Samantha Cappuccino-Williams
Latest posts by Samantha Cappuccino-Williams (see all)
- Unmedicated Childbirth Survival Tips - February 25, 2013
- You Might Be a Parent If… - February 12, 2013
- 10 (Mildly Shallow) Reasons To Breastfeed - February 10, 2013
I breastfeed my kids. I’m passionate about it. I’m righteous about it. But I’m not entirely honest about it.
I advertise that I do it for the heartfelt and health-related reasons we’ve all heard from other moms and pediatricians a bazillion times. But come on. If there weren’t also some hardcore mama-centric reasons to let my kid nibble on my nips for a year, I’d never be able to endure the insane commitment. These are the reasons that see me through the worst breastfeeding days and get me to hang in there when I want to bail. They’re pretty damn shallow, but whatever. They get the job done. Need some reasons to breastfeed, too?
1. Milk boobs are awesome. Have you seen milk boobs? The new-mom, my-milk-just-came-in(!!) boobs? They’re glorious. They’re porn star glorious except they’re REAL. They’ll make even the staunchest feminist reconsider her rabid stance on breast augmentation. These fabulous tits were a fabulous surprise after my first child, and a highly anticipated perk (for both my husband and me) after my second.
2. I don’t have to work out. My baby weight lost itself because breastfeeding burns 500-800 calories A DAY. Even my best workout when I was in my twenties and maintaining a hot college body to bring the boys to the yard didn’t burn 800 calories. How crazy would I be to opt out of something that burns a shitload of calories while I sit on my ass, snuggling my baby, in my thirties?
3. I don’t feel remotely guilty about what I eat. I need to replace the calories nursing burns otherwise my milk production decreases dramatically. So heeeelllllloooo, Smashburger. Thank you for contributing to the cause of better infantile nutrition. And yes, I would like a salted-caramel shake with that. It’s all in the name of milk production.
4. I can’t forget my breasts when I leave the house. I’ve forgotten diapers, clothes, blankets, binkies, the stroller, the entire diaper bag after spending 20 minutes packing it, and even the friggen baby, but I’ve never forgotten milk. If you don’t have kids, having one less thing to remember as you herd your family out the door may not seem significant. If you do have kids, you know how significant it is.
5. I get guaranteed breaks during crappy social functions. It is completely acceptable to excuse yourself from a party to nurse your child in private. Even though I don’t really care about privacy, I sometimes take advantage of this understanding to avoid awkward acquaintances and annoying relatives and go play Angry Birds or check Facebook for awhile.
6. Aunt Flo goes on sabbatical. Thanks to breastfeeding, I made it 50 weeks sans Aunt Flo after my daughter was born. My son just turned one and I’m still waiting for her return. If you count her absence during my pregnancy, I haven’t seen her in nearly 2 years. TWO YEARS. I don’t miss that bitch at all.
7. I can instantly comfort my screaming baby without having to troubleshoot the actual problem. Sometimes I’m too tired or busy to try to figure out what the baby is crying about, so I just nurse him. Nine times out of 10, shoving a boob in his mouth calms him down immediately. Note: This also works with his father.
8. I can have unprotected sex for 6 months. When done correctly, breastfeeding is an effective form of birth control up to the baby’s 6-month birthday. So no hormones for me, and no condoms for my husband, for 6 months. Like I said though, you have to do it right or you end up with Irish twins. Like my parents did. D’oh.
9. Breast milk poop smells a hell of a lot better than formula poop. I have to change a lot of disgusting poopy diapers, so if anything can make them less disgusting, I’m in. Breast milk poop smells, but it doesn’t stink. Not like formula shit. I found this out firsthand when changing a friend’s formula-fed baby. I thought something died in her diaper. I almost called Animal Control.
10. When my kids have kids, I can hold it over their heads that when they were babies, I did everything right and know everything. The extreme commitment and effort of breastfeeding lends a lot of credibility to the future backseat parenting of my grandchildren.
{ 281 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes, yes, and HELL yes!
I agree with these reason except the last one makes people who couldn’t breast feed like me feel bad for not doing it for not doing the right thing. Except not breastfeeding my twins was the right thing at the time God knows I did try. There is nothing wrong with NOT breast feeding although I truly hope I will be able to breast feed next time.
There’s nothing wrong with not breastfeeding, but I do think there is something wrong with not trying to breastfeed. You did that! That’s what’s important.
I used to feel that guilt having not been able to breastfeed my twins. But, I still tried. Having had three children since, I breast-fed them for 3 years, 3 years one month, and currently at 8 months with my youngest (baby #5). Though (re: #8), my body seems to always think I need more babies, and I most definitely do not. Also, weight loss like crazy. I’m now back to being pre-baby weight, and struggle to keep it on.
Dido. My first baby was a premie with multiple congenital abnormalities, so latching on never worked for us, but I did get the benefits of breast feeding from pumping while he was in the NICU. Pleasant surprises like DD’s and effortlessly dropping down to my high school weight. My daughter is 4 months old now and along with these, my number one reason for sticking it out and continuing to breast feed is money. Formula cost a shit-ton; breast milk is free.
Rachel, I agree. I tried my last two pregnancies — twins and then a singleton — and didn’t produce enough milk for both. I’d rather feed my babies healthy formula than listen to their hungry cries. Good luck with your next baby.
OMG! FOFLOL! Yes, these are all fantastic reasons! Then you add in the other benefits and perks of being the “one” for your baby and it makes everything even sweeter! Thank you Laleche league for all the classes! When mine decided, at 7 mo, to stop breastfeeding I was devastated! I was not ready for her to be so independent! I really cried about it, several times!
So, in other words you were one of those moms that just couldn’t cut the cord.
Hi Don,
I hope you will take it the way I mean it when I say fuck off.
Thanks.
Lmfao! Well put!!
MJ: hahahahahahahaha
Don: Put a dollar int he douche jar.
MJ said it best.
Yea what MJ said lol. Aah poor Don, he has breastfeeding envy
ha ha ha. So true!
(agreeing with Don)
Guess that means I must have loads of cord issues? 5 offspring nursing respectively 13mths, 5years, 3yr3mths, 3yrs, 4yrs9mths. With ten years, three months, between eldest and youngest, tandem nursing second and third, fourth and fifth.
PS now I’m an empty nester and the skills and attitudes I learned nursing and weaning have stood me in good stead over the ten years from the time my eldest left home to the time the youngest did the same. They are all pretty cool kids/adults. I sincerely doubt they would or could call me a helicopter mom.
maybe not a helicopter mom but definitely a ‘psycho bitch on wheels’mother. we all have friends with wacko mothers and you def. sound like one. They probably couldn’t wait to get out of the house. Selfish bitch!
Wow! someone thinks good parenting is all about KEEPING your kids at home for the rest of their lives! Parenting is about loving and giving your kids the skills to run their own lives by the time they leave home. Parenting is also about teaching your children how to live together in mutual respect, to problem solve, balance a check book, read a book and if they have a disability to work with and past their disability. Parenting is a life long learning program. Few people are instinctive parents and even instinctive parents screw up. So sorry you feel negotiating breastfeeding the balance between meeting the needs of babies and mom is somehow selfish. So what kind of parenting do YOU espouse to be non-selfish? Every child is different every FAMILY is different. However certain patterns of response and behaviour aid in the development of healthy mature interdependent Adults which was my goal. If yours was something different well I hope you are all happy with each other. I am sure happy enough with mine.
CPreston, don’t feed the troll.
Concerned “Concerned Clinician” is thinking to relate themselves anywhere near the medical field that advocates 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding and continued breastfeeding through at least 1 year. The momma said her baby was 7 months. Clinicians like you piss me the heck off to no end and give the medical field a bad name.
dumb
I hardly think that a mother crying over her 7 MONTH old weaning baby is one of those mothers who “just could t cut the cord”. 7months old is very early for a baby to wean, and if this mother was unprepared for it to be happening so soon I don’t blame her for being a bit upset over it!
Your comment is way out of line in its judgemental and sarcastic overtone.
I breastfed my first daughter for nine months. Got my period 2 weeks after my post-baby bleeding stopped, so that didn’t really help me. Same thing with my second daughter who I breast fed for three months (wanted to go longer, but she had some health issues and I wasn’t able to). So that’s not always true the whole no period thing. My sister went 18 months, lucky girl. I wasn’t lucky though. 2 week break and then I started again on a regular basis. Which also gets rid of the whole no pregnancy for 6 months thing.
There is a whole range of variations into how soon any given mum resumes ovulation and thus their menstrual cycle. It may be a reflection of how healthy you are ie you may have more successfully maintained healthy levels of all the vitamins and minerals etc during and after your pregnancy and birth. It may be genetics, it may be how often your baby nurses and how long none of which we as mums control excepting for stress levels, and support.
Often It takes having a couple of kids before we know roughly whether we are going to be early re-starters or late re-starters depending on how long we nurse our babies. These days however most modern mums only want one or two babies, we just have to go with the flow and take necessary precautions to reasonably space our babies. We know things like maternal health, whether the cord was cut immediately after birth or allowed to stop pulsating before it is cut can affect the amount of iron in our blood, the risk of post-partum depression, whether our babies stay with us or are set off to the nursery soon after birth, and the babies condition and health at birth can effect how soon or successfully babies nurse…then again we can do everything “right” and baby take weeks and weeks to grasp how to nurse leading to all kinds of pain and inconviences , infects etc. and sometime we just don’t know why some mother mums never get their milk in and why some mother baby pairs just click , yet the next child nothing seems to go right without considerable amount of persistence on mums part. Every mum has to decide for herself what is right for her and her baby without compromising eithers health and safety. NO ONE has the right to judge and condemn or second guess those decisions. We are fortunate to live in an age and society were we HAVE those choices.
well to be honest ive just had someone silently judge me for not breastfeeding its my business as to why i couldnt and even if someone decided not to try i dont think its wrong as someone quite ignorantly put it in the second comment jesus who have breastfeeding mothers a fucking blue peter badge , just do it but dont make others feel inadequate that they couldnt or didnt , , as ive said before no one ever thinks about the fact that 1000,s of years ago in tribes they were woman who couldnt feed their babies and other women did it for them , so u judgement women who think i cant raise a healthy and fulfilled child because they werent breastfed can politely fuck off…..
Love 7- Note: this also works on their Father LOL
I was going to list every one I agreed with, but it was basically all. Awesome! Plus my favorite of all- it’s free!
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It was the free part that convinced me. Plus the no cleaning bottles. Of course, the kiddo never got the hang of latching on so I ended up pumping for 8 months. Still free, but so much for never cleaning bottles. I ended up cleaning bottles AND the pump.
I’m so jealous of those of you who got a break from your period while breastfeeding. I got a few weeks and then back on. And I even extended bf. But nope, period as usual. Gah.
Shell recently posted..Things They Can’t Say: Not Just 9 to 5
Ditto, and I was so not happy to see her again so soon.
I read this pissy because I got a 2 month break. Not fair, nature!
I got 2 weeks! from end of lochia to start of my next period was 2 weeks. with all 5 kids!
Me too. No break in sight for me.
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I too had no break after my first and second baby with exclusive breastfeeding, no pacis or anything. After my second it took 5 months which was nice, but I’m envious of the moms who get at least a year or more, especially since we like to space our kids at least 3 years!
Yes, Yes, Yes for everything except for 6 & 8. And if 6 was true for you I am beyond jealous.
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I got preggo whilst breastfeeding (daughter was 4 months old)…what is the trick to not getting preggo? Never heard of that one before.
Well, you need to keep nursing overnight, breastfeed exclusively (no solids or formula or bottles) and nurse on demand quite frequently. But the truth is even then it doesn’t work for everyone and you’re taking a bit of a chance if you rely on it. It’s great when it does work though!
True, Sara! I bf on demand, through the night, my son was a complete booby-monster and fed CONSTANTLY and I got my period after 6 wks. When I told my GP at my 6 week check that I’d been told I didn’t need to use contraception if I was exclusively BF-ing he literally held his head in his hands! Be careful what you write, mum bloggers – a lot of people believe what they read!
This was so so funny. I’m one of those women who doesn’t get the good ol aunt Flo as long as I’m breastfeeding, but I don’t trust not using anything. My MIL thought breastfeeding was a form of birth control until she finally got pregnant with her FOURTH! She had 4 children under the age of THREE YEARS OLD!
Thought these were funny! #9 is soooo true!!
Seriously, BF is not contraception! Even though you don’t have your period you can still get pregnant! There is no golden rule.
Contrary to anecdotal stories, research supports the idea that breastfeeding can be used as ‘contraception’ as long as certain rules are met. That is, baby must be younger than six months, baby must nurse on demand and at least every four hours during the day and six hours at night, and mom must not have had her period yet. Under those conditions, according to research, a woman is very unlikely to become pregnant. It is not common for a woman to ovulate before she has her first period within those first six months, and once she does have her period, breastfeeding certainly won’t prevent pregnancy [although for many women, it takes a few cycles before pregnancy can be achieved]. Of course it’s not 100 percent effective, which is why we’ve all heard the stories of the women who have gotten pregnant when their babies were very little and they hadn’t had a period, but no family planning method is perfect. By the way, this method is called LAM and its efficacy is supported by LLLI as well as medical organizations, and even by Planned Parenthood.
I concur. I didn’t get my period back for the entire 18 months of breastfeeding. This happened with both of my babies. I certainly think that it helps…my husband and I together are fertile myrtles btw and we spaced children 2 & 1/2 years apart thanks to breastfeeding!
not true! I nursed all night and day with my 3rd baby, ovulated at 6 wks postpartum (had the tell-tale mucus) and then got my period at 8 wks postpartum. I think it’s because I’m overweight, and fat cells produce estrogen which can start your cycles back. I hypothesize this because I was slimmer after my 1st child was born and my period did not return for 9 months.
Hi Lovely Ladies, using breastfeeding for contraception is as effective as the combined pill AS LONG AS CERTAIN RULES ARE FOLLOWED:
1. You need to be exclusively breastfeeding with no gaps longer than about 6 hours. That means not giving your baby anything else, just breastfeeding on demand.
2. Your baby needs to be younger than 6 months
3. You mustn’t have had a period
Hope that helps, and remember, some women have a pregnancy on the combined pill!
Belinda (Midwife)
Even with all conditions met it can still happen and unfortunately a lot of couples really think they can’t get pregnant because of reading things like this. I personally got pregnant with number 4 whilst breastfeeding a 4 month old on demand througout the day and night, no period and was on the mini-pill. While the chances might be small there is still that chance and women need to know that.
Indeed, Laurie, as I have acknowledged in my post. :-)
Sorry, but the breastfeeding as a way to stop periods and as birth control doesn’t always work, more times it doesn’t than it does. Good for you that it worked, but to not use any other method of birth control, unless you want another baby right away, is just stupid and touting it as birth control is a little bit untruthful and careless. Also, not everyone gets ginormous boobs either–I went from an A to a barely B. And you DO have to watch what you eat–the milk is made from what you eat, so if what you eat is nutritionally deficient, the milk won’t be as nutritionally sound as you’d want it to be. Also, it’s a complete lie too that you lose a lot of weight breastfeeding. Many of the women I know who bf don’t lose most of the baby weight until after they stop breastfeeding.
Haha I had to laugh at your snarky response. While I agree nursing should not be used as contraception and you should watch what you eat. Don’t be so snarky about the weight loss. Just because it isn’t true for YOU does not mean it is not true for others. I myself lost the weight WAY too quickly without even trying. I eat roughly around 4 full meals a day and was almost to my pre-pregnancy weight by my 6 week with my 2nd. I had to quit nursing my 1st at 6 months for a few reasons, some selfish, others medical. One of the big reasons I had to quit at 6 months was because I was below my pre-pregnancy weight which was extremely unhealthy. So please do not generalize based on YOU. Thanks.
shut up. Talk about a snarky bitch, you’re it, frenchie.
Haha, right on. She’s all “Shut up and listen to me whine about being too thin.”
I did lose forty pounds without much more effort than breastfeeding, walking, and occasionally thinking before shoveling in more food.
But then, no matter how much I exercised or dieted, I got stuck with another twenty pounds that never went away before I stopped breastfeeding and got pregnant with the next. Every breastfeeding mom I’ve known who started out plump has been plump-plus while breastfeeding. So when I hear that breastfeeding is a miracle weight-loss cure, I roll my eyes, snarky or no.
Total bullshit comment about breastfeeding not contributing to weight loss! I noticed you said “most of the women you know bf” assuming you yourself haven’t; therefore, you don’t really know! I lost 75 plus lbs in just the first 9 months of my first child!
Lost 75 pounds?? How much did you put on while pregnant? That is NOT healthy.
BF is not birth control. Not all women lose the weight faster when nursing. You really need to consider that each woman is a unique case.
I am one of those moms who gets AF at 6 weeks postpartum even when following all the rules. However, I tandemed (nursed my toddler [who nursed almost as much as baby] and my newborn) when I had my second child, and didn’t have AF visit until 2nd baby was 11 months! Woot!
AF came as soon as my older child was nursing only 2x a day.
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My selfish reason was that I didn’t want my ex-husband’s weirdo mom to get her weirdo hands on my adorable son for more than 1 1/2-2 hours. :)
Yes to the whole post, but this is my number one reason too
Being a grandma of a breast fed grandbaby, this comment makes me very sad. I hope my daughter-in-law doesn’t feel this way. I too breastfed all three of my babies 9 months ( had to stop because I got a severe stomach illness and had to give up nursing ), then 11 months (she just chose not to nurse anymore) then my last one I nursed 13 months. I agree with all these reasons except for this one. Even if my MIL drove me nuts, I would NEVER deprive her from seeing my kids. I hope you reconsider really feeling this way…grandparents LOVE seeing, hearing and being with their grandchildren!
Trust me when I tell you, she gets PLENTY of time with my children. She lives down the street and comes over several days a week.
However, she thinks breastfeeding is “gross”and “weird” and”unhealthy”. I can’t trust her with the babies when it comes to food. She doesn’t believe that babies need to wait for solids and she wants to give “tastes” if everything she eats from the time they are a month old. So by breastfeeding, I can control the amount of time she spends alone with them.
As an aside, she feels that car seats “don’t make sense” and aren’t totally necessary. So there’s that…
lora recently posted..progress
Lora….I have to add your reason to one of my reasons to breastfeed too! I would never see my child if i did not breastfeed. It is my legitimate excuse to hold my own baby. Otherwise my MIL would take him back to China with her. She’s pleaded the case a gazillion times with me…
Polama, I am so sorry you’re dealing with that. I wish everyone had mother in laws that were reasonable and loving and normal. Hold in to that baby as tight as you can!
lora recently posted..progress
So sorry to hear this Lora! I try to be careful and never overstep my boundary…I wish you the best!
This was a reason for me as well, not on the top of my list, but a reason. My MIL took issue with MANY of the things we do as parents. So much in fact that she actually doesn’t see them because she can’t be nice to their mommy. When she first saw my newest squish, who was 3 days old, she was vocally unhappy that she was nursing so much. She later tried to remove her from my arms. She might have been excited about a new grandbaby, but mommy trumps grandmother every time.
You ladies should visit the board “Dealing with inlaws and family of origin” on babycenter.com. Great advice for dealing with family that over steps boundaries.
Already there :)
You sound like a stereotypical dumb bitch sister-in- law. i don’t blame your M-i-l for treating you like shit. Keep up your lazy dumb bitch act and the m-i-l will give all her money and estate to her church and not your kids ,when she ‘kicks the bucket’, by then your husband will have divorced you, no doubt.
Your d-i-l probably feels the same about you. The lazy selfish mothers of 2013 are just spoiled brats. they are short sighted and have no clue what they are really doing. Just wait until they can’t just pop a breast in the babies mouth to shut it up. The great porn boobs deflate and become flat as a pancake. They only want their m-i-l around when they need someone to babysit so they can have a few days away. Don;t do it!
tasha, are you really that nasty?
Really though- every post from her is so negative and full of profanity! Tasha, Sounds like your really angry in your own life. Just because you are though doesn’t mean we all fit into your “idea” of what mothers are today. Your the closed minded one…
I never thought of #10 before. Yeeeeeeeeeees
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Not even joking, those were all my reasons for doing it, too. You were so nice about how you phrased the lead for #7. That’s when breastfeeding gets *really* animal: I had two babies with colic, so I used my boob as chloroform for a loooong time.
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#5…So I never had a smartphone while breastfeeding my boys. If there is to be a third child, my phone will get me through it.
Krista (Playdate Crashers) recently posted..I’ll Tell You…Eventually…
I wasn’t able to BF my oldest, but am BFing our youngest now. I have to say, I second EVERYTHING you said. I’m within 8 pounds of my pre-pregnancy weight a mere 6 weeks after having our son. It took me MONTHS to work baby weight off last time. Thank you, milk boobs.
Courtney Kirkland recently posted..Planning, Dreaming, Goal Setting
So jealous of #6. I wouldn’t miss her either. Health reasons for my kids meant breastfeeding had to be cut short but boy I wanted #2 and #3!
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I cal BS on 2,3,8 and 9! W/both kids I didn’t lose a pound and I started my period within 2-3 months! Totally jipped on the BF experience!
I don’t get my period, but it is SUPER hard to lose the weight and I’m just STARVING! I am also donating enough to feed another child, so I’m making enough to feed twins, and the weight is NOT coming off.
Bri recently posted..7 Months
I didn’t lose the extra weight until I stopped BFing at 14 months. I was pretty discouraged with myself because so many people had told me how the weight would just drop off if I breast-fed exclusively (which I did, including at night, every night). You are doing an AWESOME thing by donating your milk. Right on, sister!
Another lie I’m defying is the one where all women put on weight as they get older. I just turned 40 and I weigh about 20 lbs less than when I was 30. I’m not a work-out queen; I just eat way less pasta and fast food!
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I lost 10kg within first month of #1 15kg within 7 months of #2 so will vouch for number 2.
And number 9. Geez formula poos wreak son #1 had some top up formula when I was very ill in the early days that made my eyes water- but BF babies gas is worse and makes everyone think the nappy does need changing.
I got my period at 16 weeks but he had begun sleeping 11pm till 6am so no surprise.
Yes to all of those but #6 & #8. I love my M&Ms but they can drive me up a wall.
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I feel for those of you who didn’t get a break from Aunt Flo. My son was 24 months old when I finally got mine back. And there are months when I think “It wouldn’t be so bad to be pregnant again would it” LOL. Not happening.
I do have to say the milk boobs were a downside for me. I was a DD before pregnancy and men always conversed with my breasts so having them be even bigger and out there was not a lot of fun. And now they are really not so great. Oh well the little ones are worth it.
#1 YES!!
#2 Yes!!
For me it takes till the 6th month mark to lose weight… But then yea it melts off! I ditto all..except #8…I just had my 4th…I’m not tempting the eggs EvEr again.
Me too! I hold onto extra weight forever and then all the sudden it just starts falling off like crazy.
I love this list! So very true. #2 is a huge reason I did it longer than a year. Are you kidding me? Go to the gym or sit on my butt getting skinnier?
You forgot a big one for me: not having to wash bottles! I washed all of mine before my first was born and that was annoying enough. Doing that every day? Hell no! Love the post though. :-)
YES!!! I HATE doing dishes, and when bfing?? Not a one. Now when I went back to work and had to pump so my husband could feed baby at home? THAT sucked… TWICE as many dishes (pump parts and bottle parts). I seriously mourned the loss of that perk…
This post was amazing!! LOVED it!!
#10 and you forgot about not having to make a bottle in the middle of the night.
i had three daughters back to back and breastfed all of them, so Aunt Flo visited me exactly THREE times in almost 4 years. It was heaven!
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I wish like hell I could have breastfed my DD. My milk never came in and no one at the hospital even offered to help us out. She was in the NICU and by the time I even got to try to breastfed, my DD was 2 days old and already had a taste for the bottle. Those are some excellent reasons and I love them. :-)
I feel the exact same way… tried for weeks to get my little guy to latch on, but he had major problems latching on plus some tongue thrust problems. After a few weeks of daily visits to the lactation nurse, she started saying he might be a “failure to thrive” baby. At that point I gave up on breastfeeding, terribly disappointed about it but determined that my son (who had been losing weight since birth) would thrive. I have many “selfish” reasons I wanted to breastfeed, and tried to for as long as possible, but finally gave in to the bottle for my son’s sake. Glad I did, but still… /:)
kelly, I’m sorry that was your experience. My twins were born preemie and got formula in the NICU at first, but once my milk came in a few days later I was still able to pump and have them receive my milk. It helped that my hosp. was very pro-BF and fed them by tube , not bottle…
LOVE LOVE LOVE this! All are so true! To me not having to wash and prepare bottles is incentive enough!
Yes, yes, yes!! The part about excusing oneself to breastfeed, then play Angry Birds – um, I’ve done that. Also, I’ve had two periods in 4 years, in between 2 kids. And no sign of it returning while I’m still nursing my 8 month old (we’re going to 18 months, that’s the plan!) Yes, be jealous people.
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Oh my goodness I love this post! And how true it is!!!!
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Yes, yes, yes and yes! Love it and completely agree. I hope all of my preggie friends read this. Because it’s totally true.
Sili recently posted..Beginning From the End
Yes, yes, yes and yes! Love it and completely agree. I hope all of my preggie friends read this. Because it’s totally true.
oxoxox
Sili recently posted..Beginning From the End
Gah! All of you that lose weight while breast feeding are lucky! I nursed my TWINS for 7 months and GAINED 10 pounds!!! >:/
I HONESTLY DO breastfeed only for the heartfelt and health-related reasons. None of your reasons apply to me, and none I agree with except for #4. Love your blog, and entertaining articles, Scary Mommy! However, it’s unfortunate that this list doesn’t apply to all, if not most, moms.
-My milk boobs don’t look “awesome” in any bra anymore.
-I’ve gained weight, and I have a cluster-feeding 6 month old who has NEVER went over an hour between feedings! Breastfeeding for me is literally a full-time work week. Almost 40 hours a week.
-I always feel guilty about what I eat. Because I breastfeed so much, I am ALWAYS hungry, and I find myself eating alot of carbs, and chocolate during 3am feedings just to stay awake.
-I got my regularly scheduled period ever since my baby girl was born :(
It truly does take EXTREME commitment and tons of effort to breastfeed… especially when there are no benefits for the mother.
I truly do love nursing my child. Fat and crampy, so be it! :)
Sherry recently posted..Faith’s 6 Month Baby Check-Up
There have been studies done that suggest that breastfeeding reduces the mother’s risk for breast cancer. I call that a benefit for the mom! Also, breastfeeding is free and that benefits your bank account. And how can you say that you don’t benefit from the bonding that occurs when you breastfeed?
ANYWAY, hilarious post! I totally use nursing as an excuse to leave during parties/family gatherings. Sure, I’ll nurse in front of people, but if I can sneak away and get a break from the chatter for half an hour, I’ll do it!
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I guess I should clarify by rephrasing my sentence… “especially when there are no ‘above mentioned’ benefits for the mother.”
And like I said in my last sentence… “I truly do love nursing my child.”
Sherry recently posted..Faith’s 6 Month Baby Check-Up
I so respect you. I didn’t have any of these benefits fr breastfeeding either and I didn’t nurse my twins beyond 2 weeks bc of that experience w my first.
Wendy @ mama one to three recently posted..Making My Home Kidde Worry Free (and a Giveaway)
It gets better, and the benefits for the mother arent always noticable in the early months if you have a round the clock nurser – my first was like that, but once i learned to sleep when he did, and relax about not getting anything else done, it got better. and then…it got even better! wouldnt change it for anything.
I’m all in (or I was all in at the time) except for #8. I’m a nurse and I hear all the time that people believe they cant get pregnant but they can, so I wouldnt bank the farm on that one. BUT the best part, aside from my ooey gooey mom feelings of closeness to the baby, was the time I got to SLEEP in the middle of the night! Baby One didnt work out breastfeeding, up all night getting IMMEDIATE bottles, fully awake, sleep deprived parents. Baby Two, I had a great nurse in the hosp who helped us, it worked like a charm, and I sidled that crib right next to my bed with the side off, making my bed bigger. When he was hungry, he sidled over, whimpered a little, ate while we both fell back asleep. Awesome. NOT sleep deprived. My hubby called me the lunchwagon, but it was absolutely awesome.
I’ve only had 7 (?) periods since August 2008. Hello, pregnancy and extended nursing! Wahoo! And yes about not being able to forget your breasts. Ha.
Vanderbilt Wife recently posted..One Day in July
It bums me out to see lists like this. I chose antidepressants over breast feeding, and here are just a few of the many things people would throw in my face when trying to explain to me that my mental health wasn’t as important as breast feeding.
Sarah recently posted..Vignettes: Awkward
Sarah. Of course your mental health is more important. Without it, how would you even successfully care for your baby, regardless of what the hell you fed him/her? You know this blog is satirical and probably the list IS true for the writer but you know what, not every woman is going to identify with it in whole (some, like you, not even in part.) I’m glad you were smart enough to not feed into the bullshit people tend to want to feed mothers about not nursing. There are legitimate reasons for not breastfeeding (ooh look, one of them is a woman just didn’t WANT TO which is perfectly fine!) I’m sorry you weren’t able to nurse your baby, but I’m glad as hell you opted to take care of you. THAT is what motherhood is about: the selflessness of our whole giving, doing what YOU know is best. And believe me, it ain’t got a damn thing to do with how your baby is fed.
Arnebya recently posted..Nothing
Arnebya,
I needed to hear what you wrote even though my child is almost three years old. Thank you.
Sarah, You made the right choice. You have to take care of YOU before you can effectively take care of your baby. Never EVER feel bad about that choice.
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Bummer that you feel like this is somehow being “thrown in your face.” I speak to you as a mom who did not meet my breastfeeding goals with my firstborn. I went through a time where I felt extreme guilt over it, and also had a victim mentality whenever the breastfeeding stuff came up. It took me a long time to realize that my issue was not other people being excited and pro-breastfeeding. Nope, my problem was me. After a lot of introspection, I forgave myself and stopped seeing every pro-breastfeeding person/article/study as an attack on me and started seeing it for what it is-an important message to the public (and in this case a funny one!) May I gently suggest that perhaps some healing and looking inward may be a help to you as it was for me? I hope you make peace with your decision-after all you gotta take care of your own health before you can take care of a baby’s, right?
I don’t think she meant we, or this post was throwing it in her face, but that she has in the past met other people who have used these reasons as reasons why she should have put breast-feeding her baby above her mental health. I’m SO sorry that you experienced that Sarah. How on earth anyone can view your mental-health as remotely less essential. Of COURSE you made the right choice…you made a FABULOUS choice (I say this as a very pro-breastfeeding person – by which I mean, loving the health-benefits and the experience of it with my boys – but also someone with experience of severe depression, I can’t imagine for a second that you could have done anything else. They still got to eat and grow and be loved by their mummy who was still in one piece. Win, win!! Don’t feel guilty lovely. xx
I really wish more health professionals were educated about breastfeeding, because you should not have had to choose between the two. I breastfed all three of mine while on antidepressants. I was also a breastfeeding counselor who saw so many moms who were told they had to quit their medication, or quit nursing. Only to find out, this wasn’t the case. I’m sorry you weren’t able to breastfeed, but you did care for your baby, and taht’s what matters. And as a very pro breastfeeding mom , I will always encourage every mom to try it, and to not quit before the first 4 weeks…..and if it doesn’t work, ya know what, you tried.
I don’t think this is a matter of throwing it in anyone’s face, and I don’t think anyone has that right. I will never try to make a mom feel bad for not breastfeeding (if she didn’t for purely selfish reasons, well, I may have a thing or two to say behind her back, but never to her face! lol!!)
Yeah I was told by my psych that when I start my Topomax I have to stop nursing. I about cried when he told me that (I was 8 months preggers). I went to the Pedi when the baby was a week old, and he said I can still nurse even on Topomax. He said that Psych’s ALWAYS say stop nursing because they aren’t medically qualified to determine the safety of the medication. Pedi told me to just keep an eye on the munchie, and see if he gets lethargic. If he does, I’m to switch meds.
Psychiatrist or psychologist ? Because they are not the same, and generally speaking, a psychiatrist will be much *more* medically qualified to tell you if a drug is safe than another type of doctor. Not saying that you should give up your meds at all, I have no idea- but I do know enough about medicine to maybe suggest that you be cautious and do your research if you are getting conflicting opinions. We have multiple psychiatrists in the family and they often mention the challenges associated with primary care docs not being up on the current research regarding psychiatric medications…
Behind her back but not to her face? What is wrong with you? You just wrote that no one has the right to make someone else feel bad about their choices, and then you proceed to say that you would judge someone, just not to their face? WTF?
Thanks so much for your comment. Very brave and very true.
Of course you did what was best for YOU. That’s what needs to be done, Like arnbya said, if you aren’t well, you can’t care for your baby. Unfortunately we live in a crappy world where women judge each other when they should be supporting one another. Breastfeeding is one of those things that is no longer mandatory for survival, so while I think it is the best and everyone should do it, I also know that some people can’t/don’t/won’t and that is THEIR business, not mine. You have to do what is right for you, and to hell with those that want to make you feel guilty for your choices, especially when some things are out of our control.
No need to go past #1. MILK MOTHERFUCKING BOOBS.
Also, y’all? Everybody’s body is different and all that blah blah blah get out of your feelings.
Arnebya recently posted..Nothing
Hilarious! I loved my breastfeeding boobs. Now they are like shriveled up raspberries. So sad :(
Mamarific recently posted..Essential 2013
I know, mine too. It’s so sad. Although I am pregnant again and looking forward to them plumping up again. (So is my husband.)
No worries, Sarah. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. I didn’t breast feed either. Somehow, I think you and I are good people regardless. :) I was a little taken aback as I was reading, but I know it’s all in good fun.. :D. What works for one, may not work for another..
Whoa whoa whoa wait just one second here. #6. That HAPPENS?
I don’t have kids/wasn’t breastfed [I've 4 younger siblings, too, so. y'know. Formula.] and have been totes on the fence about whether I felt like dealing with that. Honestly even the potential for #6 may’ve just changed my mind. Is that sad? If so, I don’t care.
I don’t care at all.
It didn’t for me but it happens for some.
Oh it happens. Not for everyone, but it does for some. I went 14months, 12months and 16months with no periods after my 3 kids. It was glorious.
It worked for me. Six months no periods after my first child (She wasn’t exclusively breast fed though) and about 15 months no periods after my second. Looking forward to breast feeding again after this pregnancy and enjoying my time off from “Aunt Flo’s visits!
I wish #2 were true for me! I’m a very unfortunate member of the small percentage of women who do NOT lose weight while breastfeeding & whose bodiea not only maintain their current weight, it’s actually unbelievably easy to put weight ON while breastfeeding – even while on a 1200 calories a day diet. Still, I heartily breastfeed. One day I’ll be skinny again.
Laura, you and me both. I get so annoyed when I hear people tell women that if they breastfeed they will DEFINITELY lose the baby weight. I wish that bf weight loss worked for everybody but sadly it doesn’t. :o/
I didn’t lose weight while breastfeeding either. That was actually one of the things that I wanted the MOST, and it didn’t happen. Although I didn’t gain weight either, I just stayed the same.
#7 is very, very true!
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Ha ha ha! I read that one to my husband and we both laughed over that one. So true!
Am I the only person who breastfed and maintained those last 10 lbs. of baby weight until the minute they stopped breastfeeding?
Nope, not the only one. Also, it’s easy to regain the weight you lose if you keep eating like crazy. I lost some weight, but then regained it all and then some before I realized I couldn’t keep eating for two. =/
I was careful about what I ate and I still had a hard time losing weight. The pounds melted though after I stopped BFing.
Due to medical issues I breastfed my girls for a much shorter time then I wanted to, esp my eldest. I can’t believe anyone would choose to bottle feed. Not only is it less healthy, its a major PITA! (If you did choose to bottle feed and it worked, I’m not slamming you — trust me I got enough of that!)
Cracked me up. Total truth.
While an all together hilarious post, I must disagree with #6 & #8. My son breast fed every 1.5 hrs until he was 1yr old and at 4mths post partum, my effing period returned & has stayed DESPITE the fact I still breastfeed at night & in the morning & my son is almost 3!! And my best friend got pregnant 3mths post partum WHILE breastfeeding exclusively and using a condom :/
Melissa, Did you consider the possibility that in your friend’s case, maybe somebody ELSE was the dad of the second kid?
That was a pretty stupid remark, Sherlock. If her friend was using condoms with her OWN HUSBAND, don’t you think she would have also been using them if she happened to be having an affair? Condoms fail. Jeeze, some people just have to be negative and think they’re so smart…
I suppose you’re right, Jenna. Sorry, I had forgotten that people who have affairs always use condoms.
No. I didn’t say that people who have affairs always use condoms, I said that condoms fail. Instead of considering that, you jumped to the conclusion that she was having an affair and not bothering to use a condom, when she WAS using condoms with her own husband. I don’t even see the need for that comment, because this post wasn’t about infidelity. I think Melissa probably knows her best friend. Therefore, if she might have been cheating on her husband, Melissa would probably have that suspicion without you having to point it out to her, don’t you think?
Hi Jenna,
I know this is a subtle difference, but to me, “Did you consider the possibility …” is not the same thing as “jumping to the conclusion…”. You are right again, I’m sure Melissa knows her best friend well enough to have been able to tell whether or not she might have been cheating on her husband, since it’s pretty much impossible for anyone to conceal such a thing from their close friends. I was in a playful mood when I made my post (perhaps placed into a playful mood by the playful tone of the article), and I was merely trying to point out that sometimes in life, things are not always as they seem. But you’re right, my post was probably unwarranted, inappropriate, and out of line, and in hindsight, I’d delete it if I could. Besides, I’m sure the chances that a woman with a young baby would have an affair are zero anyway.
Well yes, except for #8 and #6, for me. My daughter was EBF, but started sleeping 8 hrs at 2 months with no prodding from me. (Don’t worry, it stopped at 6 months!) Lack of night time breastfeeding meant AF made an unwelcome appearance at 3 mo with my first.
I totally agree to several of these, and am very jealous of your for others! With my first I was only able to breast feed for a total or three months, but you’re completely right, the baby weight melted right off and my boobs went up a whole size during that time. Sadly after that three month mark my boobs dropped from my current D milk boobs down to a A, two sizes smaller than what I was originally! WTF?! Not fair. With my second child, my glorious milk boobs sadly did not return, but again the weight came right off and I didn’t have a meeting with Aunt Flo until he was a year old. And I agree 100% with the smelly poop bit! Having gone from a bottle fed first, to a strictly breast fed second… Breast milk poop smells a lot less awful!
I would love to re-post on Elephant Journal. Give me the thumbs up, or submit it yourself. This article is wonderful!
1, 4 and 5 – the best! It took me a long time to get the hang of breast feeding, but it was so worth it for those reasons alone.
Went a year, 10 months, and then almost 18 months with no AF with my three (nursed for 19 months, 14 months, and almost 21 months). Definitely the best part of breastfeeding! I always get horrible cramps with AF, so the longer without, the better! Non-stinky poops come in a close second though.
Ha! I Heart this post, I loved nursing. it was so much easier, especially at night.
I love that you are all so passionate about breast feeding. But unfortunately for me I had health problems a d couldn’t do it. But the scorn I got from the breast feeding community was hard. I bottle fed my daughter and guess what, she is 14, never gets sick and is a strAight A student. I applaud all of you but I just wish formula moms got more support.
I’m with you on that, hon. I couldn’t bf any of my 4 for medical reasons and have always hated how advocates make you feel like a terrible mom if you don’t. I’m just as close to them and the bottle
Sorry meant with ;)
Amy your “and guess what, she is 14, never gets sick and is a strAight A student”, sounds like you’re trying to rebut a personal attack but no one here was attacking you. I understand what you’re saying. But while studies have shown that breastfed babies tend to have less childhood illness and higher IQ’s it has never been said that this means that formula fed babies can’t be healthy and smart as well.
I understand that sometimes lactivists can be a little over zealous and I’m sorry you ever felt like you were being scorned for bottle feeding. I believe every mom should do what is right for her and her child. I WISH more mom’s would breastfeed and I will always continue to support and be passionate about promoting that but it doesn’t mean I think mom’s who formula feed are bad moms. There’s a variety of reasons they may do it from medical reasons (like yours) to just not wanting to which is still a valid reason whether some lactivsts like to think so or not. The problem is that many of them decide not to without ever really researching one way or another so it isn’t really an informed decision.
The thing I have to disagree with in your post is that you wish “formula feeding moms got more support”. Now if you mean from other (breastfeeding) moms then I understand we definitely need to work on communication and support of each other. But formula feeding moms get a LOT of support. They are the norm in modern western culture. Hospitals, doctors, nurses all support it and mostly assume that is what will be done. Dolls come with bottles but seeing a little girl pretend to breastfeed her doll is “inappropriate” and “obscene”. Mothers who bottle feed can do so anywhere but breastfeeding mothers have to struggle to normalize the natural way of feeding their children. They are asked to cover up, to use the loo, to go out the car, to do it at home. Breastfeeding mothers are (sadly) a minority and they have to struggle to normalize the feeding of their infants! It is BECAUSE breastfeeding mothers get so little support that they sometimes get over righteous in their dealings with others. It doesn’t make it okay, I’m not saying that. But everywhere they go they are being told that even though it is admittedly the healthier and more beneficial option it is lurid, sexual, inappropriate, difficult etc. Formula feeding moms don’t get a second glance when they make a bottle and feed their child.
Obviously both sides have things they need to work on. I’m sorry you ever felt scorned. Breastfeeding mothers also, often feel scorned.
Luna-could not have said it better!
Agreed! I experienced being asked to leave, odd stares, people flat out saying that I “shouldn’t do that in public”. Yet the same people would have thrown a fit if I didn’t feed my hungry, crying baby.
Aww, heck yeah! You’ve nailed them all! I am 33 wks with #6 and in over 12 years of marriage I’ve had no more than 8 periods. Total. My smallest gap between kids is 21 months and we’ve never used any kind of BC. The lack of periods (and PMS) is a bigger perk for my husband than the ginormous tatas. Of course, mine are still at least a G cup when things have simmered down so anything bigger is almost wasteful :)
Wow! That’s awesome that you have only had about 8 periods in 12 years. I thought I was doing good only having about 12 periods in 5 years. However I am pregnant now, so I can probably push that to about 12 periods in 6.5 to 7 years. I’m still happy with those numbers!
Great article but I call BS on #8. I’m not sure what you mean by “done correctly” but I was exclusively breast feeding, did not have a period, and still got pregnant when my son was 4 months old. I kept nursing him until the next one was born, then nursed them both for the next year BUT I wised up and got an IUD that time….lol. I understand why you believe this, my pediatrician even did, but it’s just not true. If you really don’t want to get pregnant, again DO NOT RELY ON BREASTFEEDING AS BIRTH CONTROL no matter what!!
AMEN! I got AF back a week after my PP bleeding stopped and was nursing on demand! There are ways to use no Birth control but they require learning a LOT about your body, Charting, temping, and Cervical Mucus charting as well.
Getting to know your body isn’t a bad thing but people need the correct information!
It does work for some people. You just shouldn’t rely on it until you know how your own body responds to breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is great birth control for me. We haven’t used any form of birth control (other than breastfeeding) for the past 8 years, we only have 3 children and my closest kids are 26months apart. Works for me!
I know I’m over sensitive, but posts like this are hard, especially the last reason listed.
We were unable to breastfeed, and the scorn I met from many people was hard to bear. I was told I wasn’t bonded with my son, and that formula was going to make him fat and sick. I felt horrible.
Of course, none of that is true, and I DID do what was best for my son.
Julia (@3bed2bath1baby) recently posted..The Beginning
#6 was so not true for me. I wish it had been. Hubby hates condoms, which is one reason we went for the tube tying after #3 came along.
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Loved this. SO true about the weight loss. After baby #1 was born I was back to my prebaby weight in six weeks (and I gained A LOT). Of course, my abdomen looked like an apron, but the scale was friendly.
I think you were particularly blessed about Aunt Flo. I probably only missed 3 or 4 months.
If anyone is thinking about doing it for birth control do your research. My brothers were born 13 months apart because my mother’s doctor told her she couldn’t get pregnant while breastfeeding.
Excellent list. I must admit in some ways I do miss those days.
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Very true!
Although, #8 is not exactly accurate simply because the “age 6mo” rule is based on the commencement of weaning, since most people tend to start solids then. However, if you keep nursing on-demand through that growth spurt, and delay solids for several more months, you’re going to see #2 and #3 get even better. Also, ecological breastfeeding is main factor for lengthy lactational amenorrhea – I’ve gone as long as 3.5 yrs sans Aunt Flo! I, however, know some who get a return of fertility much earlier (5 wks PP!) who claim they eco-breastfeed. So many, many factors, both with the baby and lifestyle/parenting choices. Looking to the research on the !Kung tribe and natural child spacing is fascinating!
But good for you and your experience!
I already had big, natural boobs. They really didn’t get bigger just fuller. Now they are like two water balloons with leaks. They will need an adjustment before I am 50. And I got my period back 4 months after my son was born. It sucked to hard.
I did have an adjustment, breast reduction. The increased size was very bad for me, but they are great now!
A major benefit for me was nighttime feelings. Thanks to cosleeping I barely had to wake up. Trying to get up and nurse was torturous for me ISP I dropped that pretty quickly. Also, to get the birth control effect there has to be no supplemental food, nighttime nursing and no separations from the baby during the day for those six months. Most people don’t do all of those.
Loved this blog. Oh yeah – those porn star boobs ROCK! I miss them!
Your blog also made me laugh. I wrote a very “down to earth” blog about breastfeeding a week ago answering the questions as to what breastmilk tastes like, and if little boobs are just as effective as big ones, etc. etc.
http://www.theladyinredblog.com/1/post/2013/01/the-big-boobie-blog.html
~ The Lady in Red ~ recently posted..Resolve to Explore the Arts in the New Year at the Middletown Arts Center
You forgot no 11. I am too bleeding lazy not to breastfeed! Who can be bothered with all that extra washing up and sterilising of the bottles?
Ok, now there’s a no 12: I too tight to pay for formula ;-)
This is absolutely hilarious. I giggled and nodded along to every single point. When people ask me why I am still breastfeeding, (or one of the other interfering remarks made to purposefully piss me off or push my buttons, whilst the person asking hides behind the ‘I asked in a nice way smile’), I will reply with one of these wonderful points. Definitely head turners and blush inducing. Love them!!
I never got the milk boobs :-( They never got bigger during pregnancy or while I was breast feeding…
I agree with everything said. When I see pictures of celebrities who have had babies and they’re talking about her great body I think, “So what? I did the same thing.” All I had to do was nurse my babies. Following Karon Pryor’s advice I could nurse my baby and people didn’t even know it. I can’t imagine what it’s like to get up in the night to fix a bottle while my baby screams.
Well some of this was true for me. With my now 3 year old son, he couldn’t latch as an infant. We found out at his 2 month appointment it was due to a heart defect by the time he had surgery he was used to the bottles and still wouldn’t latch. I pumped the entire time and made it to 11 months.
The little stinker wouldn’t drink it from frozen either so it was everything I could keep in the fridge. So I had some of the benefits, but still had to wash bottles.
I did lose weight happily, and my boobs are still huge (not so great), AND I disappeared from a lot of social functions to pump. People really stayed away from that!
I should add that forgetting the milk pump was torture!!! That only happened once. No one wants that to happen twice!
I have to say my period was back in 6 weeks, I can’t lose the last 10 pounds and if I eat unhealthy my milk supply isn’t as great. And shoving a boob in my daughter’s face when she is upset usually makes her more upset. I have to calm her down first before she will take the breast. But I still think breast is best and the way to go :)
Can totally relate to everything in this article except for one thing – what is a salted caramel shake and where can I get one please?
LOL!
They have them in the fall at Smashburger.
I think this is HILARIOUS and TRUE and I thouroughly enjoyed reading it until I got to the last reason. I tried and tried and tried for 12 weeks to no avail to get my milk to come in. A few months later I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism and told it was probably the reason I didnt get anything. Its NOT doing it right, TRYING is doingit right. I NEVER EVER EVER want a mom who has the right intentions to be made to feel inadequet by something like that. There are medical reasons that lactation consultants will not tell you in hopes you keep trying and it’s not right. Please mommys, If you try and fail, you have SUCCEEDED in doing the right thing!
Corinna Ashley recently posted..Project: Carson’s Bedroom
I agree. If a person is having trouble, call LLL, they are great and help for free.
Sadly the weight loss never happened for me and I nursed for nearly a year (first 8 months exclusively).
I’m still bf-ding my 20 mth old in large part so I can have boobs at all – I am dreading going back to flat as a pancake after!!
Number 6 and 8 don’t apply to me ’cause I have periods (that come every 19 days). Instead, I’d say that breastmilk is free and that money goes towards Japanese comic books.
I like you and the way you think
Plus… If you breast feed and cosleep you get a full nights sleep… I have NEVER (with two kids I breast feed for over a year) had to suffer through a day with less than 6-8 (usually 10) hours of solid sleep!
Great… if you can breast feed. But don’t forget that the most important thing is that the baby eats. Breast milk, formula, whatever. Some if us can’t breast feed and those that preach about it make those that can’t feel guilty. Feed and love that baby. That’s what matters.
THANK YOU FOR THAT! I can’t stand the preachy mom bit. Just because you parent a different way than some moms doesn’t make you better at it.
10. When my kids have kids, I can hold it over their heads that when they were babies, I did everything right and know everything. The extreme commitment and effort of breastfeeding lends a lot of credibility to the future backseat parenting of my grandchildren.
I’m glad you’re not my mother. I would tell you to F-off and move far away from you or ask for help or your know-it-all opinion. Crap like this makes me glad I don’t know you. I was a smoker for a lot of years but I quit while I was pregnant and I friends who did not quit. I don’t hold that over their heads and tell them they were shitty moms because they had a hard time quitting. I can’t stand people who put themselves on a pedestal and talk down to other moms. Fall off and realize you’re no better than anyone else.
Yeah I was totally with this article until I read #10. Just another breastfeeding mom who thinks they’re far superior than those who can’t breastfeed or make the choice not to for some reason. And I say that as a breastfeeding mom. Disgusting attitude. Was going to share this article on my FB page, but forget it. I don’t want anyone thinking that I endorse that line of thinking, though I do agree with the first 9 points.
Yes!
Love the picture :)
No weight loss for me….and I bled for 6 straight months :P Turned out it was “microscopic retained placenta”. I really do have a tough time letting go of things LOL
Milk boobs was awesome….my DH misses them!
TheHeadacheslayer recently posted..Cravebox–The Dog Box
Breastfeeding isn’t for everyone, and you constantly promoting why it’s so great is disgusting. My child is lactose intolerant so guess what!? If I want to breastfeed, I have to eliminate EVERY MILK PROTEIN from my diet.
I’m glad you lost weight and feel its effective birth control. I don’t really care. I’m not posting articles about why I don’t breastfeed so I really wish people like you would bring it down a notch and quit making others feel like their decision to not do so is so incredibly wrong.
Girl I totally agree with you.
Ugh the constant boob pictures bugs me. I’m sorry but I don’t want every Tom, Dick and Harry starring at my tits in public. Women are not cows with utters. Also every breast feeding article I have ever read tells women their kids will be retards if they drink formula.
Um… I couldn’t breastfeed ANY of my children and spent months and months crying about that fact. This is hardly meant to make you feel wrong; it’s a humor piece that I can appreciate despite the fact that I couldn’t relate. I would think others would feel similarly.
And wow, point 10.
You’re really something, aren’t you.
UGH.
My son was a preemie and couldn’t latch on. I went crazy trying to get him to feed and then pumping every 2 hours to keep my milk in. All the lactation consultants and physicians kept saying, “But you know breast is best!” Well, it wasn’t best for me. All of the lactation consultants who talked to me had never had children. They just didn’t understand the struggle. I was spending more time obsessing over breast feeding and pumping than bonding with my son. I kept it up for 6 weeks, and I will never get that time back with my son. The article is funny, I get it. I just wish there wasn’t so much pressure on new moms to breast feed from people who aren’t considering the whole picture. I still beat myself up about it, and get a hard time about quitting so early. I still feel guilt about quitting and at the same time I feel guilty for spending over 4 hours a day pumping instead of bonding with my baby. There is no win for me. All we formula feeding moms ask is that we not be made to feel inferior. AND I lost all of my baby weight within weeks without breast feeding. AND my milk boobs hurt and were too big to be sexy.
I think it’s great that moms breastfeed and they are proud of it. As someone who got the “milk boobs” as part of puberty (so, from about age 12-13… yea me… or not), that’s not a perk. In fact, my boobs caused so much back pain for me that I had a breast reduction at age 19. I knew it meant I might not be able to breastfeed someday, but there’s only so much you can handle (physically AND emotionally — in terms of feeling self-conscious about how tightly clothes fit when you don’t WANT them to), it was a choice I had to make. That was nearly 20 years ago, when the surgery wasn’t as refined as I’m sure it is today to help preserve the ability to produce milk. With DD, I barely produced any milk. If I got 1-3 oz a DAY, it was good. That was nursing AND pumping. From hour one, she wasn’t interested in nursing. So I went to the LC several times for help with no luck. :( I think that women need to know that if you try and there are good reasons why you can’t, that’s good enough. You don’t have to feel like ‘less of a mom’ because you couldn’t breastfeed. People who TRY to MAKE you feel this way need to GET OVER themselves!!
YEs!!!!!!!!!
I am a big proponent of breast feeding and I agree on all points mentioned except for 2. One is that you can’t rely on nursing for birth control. Many women have gotten pregnant this way because your body can release an egg before your period arrives! The second is you can’t eat anything you want. You should be eating a very nutritious diet because what you eat is what baby eats and what he will get used to eating as he grows. So I personally will stick with veggies and avoid the Carl’s Jr and milkshakes and fast food in general. That being said, you can definitely eat more than you normally would.
wow. i have to hand it to you, fantastic points–all of them. i’m not a mom, i don’t want to be a mom and i’ve not wanted to be a mom for so long that my brain never even made it to whether i’d breastfeed. but given how many self righteous breast feeding moms that are out there, it’s refreshing to hear some brazen truths.
Not to nitpick but the term “Irish twins” is actually very offensive and a term of outdated xenophobia.
Why is it considered offensive?
Awesome! All of this is so true and so funny and so relevant to me! AND breastfeeding is free (apart from the extra crap I eat)! I have always been a believer in NOT having cosmetic surgery, but I have had milk boobs for 6 years now and I’m dreading what they are going to look like later this year when I finally stop; my husband is talking about surgery as a gift for my 40th!
Loved the post, regardless of what’s “true” or not… It was true for the author. There are far too many people on here that are taking things that are written here personally… This post was supposed to be a little humorous, and… IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU. It’s about the author of this piece. Just as formula-feeding moms want to be accepted, don’t you think breast-feeding ones do as well? It goes both ways, ladies. While nursing my 3 month old daughter in public (under a blanket) I was told I should be feeding my daughter in the bathroom. My reply, “You should try eating YOUR lunch in the bathroom. Doesn’t sound that great, does it!” At the end of the day, if your baby made it to the point they could eat solid food after being breast fed or bottle fed, congratulations. You’re a parent.
;) Nailed it, sister!
I’m currently 8 months into nursing my 4th, and although I love it and promote it, I was quite disappointed to know that half of the things that I heard (most of which you posted) are not true about everyone who nurses. mostly the ones related to weight going away, being able to eat whatever you want and your period going away… I was unlucky enough to be the one person who got their period really quickly, had to count calories and gained weight. so much for the thought that it burns 600-800 calories a day!
Oh- just read a few comments- i totally laughed at these and liked the post, i’m not complaining or saying you are lying or this is evil to say these things or anything. :)
Same here, I don’t lose a pound and in fact will gain if I don’t work out or watch my diet. Also got my period at 3 months for both children. I try not to feel bad when I read about the gals who do lose the weight, but I have come to realize that is just how my body works. I don’t have a problem with the post, but I hope some women don’t think there is something wrong with them if they don’t lose pounds by breastfeeding.
Agreed. Of course I’m on the bf health bandwagon blah blah. But secretly I hate doing dishes and would loathe cleaning bottles all day. Formula is expensive as hell. And I LOVE the excuse for keeping my daughter away from my MIL. Yes I’m all about advice giving. But hello things have changed a bit in 30 years! And that woman is so grabby. She won’t take the baby away from my husband but as soon as I am holding my daughter my MIL will swoop in. Talk about frustrating. It’s also good that I love breastfeeding and find it selfish of moms who CAN breastfeed but chose not to. I’m sorry for moms who would like to but can’t. I
I think it’s misleading to say that breastfeeding confers six months of infertility when “done right.” I get up to a year with my kids, but I know other moms who exclusively breastfeed and are lucky to get a couple of months before their cycles (and thus fertility) are back. If you’re going to rely on breastfeeding as birth control, you need to know how to track your fertility to watch for signs of it returning.
Please, please use protection if you are not ready to conceive after having your first. I had my period 6 weeks after having my first. A friend of mine also & she got pregnant shortly. Love my babies & all but this “10 rules” essay is awfully official sounding….just wouldn’t want anybody to take this too seriously
I exclusively bf my son and I breastfed my two older children until they were each two. I read a lot on it before I had my first child but I did have an absence of fertility for 9 months with my first and 13 months with my second (I went back to work pt after I had my first child which would explain the earlier return). Neither my husband nor I used any form of contraception and I didn’t get pregnant until around 16 months post partum. It’s amazing how easy it is to achieve this if you follow certain guidelines and its the most healthy and natural way to space your children. Unfortunately, no matter how much I breastfeed, my weight does not melt away by any means like it does for others.
Hillarious. I breastfed for 14 months with my son. I was very proud that he never had formula or baby cereal. Also I made all of his babyfood fresh at home. My decision to breastfeed for atleast the first year was made based on the health benefits and research behind it. I did learn tho the many perks… even tho there are some cons too. Plus I had my period within
week and halff after having my son and regular every month there after.
What about not having to fuss with getting bottles ready and cleaning bottles… thats a big plus. Also spit up from formula fed babies are smelly and they stain. Spit up from breast fed babies don’t smell and dry clear. There are alot of side bonuses especially if you are tired and get lazy!
Reason #10 is ridiculous, even if it’s meant to be “funny.” Why would you want to hold anything over your child’s head for one? And two, choosing to breastfeed over bottle feeding isn’t wrong. It’s a personal choice that does not demean the quality of someone’s parenting skills. *Rolls eyes at this article.
*rolls eyes at clueless and illiterate comment
I LOVE IT!!! LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!!! Hahahahah Anyone that has harsh words get over over!!! Other ladies…stop trying to explain yourself with reasons and excuses…no one cares!!! Make your own list for YOU!!
I just had my forth child and loving life especially when having the opportunity to excuse myself from functions!!! I can only hope my daughter nurses for as long as her brother but if not that’s what pumps are for!!!!
APPLAUSE for any mom that has successfully breasted and/or attempted. It has a perks as some are listed but it is still selfless and can be time consuming.
Hilarious article, and huge eyerolls to people without a sense of humor. It must be hard to go through life like that.
Sadly, I don’t get a break from crappy old Aunt Flo while nursing. Even nursing around the clock, no pacifiers within a 500 yard radius of the house, co-sleeping and babywearing like a righteous crunchy hippie, and she still came right back. Still, if you don’t breastfeed at all, you won’t ever know whether you could have had a whole blissful year off with no AF. May as well at least TRY!
Also, 2 of my children had milk allergies, and I had to eliminate all dairy products from my diet. Was it easy? No, but when it comes down to it, I love my babies more than cheese. Plus have you seen how expensive hypo-allergenic formulas are? I’m not independently wealthy, and breastmilk + elimination diet is FREE.
i’d also add – so my husband can change more diapers.
what? I fed him, you change him.. your turn ;)
I will attest to every single one of these! My 5th EBF baby will be a year old on Sunday and still have not had AF visit…in fact, with all four of my older kids I went anywhere between 14 and 18 months without one! I will admit to be genetically blessed in the weight department, but I still think bf’ing is a huge reason that I was at pre-pregnancy weight just a couple of weeks after giving birth. I’m normally small, like 34A small, so ginormous milk boobs are so glorious. And shoving a boob in their little mouths may be a tad lazy sometimes, but it is so genius!
Very good! I didn’t get a period until about 3 months after I stopped feeding my 1st son at about 26 months, and I had only been feeding him once per day at that stage. That meant a total of 40 months without a period. then i had 2 or 3 before second pregnancy and am bf my 8 month old now, so I’ve had 2-3 periods since my first pregnancy began, or expressed differently, 2-3 in the last nearly 5 years. Cheerin’ :)
This is awesome! Sharing with all the moms I know :)
the unprotected sex thing is not true. you can and might get prego while nursing. know three ppl who found that out.
Really?? Because I know someone who got pregnant while taking the pill every single day. So I guess pills don’t work either.
Oh, I also know someone who got pregnant (with twins!) while using condoms. I guess condoms don’t work.
Wait a minute, I know someone who got pregnant on Depo. So that doesn’t work either.
This^^ is called “anecdotal evidence”. None of the above methods, including bf’ing, is 100% effective. But they are all very statistically safe methods.
HAHAHA! i love this! i didn’t get my period for almost a year and a half while bfing!
#1 is so not true for me, I am still a small 32A, even with all that milk in me.
Funny….I had all of those reasons. However, I like the ease of feeding and the cost savings. It our families choice and there are many good reasons why some do not BF. I just prefer not to hear that it is gross except when another adult is on the tit.
My selfish reason is because I HATE to wash bottles!!!
My mother got pregnant with my brother because she thought nursing kept you from being pregnant! It does not.
SO many awesome things about breastfeeding–love your list! Especially the part about not being able to forget your boobs ;)
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My best reason: after a day of cleaning the catbox, having to drive across town on a Sunday, and generally tidying up the joint, I am actually sitting on the couch faking nursing my baby. He’s latched on, but asleep and not really even swallowing. Let DH put the cats up so the parrots can come out.
I think you forgot the part about the amazing release of feel good hormones when baby is nursing! (That relaxing feeling of “I don’t care about anything else right now.”)
Ive never bf a day in my life & still received all of these perks. Well, not # 10… I don’t have grandchildren yet but when I do I don’t want to hold anything over my kids heads! Not everyone needs to bf to get these perks & It’s not ALWAYS the healthy thing to do for the baby.
And what would the make it unhealthy?
number 7`s note made me laugh out loud :)
Me too! I read it to my husband and we both had a good laugh.
This is the most self-congratulatory nonsense I’ve read in quite some time. We need to get over this passive-aggressive villianization of women who are unable to breastfeed or for professional, provider roles or personal choice choose to use formula feeding. It’s juvenile and pitiful to expect constant accolades because you are able to do the most simple thing humans have ever done – procreate – and afterwards you provide what your body was designed to do effectively. We don’t congratulate millions of women who are doing this all over the world every day, so why is that American women have suddenly sought martyrdom for a universal task everyone else is capable of doing with very little drama?
Why do you have tits?
Thank you ” concerned” I am so sick and tired of listening to self congratulatory mums constantly going on about how bloody wonderful they are for breast feeding and how its the cure for what seems like bloody everything…. I went back to work after 2 weeks of having my daughter… Trust me I didn’t want to but had no choice… I BF my daughter for 7 weeks… But in the end I thought it more important to bond with my daughter when I came home than attach myself to a pump for hours…. That doesn’t mean i didn’t get up with her in the early hours .. Clean up her diapers.. Puke.. Drool… Snot and tears… Play with her… Comfort and cuddle her.. It just means I did all that and work full time often on no sleep what so ever… She is now a beautiful and intelligent 8 month old who has hit all her developmental miles stones 2-3 months early… I would love to have say at home all day with my boobs out but I had to work to provide for my daughter…. Oh and FYI estrogen is carried in the fat cells… You need more estrogen to breast feed.. Not everyone looses weight that way… You know what else burns 500-800 calories a day… Hard work!!!!!!!
Thank you “Concerned” and “Gem.” You said it perfectly.
The only thing I don’t get is why people like you would even bother to read this article. It’s mostly just meant to be funny & if you’re too sensitive to read something like this without being offended then I guess you should’ve just passed it on by.
LOVING #10 ;)
‘Concerned Clinician’ if its so simple why isn’t every mother doing it?
Casey – please provide details of when its not healthy to breastfeed a baby – I’m intrigued!!
OMgersh! This is FABULOUS! You said it ma’am and said it well. So sharing this on my FB :)
I have to agree with almost all of these. Aunt Flo came back 5 weeks after each of my children was born though. I always envied moms who had toddlers and were still waiting. I also didn’t lose weight breastfeeding, but those weren’t reasons for me to do it. I knew it was best for them, and I wasn’t going to pay for food for them that should only be used as a supplement (at best), when I had food for free leaking out!
How exactly does one “breastfeed correctly to have birth control for the first 6 months”? Because I bf exclusively my first born AND was taking the “mini-pill” and got pregnant with DS at 4 m pp. My children are 13.5 months apart. I’m seriously curious…
oh, and I never had my period either. It was really a total shock when I came up pregnant again so soon
I think, but am not totally sure, that if you’re on the mini pill LAM is no longer an option. I mean, you are introducing other hormones into the mix. LAM is actually more effective statistically than the mini pill (but less than a condom or regular pill). Plus the mini pill is notoriously difficult to take properly – you miss a day or take the tablet 30 minutes too late and it’s all over.
Also, I’ve found BFing makes me quite unsexy – if I get my groove on anytime soon I’ll know I’m probably about to ovulate!!
Don’t forget no bottles to wash!!!
Breastfeeding isn’t an excuse to fill your body full of junk food and lead a sedentary lifestyle. Regardless of how many calories you think you’re burning, you still need to be getting moderate exercise every day and eating a balanced diet. You should be focusing on setting a healthy example for your kids. Doing one thing right isn’t an excuse to do 26 things wrong.
Omg! I love this! Its just sad that so many people make uneducated comments to probably the most important thing for children today! Keep it up momma :)
I love you!!!!
My number one reason was it was FREE!!
Reason #11: It’s free! I about sh*t when my girlfriend told me she spends $450 a month on formula and diapers. Free food and one to two poops a week sure makes breast feeding economically attractive
Love your reasons, but for those taking this somewhat seriously, you absolutely CAN get pregnant in the first 6 months of breastfeeding if you are not using some sort of prevention!! No Aunt Flo (wohoo!), but definitely still ovulation occurring.
I’m glad you are helping to spread positive info about breast feeding. But I have to say that some of your statements are your experience and not facts. I exclusively breast fed around the clock and got my period 4 months pp and was pregnant 2 months after that. Exclusive breast feeding is not birth control. Even if “done correctly.”
My daughter was born 9 weeks premature and I pumped for 8.5 months to give her breast milk (we also tried bf for the first 3 months but gave up because she never caught on and it was taking all my time to bf, pump, and then bottle feed every 3 hours around the clock).
Anyways, I call BS on half of your points. I did not lose weight while bf, instead I actually gained 25lb! I was back at my birth weight by the time I was done – only difference was that that weight at birth was due to severe swelling (I had severe pre-eclampsia) and the weight after bf was due to fat. After I stopped bf 15lb fell right off of me. It was much harder to lose the rest of the weight.
Also #6 was not accurate for me. I stopped pp bleeding at 4 weeks and got 1st ppAF at 8.5 weeks (4 days before I even reached my daughter’s due date – so I didn’t even get 9 months without a period). I then had a period every 4 weeks on the dot.
Oh and #4 does not work for those of us that need a breast pump and nipple shield to feed our babies.
#8 was probably the only true point for me, but that has to do with the fact we have male factor infertility and need ivf to conceive! I wish we would have gotten pregnant while bf since it would have saved us from going through 3 more cycles to try and produce a sibling.
Just because half the points didn’t apply to you doesn’t mean that they are inaccurate. Everyone’s bodies respond differently, and I’m sorry that you didn’t get as many of the perks as some others do. I didn’t lose any weight while breastfeeding, however after reading the comments that some gave about actually GAINING weight while breastfeeding, I felt much better about maintaining my weight instead of gaining.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this!! Kind of sad to read all of the negative feedback, some people just can’t take a joke, and I’m pretty sure you didn’t intend for this to be sound medical advice…. just your opinion :) I am 6 months into breastfeeding, but had to pump and feed the first 8 weeks- poor latching and a fussy baby- and wanted every day to switch to formula. But now that the crappy part has passed, I’m glad I stuck with it….. major perks for me are that it’s FREE and I don’t have to get up and fix bottles and clean them (I have plenty of other chores to do!).
Buuuut I just want to say that whether or not someone chooses to breastfeed is a personal decision with complex factors… and that everyone has feelings of inadequacy when parenting their little ones (breastfeeding or not), no need to take it out on this blog!
I agree 100%
II wish on #6 and #8! I was nursing my daughter every 2-3 hours and my cycle started back up when she was only 6 weeks old! Oh well, i was planning on getting a Mirena at my post-pardum check up anyway!
:c I wish I could have had the chance to actually breast feed my little ones. They were preemies and tube fed, so I only got to pump, and my supply was cut short because I couldn’t produce enough milk for the twins (and the doctor said stress was another reason, I guess from being in the hospital day & night). I’m ready to have another one, and will most definitely be exclusively breast feeding! Now you’ve given me a list of things to look forward to. c:
Might wanna double check with your OB/GYN on #8. Breastfeeding actually makes you fertile. I agree with all the rest tho! I loved my milk boobs, then they shrank :o(
I love this and I love you for writing it! Bravo! I’m done “birthin babies” and my youngest is 5, but I still love reading this blog!
I love love love this. Tank you for writing something I wish I had written myself! (Ps, I didn’t have to see Aunt Flo for 30 straight months!)
done correctly or not you can still get pregnant before the six month mark. Don’t count on that one ladies
I posted this on Facebook and it was taken off and reported as offensive! When will people get that breastfeeding is not offensive!
These are great!!! But #8 is shit, total shit!!! LOL!! I did everything right and ended up with Irish Twins! I’m still nursing both of them, just turned 2 and just turned 3!
Lol! I got lucky seeing as “Aunt Flo” didn’t come back for 18 months thanks to breastfeeding. My boys are about 2 & 1/2 years apart. Awesome that you are feeding both if your babies! You rock!
This is fabulous! I laughed so hard when reading it because it is so spot on!! Kudos to you for writing such a fabulous blog! I can so relate–I breast fed both mg boys for 18 months plus.
Forget the brochures that already exist at the hospital maternity wards- this list should be THE brochure they hand out. Not only for its accuracy but for its spot on comedic timing. Best thing. Have ever read regarding pro-breastfeeding. I am sharing this with all the moms I know.
Just wanted to thank you for making me laugh! Truly needed it! Very hormonal with this oops 3rd baby! mwah!!
#2–I didn’t lose any weight from breastfeeding! And I breastfed until the day before my son’s 3rd birthday! (But not exclusively after 4 months, when he started rice cereal.) The only way I lost weight was to start working out with my WII Fit 6 days a week, 2-3 hours a day AFTER breastfeeding, when I could diet! That’s when I got down to WAY below my pre-pregnancy weight. I was a “smokin’ hot mama” then!! Size 0, 1 or 2!
#3–You should ALWAYS watch what you eat while breastfeeding! I treated it just like when I was pregnant, because the baby gets whatever you eat (be it the nutrition of a garden salad or the non-nutrition of a Dairy Queen Blizzard)! And continue to take prenatals, preferably with DHA!! Your baby will be smarter for it! Trust me!
#6–Nope. Return of the old hag just 7 months into breastfeeding for me! : ( Which negates…
#8–That’s just playing with fire in my book! In retrospect, I’m glad I didn’t get pregnant before I got on the mini-pill while breastfeeding! I probably would have miscarried, as I am a chronic miscarrier. (I’ve had 5 and each one has killed me a little more emotionally!)
#10–I would NEVER assume to know everything or hold my “knowledge” of having/raising kids over my kids heads when they become adults! By then, society as a whole will know a LOT more about child having/rearing than we even know now! (Just think back to when they didn’t know how BAD second-hand smoke was around children or how BAD it was to smoke or drink while pregnant!!) I would never assume to know all and try to rub it in my children’s faces. After all…you know what they say…”when we assume, it just makes and a** out of “u” and “me”! The best thing I could do is to EDUCATE myself on the latest baby/child knowledge of the time, so that I can understand more thoroughly my children’s side of child rearing.
I couldn’t agree more with all of your points. I love breastfeeding. Love the boob job and instant weight loss plan. I love using it as a magical parenting tool when my little one is freaking out and I just want him to calm down. I have to say, I don’t consider it a huge effort. After the initial pain and learning curve, I find it so much easier than formula feeding. But I also have been at home and never had to pump regularly. Those pumping mamas deserve an award!!
Oh, you forgot one of the best shallow reasons to breastfeed. No freaking bottles to clean (and sterilize and everything else)! Less dishes always = win in my book!
Note. This also works on his father.
I DIED!
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And another reason. A wonderful way to rest yourself every 3 hours for 20 minutes, gazing into the eyes of your child and absorbing those memories. I was a better Mom during those months I breast fed. Those hormones are great!
Yes, love #6! I have to agree with all of them, actually… Didn’t miss dear old Auntie there, either! But, 6 months is the max for that birth control… Hence, we have child number 2.
Word.
You had me – who formula fed my son – right up until #10. Shame, shame. On you, not me.
#11: You can breastfeed exclusively (no solid food) for a full six months.
I didn’t start my son on solids until after he was six months old and continued to breastfeed him for over a year by the suggestion of his pediatrician. Then, I made all his baby food. (The Happy Baby Food Grinder–now it’s call the Baby Steps Food Mill–is the best for portable, in-the-moment baby food making. Here’s a site that sells it: http://www.happybabyproducts.com/habafogrkiba.html) Easy-breezy. He’s 28 now and has rarely been sick, ever.
Sorry, calling BS on #8- No breastfeeding woman that I have ever known would allow her husband to touch her, much less have sex.
Calling BS on your BS. I had a great sex drive while breastfeeding.
Me too!
Poop is poop and smells bad….and I don’t think anyone should encourage another to not trouble shoot why their child is irritable…and some of your information is not going to apply to all BF Moms and some is not accurate/reliable…keep your thoughts to yourself before you steer someone down the wrong path
I sprayed tea all over my computer monitor at “Note: This also works with his father.”
People forget one of the best parts…it’s free!!! Part of the reason I’m still nursing (aside from all of the health benefits, blah blah blah), is that it doesn’t cost me a freaking thing. Have you priced formula lately? That crap is expensive!