I LOVE nursing Emma! I chose to do it because after much research I found there is no formula that comes close to being as beneficial to a baby and it's development than a mothers breast milk.
I'm not going to say that it was the easier choice.... my goodness, we struggled at the beginning! There were many tears shed and many hours just trying to 'latch' properly. And many vents to my online friends coaching me through my frustration! It would have been 100x easier to put some formula in a bottle and give her that. But it's easier to eat at McDonalds than it is to cook a wholesome meal, and then clean up afterwards, yet, the one with more work has more benefits obviously. So it was worth the fight.
~I love holding her close.
~I love the look on her face as she nurses.
~I love how she is soothed by it.
~I love when she is finished and looks up at me and smiles as though saying 'Thanks Mommy!'
~I love knowing that when nothing else will calm her down, nursing her brings her comfort.
~I love being the only one in the world that can ever have that connection with her.
~Oh, and I love how it burned all my pregnancy weight right off and continues to do so! ;)
~I love how she gains the perfect amount of weight and has less of a chance to be obese.
I remember when she had lost a lot of weight and Nick was feeding her a bottle I just sat there and cried. I was so sad to lose that connection with her. I vowed that day, my daughter would not have another lick of formula as long as I could help it. If she needs a bottle while I am away, my milk will be in that bottle!
I don't understand why people think it is inconvenient. Why? Because you have to be there for your baby? Isn't that what being a mom is all about? When she was born the limelight I lived in was shifted to her. She comes before me, not I before her. I'm passionate about this. Don't have kids if you want your life to be just about you.
I am even MORE excited today because I found the coolest thing for Emma for the summer! Momsicles- (don't you just love that name?) Instead of freezing juice as a homemade popsicle, you freeze breast milk just the same. You may think that I am robbing my baby of the joys of a delicious sweet tasting popsicle in the heat of the summer sun..... but, have you ever tasted breast milk? I have, while I was fixing a bottle of it for Emma and she was not sitting right, I held the nipple part in my mouth and it almost fell (breast milk to me is liquid gold) so I quickly sucked hard to stop it from falling and got a gulp of my own milk! Honestly my first thought was 'PUKE'... but then I realized... breast milk is SWEET! The only thing I have tasted similar is sweetened coconut milk. Not only does it satisfy the sweet craving that fruit popsicles do, I can give her added benefits between her feedings! Finding this was like finding the perfect pair of shoes and then trying them on and them fitting wonderfully!!
When Emma weans from nursing it will be a sad day for me, because I will feel a great sense of loss, but it will be something special I will always hold dear to me. Some people hate it, and they say it's not for them. I just don't understand that at all. At first it wasn't for me either.... it was for Emma, I just reaped the benefits I never knew were even there!
Ahhhh, the breast kind of bond!
Twila
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