is this a personal question?

now that i have a baby, people often say "this might be personal, but do you breast feed or bottle feed?"  i don't really feel like it's a personal question.  but yes, i breast feed.  i feel like in this era it's so shocking to hear a mother say they breast feed.  what ever happened to "what?! you don't breast feed?" i'm not going to lie, i totally hated it in the beginning. but from the moment i got pregnant i knew breast feeding was what i was going to do, no questions about it.

 

(this is after 30+ hours of labor, at 2am, i learned to feed her at 3:30am after a 5 min nap.  she was a champ and so was i.  i look terrible, but i was so happy)

now, i would be lying if i said oh it's amazing, it's so easy, and i just totally love it.  so here is my list of pros vs. cons of breast feedings.

PROS                                                                                                                                                   

 free!
very healthy for baby!
close bond with baby!
when with family, it's your only chance to hold your baby!
did i mention FREE!
weight loss without working out! (burns 500 calories/DAY!)
no clean up

    CONS
painful for first couple weeks
very hard to adjust
uncomfortable with public feedings(for me at least)
stressful when baby is struggling
pumping!


okay, so most of these you already know, but this is how i feel.  i really didn't mind it in the very beginning but when i went back to work it stunk.  i hate pumping!  it was really hard then because she was eating every 2 hours and it was really hard for me to remember at work.  then my 'tot', haha, would be so engorged with milk it would be so painful.  i feel like no one told me about the painful part.  annie says she told me about it, but i didn't remember.  i knew it would be rough, but i guess i didn't comprehend the whole "milk coming in" part.  but i figured it out.  and now, i wouldn't change it for anything.  feeding her is so simple and so FREE! she can eat in like 5-10 mins and we're done.  i can feed her and not have to worry about covering her up b/c she's so big now you can't see anything.  now i just have to keep her focused, she's so easily distracted.

for all you preggers and mothers out there who have not breast fed, i highly encourage you.  i'm not telling you it will be easy, but DON'T give up! there were several times of pure screaming from her and tears of frustration from me and kylie, but don't be tempted by the ease of a bottle.  it not only makes you closer with your baby, but i never thought it would make me closer with kylie. who knew i would need him to hold my nip! haha, tmi? but in all seriousness, it is so beneficial for your baby and their immune system.  and God made us with breast for the purpose of feeding our children, not just for our husbands to stare at.  lets make this decade a decade of breast feeders!