I’m back – we took wee Sierra up to our Nation’s Capital this past weekend for her 1st Thanksgiving Dinner. Things went WAY better than our previous trip. See – I’m getting smarter at this parenting thing 
. The 4 hour drive is actually a 5 hour drive (as I’ve learned). We fed Sierra and put her in her carseat at bedtime and then sped drove off. She was asleep before we even hit the highway! After a quick pee break 1/2 way there we pulled into CosmoBoy’s parents place at 2:20 am. Coming home was a breeze too – After “playing” with her cousins for 3 days Sierra was exhausted so we were able to leave at 7:30 and were home by 12:30am. We had a great time….
Except the constant questioning of my parenting style. You see – my MIL and SIL both formula/bottlefed their babies. Also their babies were not preemies – they were larger babies that developed faster. So all weekend long I had to fight to get Sierra back to feed her. It was hard for them to grasp that she needs to be fed every 2 hours. It was hard for them to grasp that I can feed her in 5-10 minutes flat. Everyone kept trying to console her – and the only way she’d stop crying was for me (because she was hungry and she’s well aware that only I can feed her). She doesn’t sleep completely through the night – she gets up once for a feed. It was suggested to me several times that I should give her a bottle of formula before bed to help her sleep…. Arrgh! That’ll reduce milk supply! Besides, she has no idea wtf to do with a bottle – she does the open close pause mouth thing like it’s a boob. I hated every minute of the trip.
Nursing was my choice – yes she’s dependent on me – but I don’t mind at all. I knew she would be when I choose that path. If I had closer relatives that I could leave her with for the odd evening and weekend I might’ve choosen to continue expressing and bottle feeding as I had done in the beginning. But it was WAY too much work when I was by myself all day to keep sterilizing pump parts, bottles and warming up bottles. (Yeah – I could’ve done formula instead of the whole pumping thing but I strongly feel that mother’s milk is more nutritious). This is such a short phase of her life – soon enough she’ll be independent of me and more enjoyable to the other relatives in her life. I am so glad to be home – where I can parent the way I want to parent without being questioned… Which leads me to another post – a post where I have questions about how to parent…
You may also like -
Popularity: 1% [?]
Breast is best! (I’ve always wanted to say that on the internet.
)
I think you handled it very well. It’s really hard to grasp how different formula/breastfeeding really are from each other. It’s not like having the little girl/guy dependant on you for the first months of their life is a bad thing anyway!! I kinda like it! (Although I probably will do the one 4oz bottle of formula at bedtime, courtesy of dad, starting at around two months to let him have some feeding/bonding time, to help Brayden sleep a bit longer that first run each night and to give myself a window of opportunity to get away if need be.
It worked with Kaitlyn, maybe it will again. But every baby is different right? 
You worked SOOO hard to breastfeed and it would be a shame to jeopardize all that Sierra has finally grown accustomed to for the sake of appeasing the inlaws or anyone that has a different frame of mind.
HUGS! YOu’re doing great MAMA!
Everyone has a right to do things their own way but some people just don’t get it-Breastfeeding is so much easier than bottles! It’s always available, it’s always warm, no no messy cleanup, just lift up shirt, nurse, burp, and DONE!:grin:
Good to see that you hung tough for Sierra’s best interests. Nothing is better than the old fashioned booby and really no indication that formula really helps the baby sleep longer. I believe that most of that is developmental… so if Sierra needs to feed every 2 hours for 5-10 minutes, thank goodness that you know that and can feed her.
I know of a lady who is still breast feeding her kids at 4-6 and although that is taboo here in the states for kids over 24 months, it is her right to do that.
We went to a party Saturday and there were three new moms, all nursing newborns.
It was a crazy family get together and I swear it was hard to keep track of which child went with which parent (there were at least a dozen kids of all ages there) but it seemed the most normal thing for someone to take their baby and go sit for a few minutes in a quiet spot to nurse. Then the babies were getting passed around again.
Had you been there, it would have been a very different experience for you! Oh, that and everyone (but me) was speaking spanish. I laughed a lot, but have no idea what I was laughing at most of the time…
Phew, I thought you were gonna gloat about your team again…
Save it for the playoffs.
I hear ya! I know you already know what I would say – but I’ll blab anyway. Sierra is the boss! She will guide you with what she wants, when and what her routine is – nobody else. I think as Mom’s we just sometimes have to tweek those routines a little so that they work best for us and baby. Do what is right for you and nobody else – whether that be breast or bottle – it is your choice. And you remember from CNP – sleeping through for any baby means 5-6 hours in a row. Anything after that is a bonus. Personally, as far as I’m concerned, this is just my opinion though – boobs are there for a reason. So, for now – she is supposed to be dependent on you. That is just a physical fact. In my opinion of course.
It’s strange that in this day and age some people would view breastfeeding as an undesirable motherly behaviour.