MY BREASTFEEDING JOURNEY
So, that is us over five months in now. They hand medals out at this stage right?!
Oh, what an incredible journey it has been for the most part, but my goodness also one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life.
You see, Mr Archie boy decided a couple of months ago that he no longer would take a bottle (with expressed milk, might I add :/ ). The timing could not have been worse. I was starting to hit a brick wall with the feeding and felt if Mikey was able to give him just a few bottles it would alleviate some of the pressure off me and help me continue breastfeeding for the foreseeable future, rather than me being forced to throw in the towel due to exhaustion. But Archie took the bottle card off the table and with no extra boobs about, the job was solely on my shoulders, hmmm or boobs rather ;)
It was the four month feeding stage that threw me through a loop, like seriously it even made the early feeding weeks seem like a walk in the park. At four months old Archie was big and looking for a feed every two hours!! Day AND night.
I managed to last three weeks in that routine, medaless (totally a word ;). I knew it was unsustainable though and if it continued like that something was going to have to give. As when it comes to feeding Archie, it's not just him I have to think about it's our family as a whole, and we all know an exhausted mama is good for nobody. NOBODY.
Here's the thing though, as much as I was exhausted, I wasn't ready to stop breastfeeding. Yes, the nights were gruelling, but the daytime feeds made our life quite easy and flexible. I'm a walking, talking food source. No need to plan ahead and certainly no more extra baggage on our day's out. Lord knows, I don't need to be packing and carrying anymore stuff than I already do now for a toddler and a baby. I swear my back. Soooo not friends with me as it is already. Also did I mention in the midst of my moaning that I love breastfeeding?! More than I ever thought I would. That said though I knew for the sake of us as an entire family something did need to change.
We needed a new plan.
That still involved boobs!
Plan B
The Eviction.
That's right at 5 months old poor Archie got turfed out of our room. The decision that although felt harsh (and a little devastating, as that means he's not a baby baby anymore) I knew was needed. I had a sneaking suspicion his multiple wake ups at night were becoming habit rather than necessity. Plus little Mr was starting to cut down on his feeds in the day (turns out daytime is far more interesting than night time) and save the bulk of his feeds for the night. Alone with mama, snuggled up in the dark, with a fully stocked milk bar, of course he was going wake up every two hours, who wouldn't!
Eviction notice it was then, with guaranteed VIP access to the milk bar when needed, obvs ;), and surprise, surprise we had a sleeping baby. Now I want to give Archie a medal for that!
Another element that has helped with the relentless feeding has been baby rice, and boy was Archie happy about the introduction of that, which makes me look forward to introducing other foods in the not so distant future.
In the thick fog of the four month feeding frenzy, I really couldn't understand how women continued to feed past this stage, some for years to come, but now that I'm in the light at the end of the tunnel I realise how much easier it becomes. Archie's feeds are now much more spread out and completely manageable with our busy lifestyle. Soon he'll be eating food and only looking for a morning and evening feed from me. It's a day I don't want to come around too quickly. As although I've said it's one of the hardest thing I've ever done, the good outweighs the bad a million times over, and I know as many mothers have told me, I will miss it badly one day. Those moments in the dead of night, when it feels like it's just him and me in the whole wide world, snuggled warmly against each other. I know I'll go on to treasure these moments forever, and I'll even miss the moments when I was so tired I thought I would cry. Who am I kidding, the moments I actually did cry.
I love this journey we're on together, Archie.
I love this journey we're on together, Archie.
