I heart breastfeeding.....

My husband will probably laugh at me for blogging about this but since blogs are like journals I really wanted to talk about it. And despite the dismay of a couple people who might read this (*cough* Leighanna) I'm still going to do it!!

My first daughter was not a good nurser. I basically had to force her to eat for 7 months and then I gave up on nursing and switched to bottle-feeding. Sadly it was much of the same. Forced-feeding; only I then had to deal with bottles.

So along comes my second daughter and she is a WONDERFUL eater. I couldn't ask for anything better. She nurses like a champ and has already doubled her birth weight before 3 months. So I can honestly say I LOVE BREASTFEEDING!!! I do. It is so convenient. Having had to deal with bottles before I try not to take this wonderful relationship for granted.

Some pros:

-I don't have to prepare/wash bottles
-I don't have to worry about the temperature or sterility
-I have her food wherever I go
-Babies are so good at regulating their food supply. The hungrier they are, the more they'll want to nurse and the more the mommy will make....it's pretty awesome.
-I don't have to pack a bunch of crap
-I can easily nurse one-handed and do other things while I'm nursing. My husband has witnessed this and told me, "you're pretty talented honey." ha ha. I don't have to hold a bottle!!
-Middle of the night feedings are so easy. Pop on the baby while lying in bed and we can both snooze.
-Breastmilk is easy on my baby's tummy (I realize this is not the case for some mommies). I don't have to worry if the formula I chose is not the right one.
-Something I always worry about is if there was a major emergency or national crisis and food shortage was an issue. What if I got stuck somewhere where we couldn't get food? I wouldn't have to worry about trying to find formula for my young baby. A story that really stood out to me awhile ago was of a young mother with her two children; 4 years and 7 months. Their car got stuck in the snow and they were TRAPPED for FOUR days while her husband went looking for help (and sadly died while trying). She kept her children alive and hydrated by breastfeeding them BOTH. Amazing.
-Breastmilk is obviously the superior food. Yes it is better than formula and always will be. Some people get offended by this comment but it's the truth.


Cons:

-It hurts in the beginning but for me it only lasted 4 days.
-No one else can help with the feedings but I don't mind one bit.
-I can't ever leave her for more than a couple hours but honestly I don't want to be away from her for that long anyway!


In conclusion I realize a wonderful nursing relationship can be hard to come by and for a lot of mothers it produces a lot of frustration and tears and GUILT. I know, I've been there! So because of that I am so grateful that my baby knows what she is doing!

Now I don't consider myself a "lactivist" and I'm not going to be breastfeeding my baby til' she's 5 (although it's quite the norm in other countries!!). I just wanted to say that breastfeeding rocks!!