So I have to face the inevitable: In a week and a half my girls are going to be back in business.
Sometimes nursing is hard. Not only is it a learning curve with every baby, but it’s a major time commitment. There’s no propping and cleaning, when that kid is hungry you are officially out of service for everyone else around you.
Now that I have three demanding children, I’m trying to think of a way to nurse and run at the same time. (Unfortunately, my body likes to sit and chill when we’re in dairy mode, so that’s not an option.)
I’ve also noticed that my enthusiasm has waned with each little baby I nurse. I’m hoping that since this is my last I’ll find it sentimental and thrilling. Maybe if I buy the right bra I can feel like this girl.
Seriously, tell me she doesn’t make nursing look like fun? Not only is she fantastically stacked (thanks to her new addition), but obviously this whole breast feeding thing is as good as a pile of donuts on a sunny morning. She’s saying, “Hey! I’ve never had sore nipples! Engorgement? No way! I absolutely love spending ten hours a day unclipping this little white darling! I’m gonna nurse until he’s three!”
Yeah. I’m not really feeling that way. Eleven months. If I can nurse for eleven months (okay, maybe ten) I will officially be in the Selfless Breast Club (a club my husband is desperately opposed to, and is currently planning to campaign against). If I can’t quite make it, let’s all forgive me, yes?
I’m with your husband.
And I got your email. Don’t be silly. I love you.
I wanted to be in the 12-month club but only made it with 1 of 4 babies, due to different circumstances beyond my control. I THOUGHT I could control all things, but no, it just isn’t so! Good luck with it! and ENJOY, it is your last one and time flies on wings of lightening!!!! (it truly does!)
Amen, and amen. I love nursing. Really I do. There’s a reason I’ve done it with all four until they were one year old. But it is just as you say. And this last one? Let’s just say I learned more about what a nightmare nursing can be with this one than I have with the first three put together. I HOPE you don’t go through what I did in the first two months of nursing. I knew all the pain and fear for my life would be worth it eventually if I just stuck it out (although I seriously considered quitting). And it IS worth it. And I still can’t wait to be done with it around Christmas. I miss yogurt and milk on my cereal and sleeping comfortably at night.
And definitely get that bra. I’m not SURE it will work, but it’s worth trying anything that might make things easier.
Annie, part of the reason I think my ability to nurse decreased with each kid is that our bodies get tired. I mean I had 4 C-sections in 4 yrs and my body just did NOT produce enough to feed the little guys especially by the 4th… I think I made it a month but that was supplementing, and you know…. he is the sweetest of the bunch 😀
Do what is right for you and the baby! Be prayerful and thoughtful!
LOVE YA!!!
Tina
ELEVEN MONTHS?!
I know I’m brand-new at mothering and nursing, but my goal is only four months right now. It’s all I can mentally handle. If I can make it four months, then I’ll feel I’ve done my best. And if it so happens that when four months comes I decide to continue, then woohoo.
Good luck!
Liv, you’re awesome. FWIW, I’ve gone eleven, ten and nine with the first three. If I make six, it will be a miracle.
When our third child was born, I went out and bought every Blue’s Clues video that I could find because the older two loved Blue’s Clues, and the videos were exactly 40 minutes long, exactly the same amount of time it took to nurse the baby.
Yes, my 2 and 4 year old watched those videos like 7 times a day, but it was either that or duct tape.
Well, Harry will be in school, Rex too I imagine… so I love the idea of a video Junie will watch over and over! And who knows what’ll go down with the nursing, each of my kids have nursed different lengths, for different reasons. Currently still nursing BUT only because current baby won’t take any other form of milk! So annoying and so ready to be done. The little tike is 10 months old so anyone who nurses longer than about 8 months is some kind of crazy-saint-martyr-mom in my book.
Go with what is best for you and little ???? Can’t wait to find out, I’d better see a quick family email and not have to read about it on your blog! (That’s a major *THREAT*)
Here’s me sending out the good-boob vibes to you. I have never, ever written those words before. I may never write them again.
The last time I nursed, I gave serious considering to taping a “No Trespassing” sign on my chest.
I’m with Tina…except only one C-section. But each kid got less and less milk. I made it to almost 2 months with #4…and supplementing. I would never breast feed again.
I loved breastfeeding. I particularly liked that I could just feed anywhere, anytime. My first baby went on bottles by 3 months as it just wasn’t working out, my second lasted 18 months, and my third got to 21 months. I have to admit to having a lot of disapproving looks and comments though, mainly from relatives. I am a great beleiver in doing what feels right for you. All babies deserve a happy mummy.
All 5 of my kids nursed for different lengths of time. We know it’s best for the baby, but must also consider what’s best for the mommy.
So maybe if I bought that bra, I would have had successs with nursing. I made it 9 months with my 1st, 3 weeks with my 2nd, and am happy to say I didn’t nurse my last two nor will I nurse this soon-to-come baby. I wish that I could say nursing worked for me, but it didn’t. So here’s to hoping that your baby will be the best little sucker ever. And if not, then you can join my club and enjoy the occasional propped bottle, having your hubby take a nighttime feeding once in a while, letting your older kids feed the baby in the car on the run, but have 12 bottles in your dishwasher at all times, an expensive formula budget, and never need to use the mother’s lounge at church! 🙂
Oh Renae, I don’t know if I can give up the Mother’s Lounge.
I do hope you’ve started taking sandpaper to the girls already. There’s nothing quite like those first, eye-crossing days!
And I found that I was more relaxed and philosophical with my fourth. I knew he would be my last, and that even when you’re talking about months leading to a year or two, when it’s over, it’s over forever.
If ever there was a time to just go with the “flow”, it’s this time.
11 months! You are a hero in a white cape/bra
I breastfed my first two for ten months, and with number three circumstances and health issues made me quit at four months, and wow, the freedom it brought me!! Feeding in the stands at little league, at school events, in front of my brother in law,(ever tried to carry on a conversation with a young batchelor while you have a slurping, smacking, seven month old nursing under your blanket? Yeah, never again) making my big kids hold the bottle in the car, asking my husband to feed him while I take a bath, going away for TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW, etc. etc. And I’m glad I nursed while I did so my kids could have all those benefits, but really, honestly, I think my third is still the smartest anyway. : – P Will totally forgive you.
Best of luck to you. My husband campaigned strongly for the nursing to end for the last 3 months. But I was a big fan of the whole “free” factor. and Denae, I’m loving the sandpaper comment.
Hi Annie, Good to see you the other day (week?) 🙂 my 3rd is 10 months and it was so, so hard in the beginning, when I thought I was going to be the perfect nursing Mommy…I was close to giving up, cause my little guy had trouble latching and even now sometimes gets lazy…anyway…the theme of the comments..do what you can and don’t feel guilt. Videos are good, whatever you can do…in this day and age with all the environmental issues our kids are exposed to, I believe nursing is one more big thing we can do to combat them. Good Luck! PS I was so wanting nursing to be done when it was so hard those first 3 months, but now I actually enjoy it and will keep going as long as he’s interested (of course, I supplement as well, cause I just don’t have enough).
With my last (also my 4th), I realized that once I weaned the baby, I’d never get to sit down again. The other children were old enough to not get into serious trouble while I was zoning out, I mean, NURSING. Number Four also let me read while nursing. This went on for almost TWO YEARS. I never did really sit down and relax again. . . knowing it was my last, helped me keep some perspective.
Most of all, remember that what’s good for the mom is good for the baby. If you don’t absolutely enjoy it, bottle feed! Don’t let the nursing nazi’s set the agenda.
I only nursed the last two babies and I have to admit that I LOVED every second of Moxie’s.
Clearly I’m sick and need to admitted stat.
I only like nursing when my inlaws are visiting. Because then I say, “Please excuse me while I feed the baby.” And then I lock myself in my bedroom, flip on some Hulu and pretend that it took 45 minutes to make the baby eat.
I can’t imagine how anyone thinks dragging formula around, mixing it, and washing bottles is easier than nursing?
I loved nursing, nursed a total of 3.5 years w/ my sweeties. And felt that at least for those years, I was able to give them nature’s most perfect food.
Nursing…. I was thinking like the profession by your title.
I tried your kind of nursing once… only once.