3 The Princess And The Chick Pea (plus a little breastfeeding rant!)

I'm linking to this from Breastfeeding Moms Unite as it is something I wish I had read in the early days after giving birth to our beautiful daughter. Having struggled with breastfeeding, especially for the first 3 or 4 weeks, I have nothing but the utmost respect for mothers who manage to breastfeed their babies, even if only for a few days. I had read various things about breastfeeding but nothing really prepares you for it. I just wish I had known just how small a baby's tummy is when he or she is born and why they need to feed little and often.

The maternity hospital promoted breastfeeding at every turn -- almost to the point of putting me off it -- but when it came down to it, it was just lipservice. In the four days I spent in hospital, only one midwife was any help whatsoever (an Indian lady whose name I have forgotten, but who was an absolute angel, and who obviously learned these skills from her own mother rather than on the job) and by the time I had left, Zoë was already on "top ups" of formula, having had it pushed on me late at night when I was wondering why she had been feeding almost constantly for 4 or 5 hours and didn't seem to be satisfied... (My milk hadn't come in yet so therefore I must have been starving her. Yeah. Ever heard of colostrum?!) Then they were concerned about her not gaining weight according to their charts, so I wasn't "allowed" to stop the formula top ups. Being a clueless first time mum, I spent the first two months fretting about her weight and her feeding and having absolutely no confidence in my ability as a mother or in my body's ability to keep my own child well fed. As a result, we fell into the combined feeding category, hearing "Ah, why do you bother breastfeeding her at all?" from the formula feeders and "You should go cold turkey with the formula! Breast is best!" from the breastfeeding activists (or rather, lactivists :-) ) I can't help but think how things might have turned out differently had I had a bit more practical support in the first few days and not had that first bottle of formula pushed on me late at night by some clueless young one with no kids of her own when I was exhausted, emotional and hormonal.

But anyway. I think at the end of the day you do whatever works for your child. In our case, despite my regrets about not being able to get back to exclusive nursing, combined feeding is what worked this time for this child. Who's to say it will or will not be different next time around? At least then I will know about the chick pea (and the grape and the walnut). :-)

3 Cute pics

Just because. :-)