To Nurse or Not to Nurse...(revised)

That is the question.

There are certain women I have a great amount of empathy and respect for. These include (but are not limited to)

1. women who have fertility issues
2. women who have miscarriages
3. women who either cannot breast feed or have a very hard time with it.

These are problems that I am very grateful to never have had. I get pregnant without necessarily trying at all, have never miscarried, and produce enough milk to feed all the babies in the neighborhood if I had to.(would have made a great pioneer;)

Now don't get me wrong, I definitely have my parenting struggles. But most of them are my own doing. I know too many women who have these problems that they can do nothing about.

So I feel a little guilty about wanting to quit nursing this baby.






To tell you the truth, I am conflicted. There are definitely pros to nursing:
1. It is easy for me. Abigail has always been a good nurser, and we don't have issues like thrush or breast infections to deal with. Or teeth.
2. I don't have to make a bottle every time she needs to eat. Like in the middle of the night.
3. She is my last baby. I love to sit and rock with her. I love the way she pats my cheek when she nurses. I love the little sounds that she makes.
4. breast milk is wayyyy cheaper than formula;)



Basically, I like to nurse, and it is easy for me. But the child won't take a bottle. Period. Brenley did not take a bottle either, so I did everything I could with Abigail to ensure she would. Including starting her on a bottle at 3 weeks old. But it didn't last. The stubborn little thing will go 7 hours plus without eating. Even when given a bottle of breast milk!

So there are the cons of never being able to give the child a bottle:

1.You can't leave her for longer than 2-3 hours.
2. It is hard to be out of the house during feeding time. you can't hand her a bottle in the shopping cart or the car. And she won't nurse well if she is covered with a nursing cape and it isn't totally quiet.
3. Your husband can't feed her while you do three other heads of girl hair on Sunday mornings. You have to be the one who feeds her AND does the girl hair, as your husband is not equipped to do either.
4. Since she won't take a bottle, she won't take a cereal bottle. My babies sleep longer through the night with a cereal bottle.
5. There are certain things I can't eat, because it makes her little tummy hurt.
6.It is hard to nurse her at the gym. It would be much easier to get some much needed exercise/sleep if she would take a bottle.


Then there is a girl I keep thinking about. I subbed in a bunko group last week, and naturally looked up all the girls blogs;) As I was reading Lindsey's, I stumbled across her brother and sister in law's blog, and how they lost their little girl. And this post keeps popping into my head. That wagonful of breastmilk, and more. That was meant for their sweet little girl who did not make it. What would she not give to be able to give up her freedom and nurse that baby?


There you have it. In a nutshell. Ideally, it would be best if she would nurse AND take a bottle. But no matter what we try she won't. She is a stubborn tiny thing. I have really been wrestling with the idea of going cold turkey onto a bottle.

What is your opinion? Don't be shy, I have no qualms about other people telling me what to do;)