Today I was in the shower and Noah was in his cot, when suddenly I heard a door open and close (Noah and I were in the house alone) and then Noah started screaming at the top of his lungs, so within 5 seconds I jumped out of the shower, chucked on a towel and ran into his room. Noah was fine, and we were still alone in the house so I think I was just a bit paranoid (which is a bit embarrassing now). After I settled him back down I headed back to the shower to wash my hair, when I had the shampoo in I heard him start crying again but I finished washing my hair before I went to soothe him. When I walked into his room he looked so heartbroken that I took so long to attend to him, so I took him into my room for a comfort feed, and as he was feeding he was giving me the loving 'thank you!' look, which I think is one of the most magical things about feeding, needless to say he seemed to have forgiven me after.
Today the subject is exclusive breast pumping. I did say I was going to come back to this subject a few posts ago, so now I am! When I got my electric pump I considered exclusive breast pumping, but it didn't end up happening although I did try it for a day. I realised that exclusive beast pumping would take a lot more time and patience than breastfeeding because you would have to pump every three hours, you would have to feed the baby, then do the dishes. It is a lot more work than formula feeding or breastfeeding and I have a lot of respect for women who will go that far to provide their little ones with breast milk (although obviously I respect any mother who feeds their children, whether it be breast milk or formula!). I do still pump, but only if someone else is going to look after Noah for a little bit or if I'm preparing his Farex. I do think it would be pretty cool to have a massive supply of breast milk in the freezer!
I would say that one of the main people that exclusively breast pump are working mothers. Some mothers who return to work still want to provide their babies with the goodness of breast milk, so they express milk for their partner or whoever is looking after baby so that they can feed them. Most work places allow women to pump at work, which is great!
Also mothers with twins or more. I couldn't imagine having multiple babies to feed at once, so pumping so that they can all be fed at the same time seems like a pretty good idea to me!
And mothers with a premature baby. Majority of premature babies can't breastfeed for multiple reasons, so being able to provide them with those nutrients that they need with a pump seems like the way to go!
If you do decide to exclusively breastfeed you will want to make sure you invest in a good quality, comfortable breast pump. This will make things a lot easier and will provide you with a more pleasant experience. Then you will have to learn about what you can and cannot eat/drink (or maybe you can in moderation) while doing this, which I personally don't know but I am sure google will.
I could write a lot more but I am going to stop there because Noahbear is proving to be extremely distracting! Bye for now :)
 |
| handy pumping bra! |
