Looking at the bright side
Clearly, pumping is harder than exclusively breastfeeding or exclusively formula feeding. But there are some advantages to it, too.
For one thing, your baby is still getting breast milk, which we all know is SO MUCH BETTER than the POY-ZON formula. (Yes it is cynicism you are detecting here) (Hoi! Darth A.! How are you feeling after I fed you all that Poy-Zon as a baby? Oh, I'm sorry kiddo, go back to doing those upper grade math puzzles. For fun.) But, seriously, if you want your baby to have all the possible health benefits of breast milk, but you can't breastfeed, then pumping will ease a lot of guilt. (Which we will try not to feel, oh no)
For another thing, you are not tied down to the baby all the time. You are pretty much tied down to your pump, yah, but it's slightly different. You don't have to take your baby everywhere you go, just in case he gets hungry and needs the boob. You can pump right before you leave the house, and know that you've got a good few hours of time before you need to head back.
Plus, your husband or other adult can feed the baby for you. I guess this is also one of the advantages of formula feeding, but when it's pumped breast milk, it's more like "boob in a bottle." (I should trademark that.)
Pump horns don't have to latch, so there's never a question of getting it on right. They also can't turn their heads, get distracted, fall asleep, bite, scratch, or startle.
You can do other things while your pump, especially if you have one of those "hands-free pump bras" that so many commenters have told me about. You can drink hot tea and a crumbly piece of cake, and not worry about spilling anything on the baby.
Pumping into a bottle will never leave you wondering how your supply is doing. You know exactly how much you're making, and exactly how much your baby is eating.
Pumping can get you away from a screaming baby, if there is another adult home at the time.
Pumping can mean no more cracked nipples, or thrush, or uneven breast sizes.
Plus! If you get bored (like you'll have the goddamn time to get bored) you can decorate your pump bag. Like, iron on little flowers. Or dye it yellow. Or write "BOOBS ON THE GO" in permanent marker (I wouldn't recommend that one unless you don't take your pump bag with you to very many places). You get the idea.
Best of all, it's a conversation starter. ("Why aren't you breastfeeding?" "Because all the anti-psychotic drugs my parole officer told me I have to take pass through my breastmilk! By the way, I really have a problem with people who wear green.")
So really, you gotta look at the good points of pumping. Otherwise, it's too easy to see only the trouble of it all.
For one thing, your baby is still getting breast milk, which we all know is SO MUCH BETTER than the POY-ZON formula. (Yes it is cynicism you are detecting here) (Hoi! Darth A.! How are you feeling after I fed you all that Poy-Zon as a baby? Oh, I'm sorry kiddo, go back to doing those upper grade math puzzles. For fun.) But, seriously, if you want your baby to have all the possible health benefits of breast milk, but you can't breastfeed, then pumping will ease a lot of guilt. (Which we will try not to feel, oh no)
For another thing, you are not tied down to the baby all the time. You are pretty much tied down to your pump, yah, but it's slightly different. You don't have to take your baby everywhere you go, just in case he gets hungry and needs the boob. You can pump right before you leave the house, and know that you've got a good few hours of time before you need to head back.
Plus, your husband or other adult can feed the baby for you. I guess this is also one of the advantages of formula feeding, but when it's pumped breast milk, it's more like "boob in a bottle." (I should trademark that.)
Pump horns don't have to latch, so there's never a question of getting it on right. They also can't turn their heads, get distracted, fall asleep, bite, scratch, or startle.
You can do other things while your pump, especially if you have one of those "hands-free pump bras" that so many commenters have told me about. You can drink hot tea and a crumbly piece of cake, and not worry about spilling anything on the baby.
Pumping into a bottle will never leave you wondering how your supply is doing. You know exactly how much you're making, and exactly how much your baby is eating.
Pumping can get you away from a screaming baby, if there is another adult home at the time.
Pumping can mean no more cracked nipples, or thrush, or uneven breast sizes.
Plus! If you get bored (like you'll have the goddamn time to get bored) you can decorate your pump bag. Like, iron on little flowers. Or dye it yellow. Or write "BOOBS ON THE GO" in permanent marker (I wouldn't recommend that one unless you don't take your pump bag with you to very many places). You get the idea.
Best of all, it's a conversation starter. ("Why aren't you breastfeeding?" "Because all the anti-psychotic drugs my parole officer told me I have to take pass through my breastmilk! By the way, I really have a problem with people who wear green.")
So really, you gotta look at the good points of pumping. Otherwise, it's too easy to see only the trouble of it all.
posted by pumpmom at 10:27 AM
2 Comments:
Also, you can have mucho wine with dinner and know you can pump and dump!
I'm not really a drinker. I guess if I was, and really needed a drink, I could, but I'm trying to build up as huge a stash of frozen milk as possible, so that after I'm done pumping I can still give frozen for a while. That, or at least I'll have emergency reserves for "just in case."
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