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[chhotii]

I think I'll be skipping the La Leche League meetings. I feel like they are so absolutist-- like, no formula, ever, formula is evil! OK, so holding this attitude for the first few months of baby does maximize one's chances of getting breastfeeding to work long-term (in most cases; obviously not if the kid is starving). But Sophia and I are well beyond the first few months. At this point I think we can use formula sometimes, under some circumstances, and it doesn't do any harm. I don't want to bicker with the absolutists about our occasional use of formula. But I feel like either I have to be a little evasive and talk around the role of formula in our story, or the LLL folks will get all hung up on it and blame formula for whatever issues we are having.

Special circumstances in which I give Sophia formula: when we go out, such as to the mall or a party or some such thing. If there are people, noises, things to see, etc., Sophia gets too distracted to settle down and nurse. And I can't be insistent with her any more, I can't say "I KNOW you're hungry, HERE is the nipple" because she has 2 very sharp little teeth now, and I'm not sure I've succeeded in teaching her to not use them on me. Either I have a hungry cranky baby, or I might have to discipline her and get a pouty cranky baby. So, now at parties etc., I thrust a bottle of formula at her when she starts to get cranky, and she can chew on that all she wants until she figures out she's hungry. I suppose the breastfeeding-purist solution would be to spend half of every party in the hostess's bedroom, trying to soothe cranky baby; and to only make quick surgical strikes at the mall.

Also, it's very comforting to know that when I go to work, Sophia won't starve even if I don't pump well. I have been working on the pumping every day and actually have, oh, about 15 oz. in the freezer! Based on gosling's experience I realize that this is pathetic. I suppose the breastfeeding-purist solution to this would be to continue to delay going back to work. Nooooooooooooooo!

I'm happy and proud that I exclusively breast-fed Sophia for 6 months. But she's a bigger kid now, reaching the age of ever-shifting food preferences and a world of food choices. Today she thinks Cheerios and apple juice are the best. Gah, nutrition???

Comments

[aelf.livejournal.com]

I had Zoe in daycare for 3 days a week, 6ish (to sometimes 8ish, but I tried to keep it to 6ish) hours a day from the time she was 3 mos. She took a bottle every 2ish hours. And would drink 3 - 4 ounces. So assuming I nursed her before I dropped her off, and nursed her when I picked her up, I could count on 20 ounces handling things well, more usually she'd only take around 12 ounces. She never really drank more than that. Typically, I'd get 10-15 ounces pumped during the day (30 minutes, every 2 hours). So on days when she went nuts and drank 20, she had to have some of the stash I was able to salt away on the days she only took 10 or 12.

By the time she was one and I took away the bottle, she was drinking maybe one 6 ounce sippy cup worth of breast milk a day. She was 18 months old before I finished off the freezer stash and she started on white milk. That's one reason I suggest people calm down. I stressed, and it was just silly. *grin*

You'll probably be fine. :)