(no subject)

[geminigirl]

Naomi was very cooperative when we had to go to her passport appointment...because all minor children need to appear in person, so my four week old baby had to go appear at the post office for a passport. It would have been nice if they hadn't been running quite so far behind, but that's okay.

In my sleep deprived state I managed to teach myself yet another reason why I hate not being able to exclusively breastfeed this child. I walked out of the house with the diaper bag packed with everything we needed except for something to feed her from. Oops.

I'm trying to find bright sides in the whole breastfeeding deal. So far I've come up with the idea that it's likely my period will return sooner without EBF than with it, and that means that we'd be able to plan on trying for #2 sooner. (Yes there are plans for a second child, and I'd like for that to happen before I turn 35, which is not all that far off considering I turn 33 in less than a week.) As much as a second child, especially one so close in age will be difficult, I really do want more than one...to me, so many of the good things I remember from my own childhood involve my siblings, and there were a lot of lessons about sharing and compromise and all sorts of other positive life skills that came from being a child with siblings.

And the other lesson? Doesn't matter what the books and the experts say. Naomi is an individual and will do what she wants along the way, and all the theory and all the science and all the reading and preparation goes out the window when it needs to. My job is love her, and make what I think are the best choices possible to guide her to being a mensch.

Comments

[yix.livejournal.com]

There are tons of good things about doing a mixed method of feeding. One of the big ones is that you don't have to wait to get Dad involved with feeding. And I know how much that meant to Erik. If I can breast feed better this time, I think Erik is going to miss that part. On the other hand, he'll have Sam to keep him busy, so it might be okay anyway. I also think starting to work on #2 ASAP isn't a bad idea at all. Even if they are very close in age, I suspect that there are some big benefits to that in terms of not dealing with some of the emotional impact of your #2 on your #1.

[geminigirl]

The Dad bit is true.

I'm actually going to discuss #2 with the OB at my postpartum appointment in a couple of weeks. Considering what it took to get pregnant with #1, I'm inclined to start ASAP (or more precisely, as soon as is reasonable.) I think if it hadn't taken so long to get pregnant with Naomi, I might feel differently. OTOH, once we were doing the right things, it wasn't long at all, but who knows if it was just meant to be that month or it was all the other stuff?

[fairion.livejournal.com]

Regarding the dad bit, I believe it makes a huge impact on a long term scale. We get much less "Mommy-only" times from Froggy than most of her compatriots who were exclusively breast-fed. I believe it is because she spent much more of the early time with her Daddy when he was feeding or sleeping with her.

As for the second lesson, Hoorah!! Remember always you are the best judge of what is best for your child. But the reading and research don't go out the window. You may choose to do something you thought you would not or that goes against the research but it is that research and reading as well as your instincts that is helping you make that decision.