But I Won't Do That (Breastfeeding)

I feel like a ton of my posts lately have been exclusively about breastfeeding. Sorry to the non-breast feeders who find this boring. I guess it is because it takes up so much of my day that I think about it a lot. As I have detailed on this blog, there are a lot of things that I did and do that are a pain in the ass to make breastfeeding work. BUT there are a few things that decided I wouldn't do because they were just TOO big a pain in the ass. I had to draw the line somewhere. I am a person, not a milk machine, dammit. Meatloaf is running through my head....I would do anything for breast milk....but I won't do THAT:

1. Wake Up When I Don't Have To: There is a lot of advice out there to pump in the middle of the night or wake up your baby in the middle of the night to nurse to keep up your supply. It makes sense, the nighttime is a long time. You have plenty of time after a night feeding to "refuel" until the morning. But I was going to be damned if I was going to wake up Ben or myself in the night if we were both sleeping peacefully. Plus, the pump is loud. Even if I didn't intend to wake him up, I probably would. Now if Ben wakes up on his own in the middle of the night, it is nice to get an extra feeding in. But it is also very nice to sleep.

2. Pump While Nursing: Various people also recommend pumping one breast while your baby is nursing on the other. This sounds like such a pain. How do people manage this? Do they use a football hold and then hold the horn thing on the other side? Do they have three arms? No thank you! Also, Ben would normally drink from both sides, so I didn't want to empty his second course out.

3. Pump After Every Nursing Session: I actually did do this while I was in the hospital (more about that here). But there was no way I was going to keep this up. Babies are nursing all of the time at the beginning. Plus, Ben likes to just lounge on my lap after sometimes. Kicking him out to pump after every nursing sounds miz. And think of all of the pump parts to wash! What I do do (ha) is pump after the first nursing session in the morning.

4. Ban the Paci: My pregnant self had big plans to ban the pacifier, at least at the newborn stage. Nipple confusion! (Nipple confusion as a term is really hilarious. I just want to shout it out sometimes. I just picture a baby looking at a nipple and being super confused. Or maybe the nipples themselves being confused.) Also, it supposedly affects your supply because your baby is sucking on something else. Well, due to various circumstances, he got copious amounts of pacifier action at the hospital, and he loves his paci now for falling asleep. It didn't seem to confuse him too much about what my nipples were, so PHEW. I enjoy having it in my arsenal for pacifying him. I'll deal with the inevitable consequences later.


Using the paci and you can see our co-sleeper to the left.

5. Co-sleep or Dream Feed: Many people recommend just letting the baby suck all night long while you both sleep in the same bed. First off, the nurses at the hospital scared the bejeezus out of me regarding co-sleeping and SIDS. I am not trying to jump into the whole debate about that, I am just saying that is what they told me. I hadn't planned on co-sleeping in the same bed anyways, so it didn't change any of my plans. I did use a "co-sleeper" for Ben's first 5 weeks (a bassinet that attached to the bed) so I would have easier access to him. I also tried the whole kind of napping while Ben fed a couple of times in the morning because I was exhausted. I could NOT do this comfortably. I was afraid I was going to roll onto him. Also, a lactation consultant recommended actually putting our mattress on the floor so we could co-sleep/dream feed. Um. No. That would be a HUGE pain in the ass. Also, Dan was not on board. Neither was Shelby (our current co-sleeper, don't judge).