Thursday, July 29, 2010

Breastfeeding & Family

Welcome to The Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival!

This post was written as part of The Breastfeeding Cafe's Carnival. For more info on the Breastfeeding Cafe, go to www.breastfeedingcafe.wordpress.com. For more info on the Carnival or if you want to participate, contact Claire at clindstrom2 {at} gmail {dot} com. Today's post is about family and breastfeeding. Please read the other blogs in today's carnival listed below and check back for more posts July 18th through the 31st!


My breastfeeding was affected by family in two ways really - 1. MY family, and 2. my extended family.

Denny never really expressed any interest in bottle feeding, and didn't really say anything when I told him that I planned on breastfeeding. We had formula for those "just-in-case" situations.

If the baby woke up at night and I was exhausted, Denny could make a bottle. HA! The man was impossible to wake up. I think I tried having him do that all of once. (of course now he is much better at the late night emergencies) I had formula also for when we left Sophie with family... again HA! I got so anxious being away from her at all. The first time we left her with my dad, just to go have dinner, I very nearly cried.

After leaving her with Denny once, and having her cry the entire 45 minutes I was gone, I didn't do that again either. I was perfectly content with having her with me all the time, and therefore had no reason to bottle feed.

Looking back, I now realize that my mom was actually my best breastfeeding advocate. I remember visiting her once, and "trying" to wean Sophie around 6 or 7 months. After she cried for about 20 minutes my mom yelled to me, "Oh just give her the boob already. She wants it." Whenever we would be out driving, my mom would pull over whenever Sophie got fussy, just so I could feed her.

Not once did she ever make a negative comment about my breastfeeding, my co-sleeping, or my cloth diapering. My mom name me feel like what I was doing was the norm. I realize now a lot of people don't have that kind of support, and I am blessed.

While Sophie was more "MY" baby during the first 2 years, I think breastfeeding was a positive experience for our family. Denny would ask when I planned to stop, but never pushed it. I got her all to myself for those 2 years, and we bonded in a way that I'll cherish forever.

I guess I'll have to learn how to share the next baby. :P


Here are more posts by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think that the "baby" stage is more for moms anyway. Of course Curtis loved Dea, but he wasn't super interested in her until she was actually up and moving. Then once she started walking he suddenly decided he wanted to play with her all of the time. I'm fairly sure that he would have preferred she come out a toddler!