(no subject)

[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

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

When Ilana started biting me, I reacted thusly: I immediately stopped nursing and put her down. That, IMO, is the best way to deal with it. If you yell, the baby thinks that's a funny game - bite Mom and make her yell. Others have suggested bopping the baby on the nose - I'm not in favor of corporal punishment at any age, especially not with infants. The "you bite, you stop nursing" deal worked really well. It also works well with other actions you'd like to discourage, but of course only if she does it while she's in your arms. :-)

Anyway, don't let the boob nazis get you down. Formula isn't poison, especially if you're still nursing too.

[aelf.livejournal.com]

I did the same thing anotherjen did -- when Zoe bit me, she immediately got put down. (Well, first she got shoved into my breast so she'd let go, THEN she got put down.) She *loves* nursing, so that was a very effective technique.

Your kid is 6 months old, she's eating (a little) regular food, formula is Just Another Food. If anyone gets on your case, ignore them. It's my opinion that if we stress moms out about how exactly they're feeding their babies, it only makes the whole situation worse. I'd personally prefer no baby had to have formula, but I think mom's sanity is very important, and the ultimate goal is to make sure the baby is happy and healthy (and fed!).

I think it's a shame that what should be a supportive resource leaves you feeling so conflicted. I'd recommend you write a letter to someone involved, letting them know. It's not doing breastfeeding support any good to chase people away with fanaticism.

15 ounces in the freezer is FANTASTIC! Don't compare your results with other people's. Everyone is different, and having _any_ reserve, even an ounce, is something to be very pleased with.

[gosling.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of the reason I didn't get the help I needed when it might still have been possible to get Benjamin to nurse was I was afraid of being told I was doing everything wrong. (I was kind of doing everything wrong, due to the rather inadequate advice of the lactation consultant at Mt. Auburn, but my form of post-partum depression was to be really, really vulnerable to criticism.)

It seems like the primary concern with formula at Sophia's age might be if she was getting it so much that your milk started to dry up, but that's not how you are using it at all.

My guess is that pumping will be easier (perhaps even feel very urgently necessary) when you are at work and haven't nursed for so long that day that you are feeling uncomfortably full.

[chhotii.livejournal.com]

The thing is, she bites either when she's done nursing, or when she's too over-stimulated to notice she's hungry and would rather be people-watching anyway (as tends to happen in social situations). So if I don't yell at her, if I just put her down, it's not really a deterrent. She thinks it's just dandy-- she wanted to look at that stuff over there, not my boob; she bites me; I put her down, she gets to look at that stuff over there; perfect!

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmm. Well, Ilana has always been a big cuddler, so even if she was done nursing, she would have liked to stay in my arms, so putting her down was a deterrent. I have no further suggestions! Sorry!

[chhotii.livejournal.com]

It seems like the primary concern with formula at Sophia's age might be if she was getting it so much that your milk started to dry up, but that's not how you are using it at all. Exactly. She nurses about 6 times a day and gets formula about once every other day, plus I try to pump extra after having given her formula, so I can't see how it would dry up too quickly.

My guess is that pumping will be easier (perhaps even feel very urgently necessary) when you are at work and haven't nursed for so long that day that you are feeling uncomfortably full. Hopefully! I've had some discouraging experiences with sometimes not being able to let down even with a full breast, but I'm hoping that this regular practice with the pump will fix that.

[chhotii.livejournal.com]

15 ounces in the freezer is FANTASTIC! Don't compare your results with other people's. It's just that her kid (who is just slightly older) was consuming, last I heard, 60 ounces per day, so 15 ounces wouldn't keep him going very long.

Then again, that kid is a tank; and Sophia might be too busy munching on Cheerios and strained bananas all day to need the milk, so 15 oz. might be plenty to have in reserve. I have no idea how it's going to go.

[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. :)