I talked about before why I wanted to try breastfeeding in a previous post (free, calorie burn, antibodies for Nate, lower risk of breast cancer). Then I said in the same breath about how challenging and difficult it is. You hear that a lot about breast feeding.
I wanted to take this post to talk a little about the unexpected upsides to breastfeeding that I didn't think about.
- Bonding: Ok, maybe this one is well known, but it wasn't something that I had thought of. I love love love those special moments with my sweet baby. When he's crying and so upset; as soon as I put him in my lap he starts calming down because he knows what's coming. It's so special.
- Lack of Dishes: This is so awesome! No muss, no fuss. If baby is fussy and you want to try and feed him all you have to do is pop him on the boob! No clean up. I've been realizing how nice this is more and more with the pumping I've been doing. It's so annoying to have to wash the pump parts after I'm done. When you are sleep deprived those few moments to wash stuff really do add up.
- Nothing Wasted: If you were bottle feeding you would have to mix up formula. You would also have to take a guess at how much to mix, potentially wasting formula (and money!). There have definitely been those moments where Nate has only nursed for five minutes and then decided he wants to go back to sleep. Even if that happens I just pump and then freeze the milk so we can keep him on breast milk as long as possible when I go back to work. It's almost like a bonus when he decides he doesn't want to nurse long. :-)
Those are the three biggies that I've took note of so far. If I stumble on any others I will be sure to share some thoughts.
"Woo breast feeding! Don't give up!"
Love this!
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