The Downer on Breastfeeding...

SO I AM A COMPLETE ADVOCATE FOR BREASTFEEDING...and this post is just my opinion to some downers for myself breastfeeding. Since Autumn was born she's been breastfed...and will continue to be until other wise, but there are some not so wonderful aspects to breastfeeding that I myself have found challenging. 

Let's start with the concept of breast milk...it's nutritious, free, and quickly digested....very quickly digested. I get up ON AVERAGE around 3-5 times a night to feed Autumn not including I get up at work at 5 in the morning monday through friday. Breastfeeding would be so much easier if guys could do it too! Seriously. I know parents who switch off every other night on feeding their child formula so they could catch up on their sleep and I am envious (not really). And I guess you could pump and and then you'll have extra bags of milk so your partner could feed the baby at night...but then you have to worry about your milk stash depleting! And thats a rough thing to deal with when you're a working mom...believe me I know. So even if you wanted to keep your stash replenished you would still have to pump when your baby is being bottle fed so you're not loosing milk. It's kind of pointless to me. 

Also, if you wanted a girls night out, you couldn't be gone for more than 3 hours. Because (a) you're boobs could possibly turn into rocks...or (b) your milk supply could decrease due to not releasing the milk.  In addition to girls night out...you can't really drink. And I'm not big on drinking at all...but if I wanted to go out and have a couple drinks the MOST I could really have is like 1 or 2 drinks. Which again is pointless to only have 1 or 2 drinks.

And if you are a working mom you have to pump at work. For me it's not a problem at all because I can pump whenever I want. But the effect of supply and demand is so crucial in pumping. Because as all of us moms know...pumps aren't as good as the real thing. You're more likely to have decrease in milk supply when pumping at work.....while using formula...you don't have to worry about the supply. 

But there are wonderful WONDERFUL things about breastfeeding! It's a way to bond with your baby, it builds up your babies immune system, the risk of them getting certain illnesses is slim, it's good for brain development, it's good for the mother (dropping the baby weight), and of course...IT'S FREE!!!

And I know i'm going to be getting comments from people saying "well I breastfeed my child and he sleeps through the night blah blah blah blah.." Like I said before...this is my personal feelings for me breastfeeding.