The joy of nursing…NOT!

Let me count the ways that I hate nursing. I am finally done and I can’t be more happy about it. I lasted three months, I really can’t believe it. I almost quit after two weeks, and six weeks seemed like an impossible goal. I have truly succeeded. The reason I am writing this post is to get a different perspective out there. It just seems like all you ever hear is how wonderful it is and if you don’t want to then you are the devil. It seemed to me like every time I had a question about nursing, I would look for the answer online or in books and all I would hear is mothers talking about how much they love it, how spiritual it is, and how it’s their most favorite thing ever! I hate that I feel guilty, selfish, and like an anti-mom if I don’t want to nurse. I really don’t think it is for everyone. Why don’t I like nursing you ask? Let me tell you.

1) Time: I would take 40 minutes to feed Corbin and I would have to do that every 2 to 3 hours. Do the math; nursing becomes a full-time job.

2) Worry: I was constantly stressed that he wasn’t getting enough food. Every time he fussed I would think, “Maybe he’s hungry?” I am the type of person that wants to know exactly how much my child is eating, and I’m talking ounces people.

3) Anxiety: I hated the feeling that my life revolved around Corbin getting hungry. What if the home teachers were over? What if I was in the middle of feeding him and the door bell rang? Doing errands, forget about it. I also felt so much pressure that I was the sole means of my child’s survival. I felt too much pressure from that, along with hating that nobody else could help me.

4) PAIN: Ok, I know that it is supposed to hurt a little at the beginning until your body adjusts. You shouldn’t have any real problems after that, right? Wrong. I don’t know why but I think some people are more prone to problems. Case in point: I got mastitis, twice. Not only that, but I had clogged ducts at least once a week and I would stress that it would develop into mastitis if I didn’t get it worked out. I think once you get mastitis you are more prone to it as well. My mom nursed four babies without any problems and then on the 5^th she developed mastitis. After that, she continued to get it again and again. My sister-in-law got it three times in a matter of a few weeks.

Now I am not saying that nursing is bad. I know that it has numerous health benefits for both mom and baby: It is the perfect blend of everything that the baby needs for up to 6 months of life, and it is dirt cheap. I can’t argue with that. I also don’t want to scare other people into not wanting to nurse. I hope that you love it and that it works out for you. I just want to get it out there that not everyone loves it, and it is not easy and natural for everyone. People treat it as if one size fits all and let’s face it, that just not the case. I think people need to withhold judgment on mothers if they aren’t nursing. I love being a mom and just because I don’t nurse my baby doesn’t mean I don’t love him or I am a bad person. I could seriously rant about this for pages but I think I have made my point.

Before I end I want to add a couple of tips to help some of you, though I learned some of them too late. The only reason that I lasted as long as I did was because I pretty much pumped exclusively. I found that pumping really worked well for me. I liked having the freedom of pumping on my own time and not on the baby's time. I only had to do it every 4 hours for 10 minutes. That made it a huge time saver. Pumping also allows other people to help with feeding the baby, and the baby still gets all of the great nutrients. If, for some reason, your milk production slows down, I found that the herb Fenugreek helps to bring it back up. I also discovered much too late that the herb Lecithin helps to keep your milk thin and prevent the development of clogged ducts. I hope that this information is useful to you nursing mothers out there who may be in need of some extra help. Good Luck.