Monday, April 21, 2008
Off the sauce
For seven weeks I have been breastfeeding, single mothering, cloth diapering, full time law student-ing, job seeking, and, oh yeah, losing my mind. Something had to give, and I’ll give you one guess as to what it was. Here’s a hint:
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24 comments:
Good for you. As much as I hated the idea, Nestle Good Start with the b. lactis was awesome for Peach in the early months. And Costco sells a huge container of Enfamil for $32.
Wow - I give you a lot of credit - I have a four month old and I am married to his father and we struggle sometimes! Keep up the good work!
Do not feel at all bad about your decision. You tried, harder than most, and as you said, something had to give. The duckling will be 100% fine, you will be saner, and I promise- the poops get better a few days after the switch. Here's an article I found very interesting (and accurate, I asked my immunologist after I read it) that should help with any residual guilt about lost immunity benefits: http://www.slate.com/id/2138629/.
You did it 7 weeks longer than I did. You are doing a great job holding it all together. I got my Similac at Sam's Club because you could buy a huge can of it for $30.00 and Bear ate a lot. Oh and if you want save money on diapers and not have to go to the store to buy them and lug them into the house I highly recommend getting Huggies through Amazon subscribe and save. Just go to Amazon and search for Huggies and find the size you need under where it lists the price it has a link for you to view the subscribe and save price. I pay 27.00 a month to have 144 Size 3 Huggies delivered to my door. I dont have to do anything. They automatically bill my credit card and send me an email saying they are shipping them.
I have no idea how you do all of it.
Good for you!! Don't feel bad about your decision and don't let anyone make you feel bad!! I hope things ease up for you -- and good luck with the drying up process!
Good for you. You had waaaay too much on your plate!
And if you get any trolls, let me know and I'll kick their arse.
I actually had a whole schpeel typed out about how one of my kids was breast fed until 20.5 months, the other 6 weeks--and deleted most of it. The one breastfed 20.5 months has been sick dozens of times. The one who was breastfed 6 weeks, is at the top of her Montessori class in regards to intelligence.
Breastmilk or Formula... Duckling is going to be just fine. You are never going to look back and think "She'd be acing Algebra right now if I'd have kept up with that breastfeeding." What she really needs is a sane mommy who isn't stressed out about wasting hours a day trying to breastfeed a baby who has other visions in her head.
2 weeks left?
Aww, I'm so sorry...but unlike the me of 4 years ago, I truly understand now what it's like to juggle a career and a child and be the sole support for that child, so I would never never say anything other than "keep on keeping on, mama!" (The me of 4 years ago must've been pretty obnoxious...gee aren't I glad I've been taken down so many pegs?)
**fully support**
Screw those guilt-monger La Leche freaks. They make formula for a reason, damnit - it's because not all babies and mothers can function on nipple alone!
I started supplementing my baby with formula from birth. Now, granted, I'm still breastfeeding, but hell, I don't think it really matters. He's still alive (see my other comment in which I realizse that if the baby is still alive, all is well) - Those hobags are all "You suck! Why do you give formula?" as though I was feeding him rat poison. Stupid hobags.
Long live Similac!
Formula,disposable diapers and sanity. That's the ticket! Maybe not for everybody, but, good gawd! You are the poster child for who it was all invented for. And there's a reason there's not a CPS worker at your door for using them. YOU'RE NOT DOING ANYTHING BAD OR WRONG. Just keep telling yourself that! It's true!
Here's my take: a good mother feeds their child when the child is hungry. Are you feeding her when she is hungry? Yes. So that makes you a good mother. No guilt there. :)
(and for the record; this supportive message has been brought to you by a person who breastfed her babies for years but who is grown up enough to know that what worked out for my family may not work out for all families and doing what is best for *your* family is all that matters.)
I have no freakin' idea how you are doing it all. I really, really don't. You rock!
A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Formula's come a long way from the old days of plain powdered milk. Duckling will be fine. I had to do both from birth with Pumpkinhead (due to low production) and gave up the breastfeeding part around four months, figuring that the formula to breastmilk ratio was way out of balance compared to the hastle of trying to pump at work and cart all of that to/from home each day. A happy, stress-free Mom leads to a happy baby. :)
Hey, this is probably completely inappropriate, but I am curious and hey, it is a blog where you discuss personal stuff...how did it happen? Not the physical act, but the situation with the dad, and your decision to become a single mom. I think you made the right choice, but I am curious!
Thanks!
- An interested reader
You gotta do what you gotta do, man. Your sanity is ESSENTIAL. You still have sleep deprivation to deal with.
Hang in there. Soon it will be gradutation day!
Breast-feeding's "great" and all (mostly because it's free), but I hated feeling like a slave to the boob. I've cut back to only breastfeeding first thing in the morning and before bed, and Cora gets formula the rest of the day. (Or "rat poison" as the boob crazies might call it.)
I highly recommend generic formula unless there's something specific you need a brand name one for, Sam's Club or something. We had to get the thicker formula (with the rice proteins) because of the seriously nasty amounts of spit-up, and it's helped considerably. I don't believe that whole "it's so much easier to digest" crap about breast milk. Even when she was solely getting breast milk, she was yacking all over the place. Thicker formula? Fixed the problem!
Don't let the boob crazies make you feel guilty. When you do what's best for you and your baby, then you're being a great mom! Way to hold it all together, you're awesome!
Actually, New Duck, I'd also love a little more back story, please. how did you come to this decision? Did you use a known/unknown/sperm bank donor. How did you choose the donor. How do you feel about having used a donor. Are there any half-siblings out there (I have quite a few, and I haven't quite worked out what I feel about it yet). Would be so interesting for me to read this.
Also, seven weeks of breastfeeding - well done. That's brilliant. It's more than many manage. I mixed fed from birth. A happy mother is more important than a totally breastfed baby and a frazzled exhausted drained carer. Also I think it's a bit crazy to breastfeed if you are not a full time mother, as you are otherwise committing yourself to the horror of endless pumping. What's the point of that? All the pain and none of the joy.
Well done you for managing to so well.
The little one is a beauty.
The US seems to have an appalling attitude towards mothers. Nowhere near enough government support, no where near enough recognition of the importance of building in time for mothers and babies to be together that doesn't penalise the mother for taking time off work/ studies. Everyone I know here in the UK who worked prior to having a child has at least six months paid leave - many take a year - and those who didn't work before becoming pregnant are living satisfactorily on state benefits. My friend who worked in the US when she was pregnant said she found the culture ridiculous: after she gave birth her fellow academics were back in work after six weeks, pumping in bathrooms and publicly pretending that they weren't really affected by having a baby in case by acknowledging it, and their tiredness and their passion for mothering, they endangered their job or their chances of promotion. Is this your experience.
Women of America - Fight for Your Rights!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(do any of the current potential presidential candidates have an interesting policy on women and family and work?).
Sorry to have repeated myself.
Baby brain.
Still have it.
You do what you can sweetie and then you don't worry about it anymore...you're doing great!
To the anonymous reader who asked about my situation as a single mom - I don't think it's inappropriate that you asked, and I'm actually surprised that you're the first reader to ask when I've been blogging about being a single mom (and single mom-to-be) for about 6 months. Because there are other people involved, for now I'm not going to talk about how it came about - although at some point in the future I may tell the whole story.
As a side note, I'm generally the type of person who lays it all out on the table. There's not a shred of mystery in me. So I guess I should enjoy keeping this one subject a mystery to my readers, but I don't!
Oh, and for all the readers who have been following my trials and trevails with breastfeeding versus formula - IT'S NOT WORKING!!! (The formula, that is.) I'm totally switching back to breastfeeding. As soon as I'm finished with my massive Thai assignment, my 30-page Environmental Law paper, and catching up on an entire semester's worth of Evidence reading, I'll tell you all about it.
I'm impressed with how much you have taken on. I'm amazed you have the brain cells required to complete law school because I know when I had babies I lost at least 2 hundred cells per child.
I was a single mom raising two kids while my hubby went through law school and it was tough, so I can't imagine how challenging your life must be. :o) You go, girl!
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