Needless to say, shits been pretty wild in the newbie Mom world. I haven't had energy to write in over a month... sheesh.
Our 4 month sleepless "Wonder Week" turned into a Wonder Month and merged seamlessly into the 6 month "growth spurt", which is where we are now. Jonah is back to feeding every 1.5 to 2 hours in addition to 3 solid meals a day. Kid sure likes to eat!
Introducing solids has been stressful, more so than labour, breastfeeding, and sleep combined. I think it's because I've been suckered into all the "breast is best" propaganda, and of course in Canada babies aren't supposed to start solids until 6 months. I've been afraid to feed him, terrified I'm going to hurt him, give him allergies, give him eczema, or make his stomach explode. So at 5 months when Jonah was screaming through his naps, my Mom said what her Mom said to her when my brother did exacly the same thing around the same time:
"That baby is hungry..."
I approached his homemade brown rice cereal and new BPA free baby spoon with trepedation. And a little bit if shame.
I thought breast is best?
Why can't I produce enough milk?
Stoopid boobs, baby's hungry!
The truth of the matter is I have plenty of milk. I drink nurse maid fenugreek tea and chomp on oatmeal, and lactation cookies galore. I pump every night and have milk to spare. Every baby is different, and mine just wants to eat.
Here he is on day 3 of solids, basically loosing his shit:
He does this every time a put a spoon in his mouth, that and slamming his fist on the table like some starving orphan from Oliver Twist. And although it's recommended to start with 1 or 2 tablespoons for a few months, he ate a good half a cup each sitting within a few weeks.
We started with rice cereal. He took two poops in twelve days which SUCKED. So I gave him avocado, and am now following the vegetable schedule on this woman's awesome blog:
The idea is to start with green vegetables first so that he doesn't develop too much of a sweet tooth. He's loving every bite. And poops are looking good too, albeit much stinkier.
Part of me is happy he still breast feeds so much (yah yah I know, breast is best) but part of me is beyond exhausted. At 6 months, I AM SO OVER this whole breastfeeding malarkey. I want my fucking boobs back. And to top things off, last week he popped two front teeth.
Chomp chomp... Eek!
Despite the fact that my generation were fully weaned on solids as early as 4 months and we all turned out just fine, the new recommendation is that breast milk is the primary source of nutrition for the first year of a baby's life. My resolve is weakening. I've even bought a few samples of organic formula to try. If it wasn't for my sheer stubborn pride, I think I would have packed away my nursing bras and forked out for a boob job weeks ago.
So what is exactly so great about breastfeeding? I need to remind myself.
The benefits of breastfeeding extend well beyond basic nutrition. In
addition to containing all the vitamins and nutrients baby needs, breast milk is packed with
disease-fighting antibodies. It's also good for Mom. Breasfeeding lowers the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, and can help build a stronger bond between you and your baby.
And what sucks about formula? Well not so much. Time magazine reports in this article that sibling studies so little difference between breast fed and formula fed babies. The new research, published in the journal Social Science & Medicine,
looked at longitudinal data from three separate populations: 8,237
children, 7,319 siblings and 1,773 sibling pairs where at least one
child was breast-fed and at least one child was not. Researchers
measured 11 outcomes previously shown to be impacted by breast-feeding:
body mass index (BMI); obesity; asthma; hyperactivity; parental
attachment; behavior compliance; and achievement in vocabulary, reading
recognition, math ability, intelligence and scholastic competence.
When they looked at data across all families, breast-feeding had
better outcomes than bottle-feeding in factors like BMI, hyperactivity,
math skills, reading recognition, vocabulary word identification, digit
recollection, scholastic competence and obesity. However, when the
researchers looked just at the siblings who were fed differently, the
benefits were not statistically significant. The exception was that
breast-fed children were at higher risk for asthma, though it was
unclear if those reports were self-generated or actual diagnoses.
Despite this, Multiple studies say breastfeeding is good for the development of the baby, and that it’s health protective for mothers. Just take a look at this handy table listing the nutrients in breast milk versus formula:
It's a no brainer to breastfeed really, given the choice.
That being said, about half the Moms I know formula feed and their kids are awesome healthy people, as are they. In fact, whole countries exclusively formula feed. France has the lowest breastfeeding rate in the western world, a
statistic that doesn't look like it is going to change any time soon if
its health system or its most-read feminist philosophers have anything
to do with it.
Are all the kids in France crippled by allergies and low IQ's? NO. Overall, the French, along with the Italians and the Swiss, are considered among the slimmest, healthiest people in Europe. If formula feeding works for a whole nation, it really can't be so bad. Right? Right.
I will continue to breastfeed because I feel it's what's best for Jonah. Saggy
tits aside, I just want to give my
baby a good start in life. Eventually I know Jonah will get
sick of my boobs and I'll be sad and miss those quiet times
when he sucked the life out of my poor chafed nips. Those cans of formula (which he eats as eagerly as everything else I shove in his mouth) will likely never be used other than to mix a bit with his leeks if I don't have any thawed breast milk handy.
I'll let y'all know if I change my mind, but for now tired boobs and chafed nips are just the way the lactation cookies crumble.
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