Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Supply and (Personal) Demands

I am only just now realizing how oblivious I have been to how my normal activity affects breastfeeding.  I've been doing a little science experiment for the past 2 days (so extensive, I know) to see how drinking more water will affect my milk output when pumping at work.  Not surprisingly (and yet I am oddly surprised!), I have already pumped more after 2 pumping sessions today than I pumped after 3 yesterday.  I anticipate that the output will level off at some point, but I suspect that it will continue to rise to that point as I continue to drink more water.

I'm not going to say a lot today (pretty much because I am about to pee my pants from drinking so much water, and I want to reward myself for finishing this post today by using the restroom... gosh, that is strange), despite having much on which to reflect.  Breastfeeding is not a no-brainer activity, even though it has become a very normal and regular part of my life over the past 9 1/2 months.  It still takes a lot of thought and consideration in order to reach a breastfeeding goal.  For example, I have been engaged in an internal struggle about supplementing my Flyweight child's breast milk bottle with some formula.  The reason this has been an issue lately is because I'm watching my freezer supply of breast milk dwindle as I struggle to keep up with the demands of a growing child, yet at the rate I'm going, it looks like I could run out of both frozen and fresh milk before he turns a year old.  I am vehemently opposed to this happening!

So... I decided to do something about it.  And that is why I am about to pee my pants... because I am doing the obvious before I resort to taking more extreme measures.

Stay tuned to find out if the data continues to support my theory.  Well, the theory that I borrowed from someone else’s brain, anyway. 

Signing off.

BKB

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Snickering at Snookie

I just read an article which was a commentary on a Good Morning America interview with Snookie.  The commentary was based on the admission by Snookie that she is afraid of breastfeeding because she heard that breastfeeding is painful.

I was pretty shocked at the response of the blogger for Parents magazine, because it seemed overly judgmental.  Don’t get me wrong—I am not a Snookie fan.  In fact, I’ve only ever seen one episode of Jersey Shore (if it’s not The Real Housewives of the OC or Kardashians, I won’t watch it.  Ha!), but that was enough for me to know I’d seen enough.  The thing I don’t understand is why this blogger thought it was an appropriate transition to go from bashing Snookie, to then validating her fears of breastfeeding.  I had a difficult time following where the article was going because the blogger makes Snookie seem outrageously stupid, but then in her next breath empathizes with her.
No matter who you are or what you’ve done, of course you don’t know what to expect if you haven’t breastfed.  Even if you have breastfed, there can still be many instances of surprise along the way!  Why would Snookie want to even attempt to breastfeed if people are going to make her feel like she’s already made such bad choices in life, that she will inevitably screw up with breastfeeding, too?  Why shouldn’t she be encouraged to try to breastfeed, because it is a possibility that she could be one of the people who has a rather easy and uneventful go of the experience from the beginning?  And who knows?  Perhaps she might even decide that she’s willing to sacrifice more of herself in the process, in order to be a good mother for her baby.
I know there are many perfect people out there.  After all, Jesus went back to Heaven because there were enough perfect people here on Earth that he could wipe his hands and say, “My work here is done,” right?  Sorry about the sarcasm…  That was ugly.  My point is that Snookie deserves a chance, just like anyone else to do something good for her child.  Let’s encourage her, not tear her down before she even gives it a shot.  Perhaps this is the exact reason why breastfeeding often fails in the U.S.A… because we take every opportunity to tell you why you can’t, rather than why you should.
My one question to you is:  Does Snookie’s reputation change the kind of advice you would give her about breastfeeding?
Signing off.
BKB

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Proper Breast Support

Although the end date of my breastfeeding goal is still 3 months away (exactly 3 months to the day, as a matter of fact!), I know this time will pass more quickly than I can imagine.  Because of this, I need to start preparing mentally for how I am going to transition my baby and myself into this new realm.  This is a new concept to me:  I will have a child who will no longer view me as his own personal dairy cow. 
I was talking with my best friend last night about why she decided to stop breastfeeding when she did. She told me that it wasn’t actually she who decided, rather the children.  She said they just didn’t seem to need it anymore, so she basically let them wean themselves.  I thought that was really interesting, because in my mind I have been imagining this being a really tough process where I will be consoling my crying child as he is trying to unsnap my bra against my will.  That didn’t sound ideal, but since I am new to this whole motherhood thing I usually have no idea what to expect.
If I achieve the goal I have set for myself, I will actually be a statistic on the opposite side of the actual U.S. statistics for mothers reaching their breastfeeding goals, according to a recent article I read.  As stated in this new study, most mothers don’t reach their goals, despite having said that they intended to exclusively breastfeed for X months.
What stood out to me in this article is the fact that regardless of whether it was one month or 24 months, most mothers didn’t reach the breastfeeding goal.   Furthermore, most mothers actually said that their goal was to exclusively breastfeed, yet many of them didn’t even make it out of the hospital before they gave up.
This article brings me back to the concept that in order for women to have success breastfeeding (regardless of the length of time they plan to do so), they need to have support from all aspects of the community.  If many women don’t leave the hospital still breastfeeding, that tells me that the support needs to be heavily focused during those first few days of the baby’s life.  When I had my child, my nurses knew that I planned to breastfeed, and let me tell you—they were on me like a fly on a turd!  That was a totally gross word picture.  Anyway, my nurses saw to it that I took every opportunity possible to foster good breastfeeding habits as long as I was in their care. 
Not only did the nurses encourage me, but my husband did as well.  Despite my mother not having breastfed me, she also encouraged me, and was even fascinated with the whole concept, which made me in turn more enthusiastic about it.  I have friends who were more than willing to answer any of my off-the-wall questions regarding breastfeeding, since they had plenty of experience. 
Now, when I imagine what my experience would have been had I not had the amazing support system those first few weeks of my child’s life, I feel really sad.  It makes me sad because I know that it is reality for many American women.  In this fast-food nation we live in, it probably just seems more convenient to go the formula route, rather than taking the time to properly train mother, baby, and everyone else in their lives to be a supportive part of breastfeeding. 
So my question is:  Did you feel that you had sufficient support to learn to breastfeed while you were in the hospital, and then to continue thereafter?  If not, what do you believe could have changed your experience in a positive way?
Signing off.
BKB

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Old Enough to Know Better, Still Too Young to Care

A dear friend of mine sent me a link to Pinterest which shows some basic trends regarding breastfeeding in the United States versus 79 countries surveyed from the rest of the world. 
The thing that caught my attention is the variance between the U.S. and the rest of the world.  Although many U.S. citizens claim to support breastfeeding, most have an “age limit” that they believe is appropriate to stop breastfeeding.  For some people that “age limit” is an actual age, and for some people it’s a milestone (for example, when the child learns to walk or to speak).  I’m curious as to where we come up with this “age limit”, since the variance between the U.S. and the rest of the world is so great.  Why are 56% of babies still breastfed at 2 years of age in the countries surveyed, when only 24% are still breastfed at 2 years of age in the U.S.?  A variance of 32% is a pretty big gap!
I’m interested to know if this gap is the result of mothers returning to the workplace, as I know that the U.S. typically has shorter maternity leave benefits than other countries.  Or, is it simply a cultural issue where mothers just feel judged if they continue to feed their children after the perceived “age limit” in the U.S., and it is just too tiring to justify to the inquiring minds why they breastfeed longer than that point?  Personally, I wasn’t sure how to respond to my boss when he asked how long I planned to breastfeed my child.  He let me know that, in his opinion, it was normal to be finished breastfeeding by the time a child turned a year old.  I thought that was interesting.
So, my question of the day is:  How long do you believe is too long to breastfeed a child, and why?
Signing off.
BKB