Zatera Ul

This week was World Breastfeeding Week. OLC is still going strong with nursing, at nine months, which puts her in a small minority of babies. For me, it has helped me to get better rest at night; I haven’t had much sleep deprivation since she learned to nurse lying down, sometime in the first few weeks. OLC sleeps better, too, not having to completely wake up for a night feeding. Breastfeeding is by far the quickest and most convenient way to feed a baby. We have seen the immunity benefits, too; OLC has rarely been sick at all, and when she is, she gets over it quickly.

The down side to breastfeeding is the amount of commitment to the baby that it requires. There are no days off. (Or nights, either, so far.) But it makes a great excuse for keeping the baby close. I’ve needed it to get the hang of motherhood and all that.

I am not a big fan of the trend to pump milk and park the baby with someone else; the baby gets the breast milk, but not the mother’s presence, which is needed just as much. Some of my dislike of pumping is residual loathing from OLC’s first days, when I was pumping after every feeding to get my milk supply going. Plus we were supplementing–so I was feeding her by three different methods every time. It was a big relief (and a LOT less work) to be able to just stay in bed to nurse the baby. [To be explained further in the final part of the birth story.]

Finding good nursing clothes has also been difficult. Even harder than finding maternity clothes. I gave up on nursing bras right away; I just couldn’t manage those stupid flaps one-handed with a flailing baby in the other arm. Fast access is important. I do have a couple of sleep bras from Motherwear, they are ok. Nearly all of my T-shirts have homemade nursing openings in the sides now. That works all right when it’s cool enough to layer another shirt over them. For summer, I have some button-down short-sleeve shirts.

OLC says: Quit writing about breastfeeding! Don’t you know it’s bedtime!? I’m hungry!