Today is our final post on the topic of breastfeeding for the week. Emily, from The Journey of Parenthood, and mom of 4, talks about her 4 experiences, along with the pros and cons of both breastfeeding and bottle feeding. This is a great read!
"I have four children and each have had their own unique feeding experience.
With my first I was very unsure about nursing but did it because everything I read talked about how important it was and because my husband was pretty hardcore about it. It was SO HARD. I had every issue imaginable. Bleeding nipples, mastitis multiple times, constant yeast issues, hyper lactation, pain every session, clogged ducts, inverted nipples, etc, etc. I would literally be crying out in pain while I nursed my baby. I didn't enjoy it. It didn't come natural. It was HARD and I would dread when it was time to nurse him again.
I made small goals for my nursing timeline and made it 9 months before weaning to formula while also using up the major stash of breastmilk I had saved up as well.
My second baby I went into it knowing it'd be hard. And it was. She took ages to eat and was a biter and when she teethed her saliva caused me so many issues. I had all the same struggles as the first time around but this time I was better prepared for them.
I nursed her past her first birthday and still had all that stash yet again of milk to give her beyond that!
My third nursing experience was my reward for all the pain and struggles I had the first two times around. Finally it all just clicked. We had that bond that I had always heard about. I didn't have near as many struggles, my body even produced just the right amount of milk for her. It was awesome. We connected in a special way and I never wanted to stop nursing her. She loved it as much as I did and totally and completely refused to ever take a bottle.
I went well beyond a year with nursing her and cried very, very hard at our last nursing session.
With our fourth child we decided to adopt. A big decision was on my plate: Do I try to stimulate my body to produce milk again? Do I attempt to breastfeed this child?
I knew the right call for ME was to bottle feed."
This week, all of the bloggers in the Babywise Friendly Blog Network, will be sharing their ideas on the topic of breastfeeding. Here's the full line up. I'll be linking to each of these throughout the week:
- Monday: Valerie at Chronicles of a Babywise Mom
- Tuesday: Christine at Christine Keys and Kimberly from Team Cartwright
- Wednesday: Katrina from Mama's Organized Chaos and Natasha from Let's Be Brave
- Thursday: Caitlin from Twin Mom and More
- Friday: Emily from Journey of Parenthood