Milk & Mountains

Not those types of mountains.....

   I'd liken nursing a babe to climbing Mount Everest. It's the challenge of your life, you don't hear of many people successfully completing it, and if you're not careful you could lose a body part. That last part might not be true, but it certainly feels like it's true for the first couple of weeks. Think 8 pound vampire with an appetite like no other.

  Fortunately there's no shortage of literature warning mothers of the perils of breastfeeding. No woman with curiosity and high speed internet can say she didn't know nursing a newborn would be taxing, both mentally and physically. More so mentally.

  But this entry isn't going to give you the gory details. I'll leave that to the other millions of bits about this subject on the world wide web. Of course, if you'd like to hear more details about my personal experience with this, feel free to message me and I'll tell you all about it.

 The purpose of this post is to tell you two things that you absolutely need to know if you're even going to attempt to nurse a baby.

(1) First and foremost, it is absolutely essential to have a cheerleader. Full disclosure, there is no way I would have made it this long without Anthony Bianchi. He has talked me down from the ledge of giving up and dragged me from anxiety-Hades so many times in the last 11 weeks. He has supported me, complimented me, and encouraged me every single day. I've heard comments from others such as, "You've given him a great start. You can switch to formula now.", "It shouldn't be this hard on you", and "Formula fed babies grow up to be as great as breastfed babies." While all statements may be true, we made a commitment to our child while he was still in the womb that we would give him the best start we could, come hell or high water. And there's been both. (Seriously, our apartment flooded the other week. It was grand.) For every one of these statements I hear, it takes five cheers from Anthony to bring me from the brink of switching to formula. Anthony's role is just as important as mine when it comes to nursing. So, mothers, if you're going to climb that mountain, make sure you have a partner to catch you when you feel like you can't go on. Because no matter how determined and committed you are, that time will come--more than once.

(2) The doody will hit the fan when your milk comes in. For me it was Day Four. There was nothing in the handbook for Day Four. Anthony and I both agreed that we have to get the word out for this Dooms Day. Our sweet baby turned into, well let's just say he was unpleasant, when that new milk hit his tummy. He was inconsolable. He wailed and he flailed for 24 hours straight until he got acclimated to his new food source. Just be prepared.

  With these two pieces of intel, I want you to know that I have nothing but respect for any mother who chooses to feed her newborn formula from the start. I have nothing against formula. After all, I never had a drop of breast milk and I turned out okay. It was simply our choice to breastfeed for the first few months of August's life, but there will come a day when I give up the ghost and hand Enfamil my debit card.