Reply to Electing not to breastfeed

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Guess what also takes tons of time? Hand washing bottle parts every. Damn. Night. Especially the Dr. Brown’s with all the interior parts. Nursing is time consuming. Pumping is time consuming. Bottle feeding is time consuming. Parenting is time consuming.

News flash for Op: Infants don’t just get slotted into your existing life unless you have hired help and lots of family around. For the rest of us, they upend life and you reconfigure. You will realize this after the baby arrives. Who you are isn’t who you will be as a mom. Having a baby literally changes your brain. So How you plan to feed your baby is a premature decision. Wait til baby arrives. See how you feel.

Personally, nursing was tough for me (I’ve had mastitis 5 times between two kids, latch issues, severe engorgement, etc), but worth it for the health benefits and bonding. I liked the oxytocin rush. I liked the connection, it helped alleviate my working mom guilt when I only saw my baby for like 2 awake hours a day after I went back to work and would cry in the pumping room. And even then sometimes we did formula and it was fine. There’s a zillion shades of gray between EBF and EFF. Embrace the gray. And the new woman you will
Be as a mom. Her priorities will probably shift and evolve and look very different once your child arrives. [/quote]
I don't expect my newborn to be slotted into my existing life. I just don't want my relationship with my baby to be sullied by stress or resentment for breastfeeding/pumping when there are alternatives. I do have a lot of family around, and my husband works unusual hours in medicine. I will absolutely be taking advantage of an odd hour to run an errand by myself. No one would beseech my husband that simple freedom, so I don't know why it's even a conversation. I know myself, and I need that.

If breastfeeding is easy and natural for us, I will do it until a reasonable transition period before I return to work. If it isn't, I am going to let it go. I am not going to fight through multiple mastitis hospitalizations, tongue ties, etc. and make us all miserable in a quest to breastfeed.

I read what you're saying in one paragraph and then see you talking about crying in the pumping room in the next. I just can't see pushing through that. I'm glad that it worked for your family, but I'm afraid of the psychological impact and on my ability to mother in that state. I'm sorry you went through that.[/quote]

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