out (remember?) but thankfully with all the support from you and the rest of the mamas in the group I was able to rise above it. I think breastfeedding is great if it works for the mom and the baby. But most of the time (for many people) it didn't work whether it was oversupply, undersupply, yeast infection, thrust, blister, plug duct etc and when it doesn't work breastfeeding becomes stressful, exhausting and depressing. It's not like you can have any full control over it just like parenthood. Plus it is not like the baby needs much else from you at the early stage.
:) thank you for that - am happy that this post makes one mom happy! :D
I did enjoy it to say the least - an experience I would not trade anything for. But I am now so over it. Like you said, BF is great and only if it works for both sides.
Not breast-feeding is not a bad thing.
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