Be what your child needs you to be. To have their best interests at heart. Bottle or Boob- we all just want our kids to be healthy and happy. Sharing about our very different feeding journey with our two little ones.
Four years after becoming a mother I am finally sitting down to write down my feelings on feeding. As a soon-to-be mother I was immersed in reading about pregnancy, the do’s and don’ts, and gathering all of the necessary supplies so that we were prepared when we brought home our new bundle of joy. I didn’t think I needed to educate myself on formula or bottles as that wasn’t the path that we were taking.
Well plans change.
BABY ONE
I became sick in the last month of pregnancy and finally was induced a few weeks before Raymond’s due date so that I would survive delivery. We weren’t nearly prepared with an induction as of course we had wanted to go full-term and the process was a lot to take in, in a very little amount of time.
I guess I can use the term little now that I am years out from delivery… as 27 active labor hours ticked forward with dose after dose of pitocin and an incredibly aggravating failed epidural.
The anesthesiologist joked with me(WHY do they think it is okay to JOKE at a time like this?!?) that they had given me enough medicine to immobilize an elephant. Lovely picture. Well, surely after they stitched up my four inch tear I promptly got up off the table and walked myself over to Raymond. The whole room fell silent as I wasn’t supposed to feel any of what just happened… especially the stitches.
Who cares. My baby was healthy and I survived the birth. If that isn’t a win I don’t know what is.
Fast forward four hours, multiple lactation specialists, and no latch in site and we fed Raymond a bottle of formula. He had a bad case of jaundice and goodness did his health come before my own ambition of breastfeeding.
I cried for months about my failure as a provider. A piece of me couldn’t understand why we didn’t have that connection. I fell into a dark hole that was lack of sleep, grief of losing what I thought would be so easy, and public perception.
Raymond continued to grow, healthy as can be and is thriving at the top of the health charts today. We did everything we knew to be right for OUR child. That’s really all you need to do to be a good parent.
BABY TWO
My pregnancy with Emma Marie took a turn to the worse when my heart started having complications. They monitored me closely and once again I had to be admitted for an induction just shy of two weeks from Em’s due date. I knew what I was in for this time around and I was adamant that the epidural be done correctly. As soon as the first bag of pitocin hit I could feel my body was ready. I told the nurse I was going to start pushing and she just smiled and said, “Sweetheart you were only dilated at a three the last time I checked merely twenty minutes prior. I told her to call the doctor because I was going to start pushing and my husband grabbed my knee back to help. Little one was coming and goodness did that nurse run out of that room FAST. My fabulous OB ran in the room and was gowned up in under thirty seconds. She was sweating and breathing hard as she ran out of her zumba class to make it for the birth. Two pushes later and Em was out.
My heart was having a hard time recovering but goodness gracious was she just precious. Our little girl arrived fast and furiously. She had us wrapped around her tiny finger.
I knew that perhaps breastfeeding wouldn’t work out with Emma. I now knew that it wasn’t going to be my failure, that it wasn’t going to ruin our bonding if she didn’t latch. Within an hour Emma Marie had a strong latch. For the next sixteen months she was solely breastfed. I pumped so that my husband could feed her and she would never take a bottle-not one. We tried formula. We tried about anything we could think of. It’s funny looking back now.
Raymond wouldn’t latch and Emma Marie never wanted to let go.
Gerber now makes my dream machine- The BabyNes. Making bottles in the middle of the night(every night) a snap. Goodness would that have saved both my husband and I in the middle of the night with Raymond. That boy LOVED a large bottle in the middle of the night. EVERY NIGHT. Plus when the lack of sleep gets to you(and it does) the BabyNes has built-in WIFI and can let you know when the last time you fed your baby, how much, and keep track of all of those pertinent facts. Yes, there is an APP for that.
Babies come in ALL different shapes and sizes. There is definitely not one way to do something right in the parenting world and I’ve come to realize just how lucky we are having two thriving and healthy young kids.
Be what your child needs you to be. To have their best interests at heart. Bottle or Boob- we all just want our kids to be healthy and happy.
Mother’s & Momma’s-To-Be: Check out BabyNes Below
Create the perfect bottle in less than a minute. The Wi-Fi enabled BabyNes Machine delivers superior hygiene, intuitive design, lump-free formula and a happier bottle-feeding experience for babies and parents. The BabyNes Machine is made without BPA (Bisphenol A) and uses hermetically sealed capsules that protect the formula from contamination and a unique filter that keeps water bacteria-free**. Its unique design allows formula flow directly from capsule to bottle, without contacting the machine, and lets you adjust the temperature of each bottle. The BabyNes Machine has built-in Wi-Fi, so it can send information directly to your online MyBabyNes dashboard. You can get feeding alerts; view and track your baby’s nutrition and growth; receive personalized nutritional advice; place capsule orders or set up auto-replenishment on your computer, tablet or smartphone.
Veteran Mother’s- what item on your registry was a life-saver?
Momma’s-To-Be- what item are you currently coveting on your registry?
Would LOVE to hear from you!
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