I went to Breastfeeding Class last night at the hospital. Nathan didn't go, but my friend Rachel was there so I wasn't alone. The class was pretty good. I didn't hear anything that I've completely never heard of before, but it's nice to put everything together. The nurse talked about the benefits of breastfeeding and the fears we have of breastfeeding. When she was talking about the benefits - higher IQ, less chance for allergies and sickness - she even went as far to say that she thinks it is child abuse not to breastfeed. OK, so I was caught off guard with that one. I think that is taking it a little too far. But more positives - I'm looking forward to the bonding time I will have with my son by breastfeeding. He will pretty much be attached to me for 30-40 minutes, 8 times a day, that is alomst 5 hours a day. Then with holding him and changing him and rocking him, which I will share with other people, we will get to spend lots of time together. And breastfeeding is good for me too! It will help me recover and lose weight quickly. Nurse mentioned that fat stores up during pregnancy for the purpose of feeding the baby. So the fat storing up on my thighs and hips actually has a higher calling! She really downplayed the negatives, such as soreness, pain, and problems latching on, but I know that those are real problems. She gave us her phone number to call her, and my pediatrician also has a lactation consultant. So I think I'm about as ready as I'll ever be!
We are having a contractor come to give us a bid on our hurricane damage at our house today. That will be nice to get us on our way to getting our claim money from the insurance and get things repaired.
Tomorrow is the 3D u/s!!!
You are so right about the bonding, I loved nursing my son, it felt so good to me to know that even tho I wasn’t pregnant with him anymore, I was still providing his nutrition, kind of weird.
ReplyDeleteAnd your also right about the sore nipple pain. Yeah - you totally get over it, just like when you get your ear pierced, it hurts to touch for a while but before you know it, you can tug, pull or even accidently rip out an earring and it doesn’t really hurt. That’s kind of what it's like. I remember bawling when he'd latch on - felt like someone rubbing sandpaper on sunburnt nipples - but after time, I swear I could have drug him around w/o holding him while he was latched on and I wouldn’t feel a thing. I was like a gorilla! LOL.
I don’t think It's child abuse to Not Nurse (that is pretty harsh of her to say - I think it's child abuse to not feed your kid) but it is definitely rewarding if you can make it past the most painful part's (sore nipples & engorgement and frustration)
Oh and for added encouragement - It's so cute when they are crawling and maneuvering around on their own, he get's hungry and your napping, you wake up to him feeding himself lunch (lmao) I loved it.
I too think the line about not breast-feeding is child abuse was way off base. What if parents adopted... Anyway on to more positive things.
ReplyDeleteAnd sorry to barge in on your blog like this unannounced but I found you via our mutual "infertility" tags on our Blogger profiles and yesterday on my humble blog I posted a blurb on my fertility / endometriosis probs with a link to a petition my pal Jeanne has sent to Oprah and The View for endo awareness and facts.(signatures still more than welcome!) Thank you.
Thanks for the great comments. LOL Jewels about being a gorilla dragging him around. I'm picturing that... Thanks for the advice and encouragement.
ReplyDeleteJannie - I'm glad you found my blog. I will check your blog out. I do tend to talk about pregnancy a lot, but I try to talk about other things too. I agree that more needs to be done for infertile women. Maybe I'll post about that soon.