Intro: What's It All About
I have been feeding my daughter expressed breastmilk exclusively for nearly 3 months. In that time, I have seen a message board for moms who pump exclusively deteriorate into a message board for moms who pump because they can't breastfeed and really wish they could.
Well, maybe it's not quite that bad: a lot of the new posters seem to want to choose EPing, but are put off by the attitude of some of the older posters: that EPing should only be a last resort and only used when necessary. I disagree, quite strongly. I am not anti-breastfeeding, but I am tired of BFers saying things like, "It's really easier..." "You really should think about..." "You'll change your mind once you're a mom..." so I decided to start this blog, where I can rant and rave to my heart's content, and others who are making the same choice I made can come and see that it's a great choice for some moms.
My story up to this point:
When I was still pregnant, I started thinking about how I was going to feed my baby. There are two main reasons I decided to express, or pump, instead of just breastfeeding the normal way:
1. I have never been comfortable with the idea or breastfeeding. Just the idea of a person sucking milk out of me creeps me out. Before all you La Lechers freak out on me, I didn't say breastfeeding is creepy, I said for me its not the right thing. It gives me a wiggins, the same way spiders do. And just like on an intellectual level I know spiders are more scared of me than I am of them, so too do I know that breastfeeding is beautiful and natural. But just like I scream and freak out when I see even a teeny tiny spider, I get a serious wiggins when I think about someone eating my bodily fluids, even when I know they're designed for that. For whatever reason, the wiggins disappears when the milk is sucked out mechanically. I have a deep, dark, dank labyrinth of a psyche.
2. Anecdotally I had heard a number of horror stories about babies (including me) who wouldn't take a bottle, either because they'd only accept food from mom or they didn't like the rubber nipple or whatever. Since I knew I'd have to go back to work after a few weeks, the possibility of this happening seemed like a huge hassle, and frankly, this whole baby thing is enough of a hassle without adding extra in unneccessarily (don't get me wrong -- I adore my daughter. But logistically, children are a hassle. They just are.). So starting out with a bottle in the first place just made sense to me.
Despite 1 &2 above, I wanted my daughter to have breastmilk. So I started looking into alternatives. I found out about breastpumps, usually designed for BFing women who return to work, and thought Hey...I bet I could use one of those all the time. Then I thought Surely I'm not the only one who's thought of this. I happened to mention to a friend of mine who has a one year old that I was thinking of trying it, and she said, "Oh, yeah, that's what I did when Max was born. Of course you can do it." I couldn't believe that this was common enough that of the two people I know who have young babies, one of them had tried it! So I did what any young tech savvy pregnant girl would do...I Googled it.
(tune in tomorrow for the rest of the story)
^@^
Well, maybe it's not quite that bad: a lot of the new posters seem to want to choose EPing, but are put off by the attitude of some of the older posters: that EPing should only be a last resort and only used when necessary. I disagree, quite strongly. I am not anti-breastfeeding, but I am tired of BFers saying things like, "It's really easier..." "You really should think about..." "You'll change your mind once you're a mom..." so I decided to start this blog, where I can rant and rave to my heart's content, and others who are making the same choice I made can come and see that it's a great choice for some moms.
My story up to this point:
When I was still pregnant, I started thinking about how I was going to feed my baby. There are two main reasons I decided to express, or pump, instead of just breastfeeding the normal way:
1. I have never been comfortable with the idea or breastfeeding. Just the idea of a person sucking milk out of me creeps me out. Before all you La Lechers freak out on me, I didn't say breastfeeding is creepy, I said for me its not the right thing. It gives me a wiggins, the same way spiders do. And just like on an intellectual level I know spiders are more scared of me than I am of them, so too do I know that breastfeeding is beautiful and natural. But just like I scream and freak out when I see even a teeny tiny spider, I get a serious wiggins when I think about someone eating my bodily fluids, even when I know they're designed for that. For whatever reason, the wiggins disappears when the milk is sucked out mechanically. I have a deep, dark, dank labyrinth of a psyche.
2. Anecdotally I had heard a number of horror stories about babies (including me) who wouldn't take a bottle, either because they'd only accept food from mom or they didn't like the rubber nipple or whatever. Since I knew I'd have to go back to work after a few weeks, the possibility of this happening seemed like a huge hassle, and frankly, this whole baby thing is enough of a hassle without adding extra in unneccessarily (don't get me wrong -- I adore my daughter. But logistically, children are a hassle. They just are.). So starting out with a bottle in the first place just made sense to me.
Despite 1 &2 above, I wanted my daughter to have breastmilk. So I started looking into alternatives. I found out about breastpumps, usually designed for BFing women who return to work, and thought Hey...I bet I could use one of those all the time. Then I thought Surely I'm not the only one who's thought of this. I happened to mention to a friend of mine who has a one year old that I was thinking of trying it, and she said, "Oh, yeah, that's what I did when Max was born. Of course you can do it." I couldn't believe that this was common enough that of the two people I know who have young babies, one of them had tried it! So I did what any young tech savvy pregnant girl would do...I Googled it.
(tune in tomorrow for the rest of the story)
^@^
posted by Laura Y. at
20.7.06
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