Adventures in B-Feeding (part 4)

 For the other posts click here, here and here. 

I have been breastfeeding for almost 6 months! That feels like a huge accomplishment, at least for me. I have a tendency to get lazy with something so routine (hence me never, ever being able to stick with a diet or exercise program in my history as an adult). Anyhoo - 6 months! I feel like I learn something new each week. Here are a few more realizations about this process:

They get faster

Other mothers said that the nursing sessions would get shorter, and they were right! The time suckage I complained about in this post is no longer an issue. Brighton nurses in about 6-7 minutes flat. It is so nice to know I can easily nurse her in a pinch and not have to allocate at least 30 minutes to sitting down.

Pumping Sucks

There I said it. I hate pumping. I do it because I love my daughter and I want to provide her with breastmilk until she is at least 1 year old. Maybe that is an unrealistic goal, maybe I will end up eating crow in a few months on this, but it's my goal. 12 months of mama's milk.

I started pumping and creating a freezer stash when Brighton was 3 weeks old. I used for date nights or when we are going someplace where it will be hard to nurse in public, but I kept most of it for when I went back to work.

I pumped every night right before bed for 2 months leading up to this week. I now pump 3 times during the day for 20 minutes and another 20 minute session at 10pm. I use the milk I pump daily the next day and if I don't produce enough, I go into the freezer stash.

But I hate pumping. I hate gathering my bag full of bottles and the little cooler that comes with it and sitting in a locked conference room at work with that machine hooked up to me. I try to do all the things my lactation consultant told me to do to make the time go by easier - look at pictures and videos of my baby, drink a full glass of water, eat a snack and don't look down at the bottles until I'm totally done otherwise I'll stress myself out over my supply. 

But I always stress about my supply. And I feel like a cow hooked up to a machine. I think pumping sucks.

Kids are weird and sweet

Brighton went through a really annoying phase where she was super distracted while nursing. She'd stop halfway through and start giggling, or rear her head back to look at something. Now she can nurse and look around at things without losing total focus on the task at hand, but she has replaced her distraction with something else:

That kid loves to take my shirt and pull it over her face while she nurses. Then pull it away, then pull it back. It's like a weird twitch. And if she can't grab ahold of a shirt, she will knead my boob. Yep, just like a kitten kneads his cat mama, her tiny hand pushes down on my chest over and over again. It is the weirdest thing. 

Even though Brighton acts like a weirdo, she does the sweetest stuff too. She has gotten into the habit of reaching up to my face, placing her hand on my cheek and patting it while she nurses. Sometimes she reaches up and puts her hand on my mouth so I'll grab it and kiss it. And she always ends the nursing session with a big sigh and a smile. She's so cute!

I'll keep posting as I learn more about this whole mystery of breastfeeding. Any advice you'd give on pumping? Any stories you'd like to share? I'd love to hear from you!