Thoughts on Breastfeeding

It's funny that Shannon and I are both posting so much about breastfeeding right now. I hope if you're not in that stage, or use formula, you'll stick with us through these posts and find helpful info anyway! I wanted to share a few thoughts on breastfeeding.

For those of you who don't know me, you should know I am a person who likes to be prepared. I like a good challenge, but I really like to be informed about what is coming ahead of me. I don't think I run away from difficulty, especially when I know it's the right thing. But I like to know what it is I am getting into.
With breastfeeding, I knew all the info- the amazing benefits for my child, the cost savings, the calorie-burning (amazing!), and the benefits of the bonding time. All experts agree breastfeeding is best, though I do also think formula is better than it's ever been. My son Seth was formula-fed because we adopted him at 9 months, so I defend formula because he is smart, healthy, and we bonded great. But I am getting off track: my point was that I knew 100% that I wanted to breastfeed Eli. So he was born, we started the process, he was a great eater... and it was days before the reality set in.

Breastfeeding is hard. 

Maybe this is obvious to you. To me, it wasn't. I saw all the other moms just sitting peacefully with their babies under their nursing covers, happily feeding away and thought it looked like a piece of cake. Some people have a hard time with the actual mechanisms involved- we didn't. There is help out there for you if you do have issues. One reason it was hard was Eli's reflux because eating was painful for him. He would latch on, start eating, then pull off and arch away and cry. Feedings took hours. We had to work hard through that till his medication worked correctly. So sort of along those lines, the hardest thing for me was the commitment.

With Seth, Josh and I could both take care of him equally.  When it was time to eat, one of us would prepare and heat up his bottle, and Seth would happily suck it down in minutes flat.  No problem.  With breastfeeding, suddenly it's me, my body and my time...EVERY TIME.  And sure, you can pump and leave a bottle, but that still involves you doing something about it.  Someone recently said to me, when I was saying why I couldn't be at a certain event at a certain time, "can't Josh feed him?" Well yes, he can, but unless you want me to start leaking milk in front of you, I'm going to have to go pump at that time anyway. It involves me leaving places early or not going at all; it involves me getting up from the group having fun and going to a private place to feed him (Eli refuses to nurse under a cover- has since day one- and I am not comfortable being uncovered, though some people are).  It involves me scheduling everything in my life around feeding him.

I wish someone would've explained this to me.  It didn't occur to me at all.

Here's my second point though: I'd do it again anyway. 

This does not change my feelings about it. I would still not trade this time I've had with him, and the satisfaction of knowing I've fed him all this time. It hit me when he was about 6 months old: I grew him. I grew him inside of me and then he'd basically only had my milk to eat up to that point. How cool is that? Again, not knocking formula-feeders because I've done that too. It is just cool to me. There are tons of articles out there about the benefits of breastfeeding, so I won't go into all that here, but they are really amazing. There is even new evidence that breastmilk might help cure cancer. Seriously. This article by Betsy Lee is one of my favorites about breastfeeding. So I wish someone had told me it would be hard, but I'd do it anyway.  I just think it would've been better if I'd been prepared. It's a commitment. It's hard. It's time-consuming and life-altering. But I am glad I've done it.  Eli's only 8 months, and with his tummy issues (one of which is Milk/Soy Protein Intolerance), I might be breastfeeding longer than a year- we'll see how it goes. And I also know his tummy issues would've been way worse if he'd been on formula because of this.  So that's another reason I am glad.

I just wish someone would've told me. So I'm telling you. It's hard. Really hard. Hard does not equal wrong. Hard does not equal Don't Do It.  I think a lot of things are hard because they are worth a lot. It's worth it.