Feb-May 2011 Mommies

Meags, I'm glad you decided to give yourself a break. And yes, he will learn to like the bottle again. I think you can carry on with bottle feeding, knowing you have really tried everything in the book. Soon you will be a happy mommy with a happy baby.

Tazzy, my photo shoot was on 9 May. I am really looking forward to getting the pics. Will come and post as soon as I have it. I can empathize with you regarding the "taking it out on the toddler" thing... I slapped my son hard on his naked bum the other night and I cried with him . And that was only because he didn't want to lie still while I dressed him and his sister started crying while I was struggling with him. And that happened on mother's day... I felt so bad about that until the next day.

EmsMom, with me it's the "wat maak mamma / pappa / die oom / etc?" Or "Huh?" whenever I say something. Damn, it gets to me. But it also makes me laugh at times, like yesterday in the car. He asked: "Wat maak Alexander?" So I said: "Ek weet nie. Wat maak jy?" And his reply: "Ek burp. Wie burp so? Dis Alexander."

Betty_F, I never breastfed in public with my son. This time around I decided to ignore the stares. I do cover up, but I breastfeed where ever I want to. In a restaurant, at work (went in a few times) with my boss in the room (I did close the door and he still came in, knowing that I was breastfeeding. Awkward...), while visiting friends. About the glue eye, try some breast milk. It's supposed to help.

To all the other ladies, Cath, Kimika, Schatsie, Misty, etc. etc: HELLO!!! I scan through all the posts, really. It's just amazing how I don't have time for anything these days .

LUCY W wrote:

Rakker I had a good chuckle at your pic, where your BIG boy has the dummy and little C has none! She looks very alert and I think you have a very good looking brood there. Hope you are a proud Mom:-)

I always thought 2 years will be a good age to get rid of the dummy, but with the new addition in the house I decided to wait a while longer. His sister doesn't really like a dummy and will only take one for a few seconds at a time.

Lucy, was it your LG with the rash? Glad it's better now.

Hi girls!! Another selfish post.. Ill come read all the chatter tomorrow..

I survived Cant believe Im still awake but wanted to post my SIL's phodies on fb.

R did great with his jabs.. cried a lot but really was ok afterwards.. did a slight dip in appetite?.. but thank goodness no fever/pain/crying.. little champ

xxx

Cath I had to smile when I read your post. It was 4am here and I had just thrown in the towel about the whole BF thing. I then sat with Matt and a bottle and logged onto moomie and read your post

(copied from another thread)
Well here is my update:

Matthieu will no longer be put to the breast. At 4am this morning after sitting strapped with a friggin tube to my boob I was tired, he was seriously pissing me off that his arms were flying around, pulling the tube and he wouldnt flippin stay on the breast. I ended up shouting at him (yes...like a 7 week old baby responds to that...)

I then sat there holding him and crying and crying and crying that I had gotten so mad with him and promised him no more.
So no more fighting. No more spending hours trying to get him to BF when he just doesnt want to and no more me wondering why the hell I am trying to BF in those horrible moments of him at the breast. And yes, every moment of him on the breast was a horrible one.
Whether it was because he was incorrectly latched and my nipples were killing me, whether it was because I was too scared to move incase he came off the breast or whether it was because I was just waiting for him to pop off and the whole horrible cycle would start again.

I went downstairs, filled a bottle and gave it to him - ironically he was no longer hungry and had fed enough at the boob.

This morning for the next feed he got the bottle immediately - and didnt like it. Well too bad - he will learn to like the bottle again a lot quicker than he will learn to like the boob!

I then had a great nap with him on our rocker recliner, fed another bottle after a few hours, bathed him and went to the hairdresser.
Honestly I still feel slightly sad that my journey is over - especially because he did BF, and he was getting enough from the breast (eventhough it was taking so long...) But for my own sanity and his happiness, I cant continue. If it was going to be like this a few days - I'd perservere - but 3-4 weeks and even then there's no guarentee he'll BF smoothly? no thanks...I may kill myself by then!

The LLL lady called me to see how I am doing. And yes I lied to her because honestly I dont feel like being judged today. She can judge me on Monday rather. Today I want to be left alone in peace and enjoy my baby. So I told her everything is going great, he's feeding well. I did throw in that I am getting frustrated and since his feed takes 90 minutes, I am not getting any time of him being awake and happy as by then he is tired and grumpy and wants to sleep. Of course she told me things will get better, he will take shorter to feed, everything he's doing is a positive sign etc etc etc....and yes, he is doing fantastically well that he feeds and then sleeps 4 hours. But I am not doing fantastically well...and now it is about me.

Hi there all

Phew, where does the time go?! I hardly ever get time to do posts anymore. We had 2 lovely days with A - he was very calm for most of Thurs and Fri! Probably due to the fact that we were out and about in the car most of the time. What a pleasure!! It was my mom's birthday yesterday so we went for lunch in Melkbos and Thursday we took a drive to Kalk Bay for lunch.

We have a pretty good mixture of bf and bottle feeds now. Bottle is mostly DH giving it to him at night so that I can sleep and sometimes during the day if we are out and it is too difficult to find a place to bf. My LB still LOVES the bf tho, so there is no sign of any nipple confusion and this way he gets to have a sane mommy.

Meags, I really do agree with Cath, a screaming baby is not a happy baby and doesn't result in a happy mommy, so really girl, give yourself a break and stick to the bottle feeding. With you having all those litres of EBM, he will still get all the benefits of the bf!!

Cath I also worry about all kinds of (probably ridiculous) stuff with my LO. I agree with the other girls tho, it is part and parcel of parenthood!

We are going to visit DH's brother in Velddrif and his father in Citrusdal tomorrow and Monday, so will only be back on Tuesday afternoon. So if I'm MIA, that's where I'll be.

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend!

Betty I know what you mean it's really about choice and I'm so grateful that we do have a choice, hey? THe UIF forms are beyond a pain but def worth it just grit your teeth and do it!! Good for you re the bf in public I never stare I mean what's wrong with people lol! SO glad your staples are out, awesome!!

emsmom 3 parties! Good luck!

mistymom awesome you're enjoying your lo so much!

must run, dh put his back out and must get to dischem also want to weigh little one who was batting his mobile this morning and smiling in his sleep earlier! aaah!!

cathm
x

Meags PLEASE consider what I am going to say to you – I really think you are not thinking straight.

Breastfeeding is about primarily (I think) giving your child the amazing nutrients of breastmilk. It can also be a lovely bonding experience – but so is bottle feeding. William looks at me ADORINGLY as I feed him and he rests his little head on my breast and has not had bm since 8 weeks I think – for various reasons. He is thriving but most importantly he is happy and laughs A LOT- baby kind of laugh and big smiles and feeding is a FUN. Do you know that last night I went to bed and thought ooh, I can’t wait for him to wake up so I can see his little face and watch him peacefully and happily sucking on his bottle sure he is not getting all the nutrients that you get from bm but he’s happy and relaxed and we are having a wonderful time together.

Crying hysterically is NOT a good thing. It’s really not. Crying means something is wrong/baby is uncomfortable. YOU have the best of both worlds you have TONS of amazing breastmilk plus bottles to feed with. YOU are not enjoying the bf’ing, you 2 are not having fun (??) you’re not bonding so why continue? I think you’ve proven that you can do it definitely but I think you should make the decision to just give that lovely bresatmilk but in a bottle. Imagine how happy matt and you will be. Imagine having beatufiul calm feeding sessions where he’s just loving you for meeting his needs not forcing him to do something that I think he has been trying to tell you quite desperately he DOES not want to do.

My advice - please please consider – no more consultants, bf’ing, just calm bottle feeding with breastmilk from freezer. By the time you come to SA you’re both going to be calm and happy – isn’t that better. We have W in such a routine now – for the past few nights he has slept solidly from 10pm til 6am. It’s BLISSFUL! He even smiles in his sleep! I think it’s because he gets fed every 4 hours (I do understand its different when you breastfeed but this is formula feeding) he has come to expect it and he is soo relaxed. Feeding time is a pleasurable bonding time which I think was your aim all along?

Please give both yourselves a break – you really can have the best of both worlds.

I would’ve sent this to you privately but I’m hoping that if any of our friends on the thread agree with me they’ll chime in. 

Love
Cathmx