This pictures speaks very clearly to what my breastfeeding relationship with Penelope has been like.
The bottle is in focus and me and Penelope are in the background, slightly out of focus. I love how you can see me doing hand compressions. If I want to her to get milk, this is what I have to do. My arm feels like its going to fall off after she nurses, because I am compressing like a mad woman. As if each suckle might be her last and its still a do or death situation to get milk in her belly.
But I am happy, oh so happy and grateful for every single time Penelope nurses.
And that bottle, I have love/hate relationship with it. So happy for its invention, Penelope would have been one of those babies long ago that died from not being able to nurse. The pump and the bottle literally saved her life.
But oh, how I hate that thing and everything it "stands" for in my mind. I can't tell you how much physical pain it causes me to bottle feed her in public around people who don't know me. I wish I had a sign on my forehead that said "IT'S BREASTMILK, BITCHES!"
:)
Make a sticker and put it on her bottle! Make t-shirts!
ReplyDeletePenelope is kinda like your sign--she looks like one very healthy baby growing on mama's milk!
ReplyDeleteI totally get this. I did buy stickers for my bottles, but I don't use them much, it seems too confrontational.(http://www.lactivist.co.uk/100-mummy-milk-bottle-sticker-p-65.html )
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad Penelope at least nurses a little. I still try with my E, but he's not interested, he just squirms and looks at me like I'm a crazy woman.
I love the blog! I have a question about raw milk, I have been making cheese and using whey for awhile, have you ever tried to make kefir? Where did you find the grains, if so? Thanks in advance! Happy Mama's Day to you both!
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way! I want to explain my whole breastfeeding battle to onlookers, but have thus far contained myself. We are trying to wean our boy off the bottle as he gets (slowly) better at eating off the breast, but I'm not sure it will ever happen. I'm all for making stickers.
ReplyDelete