High Maintenance Mom

I am blessed to be able to breastfeed my 3 month old son and hope to continue to my 6 month goal (I nursed my daughter for 7 months) but understand that there are many mothers who do not have that option and need to feed their child formula from day 1. I reached for a popular formula brand when my daughter was 7 months old and felt OK with my decision. Now, it seems that between the new choice of organic formula and formulas with added DHD/ARA, they are new questions.

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I thought that once I had breastfeeding down and my little bird mastered the art of the "big mouth" that the pain of giving birth was behind me until the next one. I was wrong. After 7 1/2 months of breastfeeding little bird, we decided that it was time to wean her onto the bottle. That was easy. We took it slowly (I changed my mind several times in the weaning process) and she was onto the bottle in 1 month.

Having gotten the horrid stomach flu that has been going around my son's daycare, I found myself confronted for the first time (of many, I am sure) with something I was totally not even remotely ready for: nursing while sick. I have read enough books to fill a library on babies, and none of them prepared me for that one. I was prepared (at least intellectually if not physically) for all night feedings, yellow mustard poop, and all that, but this completely blindsided me.

I've been thinking a lot about breastfeeding and what my life was like right after my first was born. I was consumed by making sure B got enough milk when I was back at work. It seemed like such a struggle. When I look back at his first year, I realize that not only have I learned to accept the choices I made, but I am also happy with them...

As a nursing mom I’ve been on the hunt for nursing pads that don’t leak. The cotton ones I’ve found didn’t work worth a darn, especially in the early months when I tended to leak a lot. I also think they feel clammy if they do get moist. There’s nothing worse than having to put a cold wet nursing pad back into your bra. While I found a great disposable nursing pads (Lansinoh are by far my favorite), every time I have open one up (as each are individually wrapped) I feel guilty. If I plan to nurse for year that’s a lot of resources I’m using, not to mention the plastic wraps I’ve got to throw out.

I was so excited to be pregnant the first time that I was asking for advice from complete strangers well before I had to move out of my "skinny" jeans. Throughout the pregnancy I read the GirlFriends Guide and What to Expect but I didn't realize that I wouldn't have as much free time to read after the baby was born. Here is my list of books that helped us through the first year. All can be found on Amazon.com and most likely at your local bookstore...