Disclaimer: I have not had a full night's sleep in a week (super sick kid but I will get to that later). I am sleep deprived, working full time, getting ready for recital this Sunday, doing last minute preparations for Miss Delaware which is next week, dealing with some drama, attempting to finish gifts for 7 teachers and do the typical Mama and take care of the house stuff. Oh...and my husband started a new job last week and is trying to finish up stuff for his old job as well...awesome! This may be a rambling, chaotic post. If you are offended by boobies, bitching, hearing about my sick children or disjointed/disgruntled thoughts...turn back now. If you are kind of curious what psycho/sleep deprived Aimee is like..read on:)
Let me start this post with saying that I exclusively breast fed each of my children for a full year. Do I think I deserve a trophy for this? Hell yeah! Do I think mom's that do not breastfeed should be denied the trophy...NO! Not that anyone really asked but I think each mom should feel free to make the choice on her on without judgment from others (aka: mind yo business). Personally, I think all moms that survive the first year and maintain sanity (a small amount satisfies this requirement) deserve a trophy. Boobie feeding or not...motherhood is tough stuff (yeah, yeah, yeah...it's great, wonderful and fantastic and TOUGH!). Anyway I breast fed for an entire year because:
Among the benefits demonstrated by research:
-Breastfeeding helps a woman to lose weight after birth.
-Many studies show that breastfeeding strengthens the immune system.
-Respiratory illness is far more common among formula-fed children.
-Breastfeeding has been shown to reduce the likelihood of ear infections, and to prevent recurrent
ear infections. Ear infections are a major reason that infants take multiple courses of antibiotics.
-Another apparent benefit from breastfeeding may be protection from allergies. A review of 132
studies on allergy and breastfeeding concluded that breastfeeding appears to help protect
children from developing allergies, and that the effect seems to be particularly strong among
children whose parents have allergies.
-Studies also indicate that cognitive development is increased among children whose mothers
choose to breastfeed.
I'm not making this stuff up. That is straight from the American Academy of Pediatrics and every other website that claims to know all. So let's break this down a bit.
1. Breastfeeding will make you look like a Victoria's Secret Model (I'm paraphrasing...whatever!). Uhhh...BULLSHIT! Breastfeeding made me hungry. I mean what else are you supposed to do when you are re-covering from a c-section, forbidden from exercise, and spending the entire day within reaching distance of the fridge? You eat! Yea, yea, yea...I COULD have chosen to eat fruit, veggies, and yogurt. However, pizza, fries and chips are more my style...and anyway, I breast fed so the magical weight loss should really kick in at anytime. I'm thinking this may have been a scam!
2. Your kids will not get sick as often as other kids. Uhhh...BULL$&!^! My kids catch every single thing that goes around and have even created a few illnesses of their own. I swear Brynn developed a virus this year that single handly took out her entire pre-school.
3. Your child will not develop asthma. Uhhh...Colton was diagnosed with asthma at around a year old. I won't say it this time but you know what I am thinking (it rhymes with BULL SPIT).
4. Breastfeeding reduces ear infections. AH HA HA HA HAAAAH (said in a maniacal laughing kind way). Colton and Brynn both have "chronic ear infections". Brynn had to have tubes put in her ears when she was 3. Colton had to get them when he was 9 months old. He had his second surgery a month after the first and we are currently trying to plan the best time for his third.
5. You won't have to worry about allergies. Both Colton and I were breastfed. We both have HORRIBLE allergies.
6. Your kid will be a genius. Personally, I would agree that both of my children are geniuses but to be fair I declared that when all they were able to do was drool.
I breastfed each kid for an entire year. That means two entire years of nursing a baby in the most unlikely of places (my car, The Magic Kingdom, in the middle of a bachelorette party, smelly bathrooms, etc). Two years of being the only person to handle the middle of the night feedings. It means two years of taking my handy dandy boobie pump everywhere with me and expressing milk in the most unlikely places (the airport bathroom, at work, in my car, at work conferences, etc) so that I could work and still breastfeed. Please, please, PLEASE someone tell me that I did all of this for more than saggy girls!!!!! I HAVE BEEN CHEATED...WHERE ARE MY BENEFITS??!!!
You may be wondering why I am off on this crazy/psycho tangent (and probably too afraid to ask at this point). After 6 nights of middle of the night asthma attacks, I finally decided that this was getting crazy and Colton needed to see the doctor. Yesterday, as I sat in the pediatrician's office waiting for our doctor for the one millionth time. I look up and see a beautiful poster of a nursing mother. The poster goes on to tell of all the wonderful rewards of nursing (see above). Then my pediatrician comes into the room and tells me that Colton has a nasty bronchial infection coupled with traces of pneumonia. This is all probably the result of allergy season and complications of his asthma. And by the way...his ears still look pretty bad (after two rounds of antibiotics) so we probably need to start preparing ourselves for another ear surgery.
In my exhausted/frustrated state, I motion up to the poster and say, "You should take that poster down. It lies!" She looked at me sympathetically and said "you aren't the first person to tell me that but at least you never had to pay for formula." Lol...well, there is that.
Disclaimer 2: To be honest, even though I feel severely cheated by the breastfeeding gods, I would still do it all over again and if I ever decided to have another child, I would embrace breastfeeding again. Maybe it would actually work next time? Please do not e-mail/message/call me and tell me about all the ways that breastfeeding did benefit your child. I get it! I am a card carrying member of the boobie bandwagon who just needed a moment to vent. Thanks for listening:)
Love this!!!
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