Thoughts on breastfeeding

Excuse currently in my head: I can't write this post because I haven't posted Mace's birth story yet!  It makes no sense to suddenly write a post about nursing because you barely even blogged about being pregnant and giving birth to a baby boy!
And this is what I say: You know what, self?  It doesn't matter!  Just write!

Disclaimer: This post is probably going to be TMI for some people, so if you don't want to hear about babies and boobs and nursing and leaking and body issues, stop reading now.
/disclaimer


I have a love/hate relationship with breastfeeding.  I nursed Carmen until she was 20 months old, and Mace is so far exclusively breastfed.  It's just so much easier to pop a boob into a baby's mouth than it is to pull out a bottle and mess with measuring out water and formula and making it not too cold.  The tap water here tastes like dirt so I'd have to use cold, filtered fridge water, and I'd have to warm it up to a bearable temperature and ... I get tired just thinking about it!

Thoughts on breastfeeding in general:
Pros:

• It's so easy and convenient!  You know your baby is going to be hungry every 2-3 hours (more often if it's growth spurt time) and since you're the mom, you're there, and you can feed them without having to prepare anything.
• Breastfeeding helps your waist get smaller faster, because the hormones associated with breastfeeding help your uterus clamp down to its original size.  (con: there is a LOT of cramping in those early days of breastfeeding.)
• You get to eat more food and supposedly you lose weight (and burn thigh fat?) more quickly.
• Your kids are healthier, since your antibodies strengthen their immune system.
• Breastmilk is superfood.  Seriously, it does everything.  My pediatrician told me to put it in Mace's eyes to open up his tear ducts.  It helps clear up baby acne.  Colostrum (and possibly breastmilk?) can be used in the early days to soothe sore and cracked nipples.  It cures ear infections, too.
• Breastmilk baby poop is a million times better than formula poop.  It smells better and just seems cleaner ...
• Babies are less picky when they start eating real food, since your milk tastes different depending on what you've eaten.  Unfortunately, most of my milk is made of chocolate, so I'm a little screwed in the variety department ...
• You get snuggles!
• I want to repeat "it's so easy and convenient and cheap and eco-friendly!" about 21938873 times.  Why spend money on something inferior?  STICK IT TO THE MAN. etc etc.

Cons:

• Let's face it.  It's a little gross.
• I leak like crazy the entire time my kids are breastfeeding, so I have to use nursing pads.  It feels kind of unsexy.  But, pro!  They are super-cute cloth nursing pads from WeeEssentials!
• Every time I get dressed, I have to think about accessibility, and whether or not my particular combination of nursing pads, bra, and shirt make my boobs look funny.  It depends on the thickness of the shirt/bra.
• Mace was very tongue tied.  That's when the frenulum (the thingy under your tongue that attaches your tongue to the bottom of your mouth) is attached all the way to the tip of the tongue and you can't stick your tongue out at all.  It makes it hard for a baby to latch on and suck because they need to stick their tongue out slightly to ... well ... make it all work.  Go Google it. =p  We went to the ear, nose, and throat doctor in May and he performed a frenectomy (fren = frenulum, ectomy = cutting out) so his tongue could be free and things are a lot easier now!
• Making milk takes work.  Work takes energy.  Energy creates heat.  I am very, very hot when I nurse (haha, I said I'm hot!)  I have recently discovered clinical strength deodorant.  IT IS AMAZING WHY DID I NOT USE THIS WITH CARMEN.  But feeling like you can boil water on your chest when it's also 90-someodd degrees outside?  Not fun!!
• If my boobs think it's time to nurse and my baby doesn't, it's uncomfortable.  Nursing and hormones in general are uncomfortable.
• Nursing hormones kill your libido.
• You never quite feel like your body is back to normal.
• It's hard to sleep on your stomach at night.  Too much pressure on chest = uncomfortable and leaky.
• My mother gives me dirty looks when I'm nursing at home without a cover and my brother is in the house.  I'm sorry if it makes him uncomfortable ... but I'm his sister and I'm feeding my baby and just because I have boobs ... I'm his sister!!!  Maybe I'm a shameless dirty classless hussy, but I think people need to freak out less about nakedness.  Hello, locker rooms?  And who hasn't seen some family member streak across the house in a towel at one point or another?  It's not sexual.  It's not an everyday occurrence, either, but still ... chill out.  (Maybe it's because I had college roommates who would lounge around the room in a towel/underwear for a little while after showering or before bed ...)
• It's a huuuuuuge time commitment.  Feeding a baby always is.  But think of this: Breastfed babies will eat every 2-3 hours for the first 6 months of life (because that's how long it takes to digest) until they start eating solid foods (ie. non-breastmilk).  A feeding usually lasts anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes.  Let's say a baby eats for 10 minutes every 3 hours.  That's 80 minutes a day.  If there are 30 days in a month, that's 240 minutes of nursing a month, which is 40 hours.  Every month, you spend a whole work week nursing your baby.

Thoughts in general:

• Yes, I'm one of those people who nurses in public.  I feel uncomfortable with the idea of other people staring at my boobs, so if I'm in a place where there are a lot of people (such as the outlet malls, Target, a restaurant, a party/wedding) I like to cover up.  I'll also generally try to cover up if I'm around unmarried male friends; but if I'm at home, or with family, or with female friends, or in an un-busy place, or I'm at the beach ... I may or may not cover up and people can choose not to stare because I'm not drawing attention to myself.  I'm not exactly sure how nursing on a busy public beach is different from nursing at a busy Target, but they're psychologically different to me when it comes to feeling like I'm an exhibitionist while nursing.
• I love my nursing cover (got the black one from Udder Covers).  The stiff band around the neck goes out enough that I can look down and see what's going on but nobody else has to stare at my nipples while Mace and I tussle over whether or not he's going to start eating yet.  He's light enough that I can carry him around with one arm and walk around and window shop.  One time, Mark and I were at the store and I nursed Mace the whole time while Mark pushed the shopping cart.  IT WAS AWESOME.  I was thrilled not to have to sit down and feed Mace, and not feel awkward by walking around the store half-exposed.
• All of my complaints about nursing seem kind of superficial and selfish.  I mean, come on, "nursing makes me feel less sexy"?  The convenience and lifetime benefits of nursing far outweigh a few months of temporary discomfort and self-consciousness.
• I will write about the World Health Organization (WHO) and their breastfeeding recommendations some other time.  I have a lot of thoughts on the subject.  Frankly, I think they're kind of obnoxious in the way they present their goals.
  http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/exclusive_breastfeeding/en/
  And this article does a pretty good job to summarize how I feel:
  http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/04/moms-need-more-support-to-breastfeed-exclusively/
  
  But the phrase "more support" sounds like mothers need their hands held and to be pushed and prodded into exclusive breastfeeding.  That sounds kind of coercive and forceful and makes me feel uncomfortable ... like, what, you're going to guilt mothers into exclusively breastfeeding?  Yeah, like that's gonna work.  Can't we give moms props for trying, and keeping with it, and for continuing to nurse at a 6 months or a year even if the kid's been fed a couple bottles of formula?  Because it's not like the world's moms aren't nursing at all.  They're just (gasp!) using a product that's available to make it so they can go out for more than 3 hours without having to pump for it.

I'm sure there's plenty more I think about the subject, but that's all I've got for now. ;)