It’s World Breastfeeding Week! To celebrate, each day this week I’m going to have a breastfeeding-related post.
6 things I dislike about breastfeeding
1) I can’t wear whatever I want. I have to wear clothing that’s easy to whip my breast out of. This isn’t usually a problem, but I do have items where it would be either VERY inconvenient or downright impossible to nurse while wearing.
2) My husband can’t do it instead. Wait, isn’t this one of the things I loved yesterday, that breastfeeding is our special time? Well, there’s still something intensely frustrating about my inability to pump milk (I don’t know if it’s a supply issue, a pump issue, or whether I’m just so uptight about it now that I can’t relax enough for my milk to let down). I want to know that when I find work, my daughter is being fed breastmilk. I worry that she’ll be fed formula. I know it won’t kill her, but I want her to be nurtured by MY body.
3) Sometimes I just want my breasts to be mine again. This rarely crosses my mind, but when I feel this way, it’s in the middle of the night and I am just exhausted. Sometimes she won’t side-latch, so I have to sit up and wait for her to finish, which means less sleep for me. Obviously I can deal with that, but I also sometimes think, “My breasts are nothing but an extension of her mouth,” and it frustrates me.
4) The way my breasts feel after an extended nursing session. “Floppy” doesn’t even begin to describe it. I weep for the perky breasts that I didn’t appreciate. WEEP.
5) When I am engorged and she won’t drink, it’s a horrible feeling. I have these rock-hard LUMPS on my chest that are hot and achy. This is when I can grab the pump, but usually I’m so busy being miserable and trying repeatedly to convince Maia to nurse that I forget.
6) Stretch marks. I don’t think I need to say anything else.
I couldn’t come up with any more things I dislike. What about you?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I hate that is doesn’t come as easy as I foolishly expected it too. Oh and supply issues suck.
The ONLY thing I disliked about breastfeeding is that it was time consuming. And having a newborn AND a 2 year……breastfeeding took up a LOT of time! My son wasn’t happy. My baby was though!!!! Lol!! (•)(•) YAY for boobies!!!
I mostly love breastfeeding. And the pumping part well honestly it took me a while to get good at it. Keep trying! Some things I did was try a different size phlange, keep the let-down stimulation setting on the pump on for longer and pumped for a LONG time. The lopsidedness of both my boobs and the supply drives me nuts. I like symmetry but no matter what I can’t seem to make the right boob make as much as the left. I have noticed however that the milk expressed from the left boob is more fatty so maybe calories are equal.