The Lonely World Between Nursing and Formula

I know that breast is best, but we also live in a fallen, sin cursed world. I am thankful for all your insight and encouragement on my first post in this subject. I was very relieved to hear I was not alone. I am learning there are many women who can not breast feed their babies. http://rachelwards.blogspot.com/2007/12/to-nurse-or-not-to-nurse.html
I know there are many people who would continue to judge my decision to go to the bottle.

I felt very lonely during this time. Friends and family encouraging me to keep on, friends and family encouraging me to give the bottle. My personality is people pleaser. I was so torn. No matter what I chose to do I was going to make some one upset. There were the advocates for nursing on one side "telling" me I would be a "bad mother" to go to the bottle. There were practitioners "telling" me I would be a "bad mother" to continue breast feeding. I did not FEEL that I had support for doing both at the same time...supplementing. I wish I could have felt comfortable doing both. I know there are women who supplement comfortably. Who are you and how do you do it?

Out of this ordeal, I am grateful. It forced me to make my own choice, to not consider who would be happy or upset. This decision had to be my own. It always was.

Many of us women breast feed. Many of us go to or start with the bottle. There is nothing right or wrong with either. The wrong thing is to make a mother FEEL bad for the choices she makes. The right thing is to encourage her in her decisions. Babies continue to be born and survive to adulthood. I had to nurse for my own self. I wanted to be able to say, "I did it!" That was reason enough for me. When it came time for the bottle, I could not sacrifice my baby on the alter of my pride.

We are not having any more children, but if we did I would try to nurse again. With each baby the path got easier because I had travelled it before.

Exonerated

Yesterday I shared with my grandparents how I took our 7 month old baby camping in freezing weather. I certainly expected to be chided for my foolishness. My fear of being "in trouble" melted away to smiles of joy as they encouraged me. In my grandfather's words, "you gotta break 'um in." My grandmother shared how the Eskimo people would strip the babies of their clothing and tuck them inside the mothers clothing...skin to skin.

They also shared with me how they used to go fishing with my mother when she was about 7 months old. They would make a "bed" out of a dresser drawer, lining it with blankets. This "bed" would be laid in the bottom of the boat or rested on the shore of the water...were ever they fished she was there with them.

My silly grin over the thrill of being exonerated changed to one of amazement. I knew my grandparents liked to fish. In fact my grandfather would take a bunch of us grand kids fishing during the summer. He would untangle the lines for us, and make sure we didn't hook each other.

Why was I amazed? My husband and I are not so different from them. They took all their kids out fishing, some thing they loved to do. Here I am two generations later taking my kids out to do some thing we love, camping.

Get to know your parents and grandparents, you might just find out you have a lot in common.

Camping With Children

Cold weather, fussy baby, lost and found diaper bag (which included my wallet!) were my only complaints.

The first night was murder. So cold. Despite bringing every blanket we owned, we couldn't get warm. I could hear my grandmother in the back of my head repeating over and over, "this is wrong, you shouldn't have a baby out in this weather. When we made our reservations the week before it was in the 80's. Around midnight I ran to Wal-mart to buy a $90! electric blanket. So much for saving money on camping for vacation.

My attitude improved with the weather. My husband did all the cooking as usual. I only had to sit and hold the baby. Surprise, he did think to bring the stroller! Yeah! With my hands free and every one warm, I was able to have some fun. We went canoeing, hiking and fishing.

The trip was a success. We all got home in one piece and all were happy.

Strange Mushrooms

One of the things I enjoy as a Home Maker is mushroom hunting. In many places of the world people still rely on mushrooms as a source of food. It is sad to me that this art has been lost to us. My grandfather knew what mushrooms were good to eat, but did not teach his kids because of the danger of picking the wrong mushroom. I am glad for his wisdom. Mushrooms are very dangerous if you don't know what you are doing.

Here is a mushroom that is definitely NOT edible. We found it in my small kitchen garden when there was mysterious USS (unidentified stinky stench). I believe the spores came from the cypress chips I laid down for mulch. Does any one know what it is? It stinks!!! It smells like...some thing dead or dung. I would like to know the real name given to it to tell the kids. We already have a few names ourselves. I can not find it in my mushroom books. Please help.

To Nurse or Not to Nurse

I have nursed 2 of my four children for 5 months, the other two I attempted and went to formula with in the first month. Why: I am not sharing this to advise you in what to do, but to let you know you are not alone. My Advice: Talk to your practitioner.

I wanted to nurse so badly.

1st child: I nursed and supplemented, she never gained weight properly until I stopped nursing.

2nd child: acted hungry in the first week, I did not want a repeat scenario, so I went directly to formula.

3rd child: I nursed for 3 weeks, when she became less active I made the switch.

4th child: As nursing has always been some thing I have wanted to do, I made my most humbled effort.

God blessed me with a wonderful midwife. I trusted her insight and experience. I asked all the questions I that my pride didn't allow me to ask with my first three. She assured me that I was fully capable of nursing my baby. What a relief, some one who believed in me. I surely did not believe in myself at this point. Not believing in myself may still have been my undoing. Yet, I was able to solely nurse our last child until she was 4 1/2 months old. I was successful in that she was that she was thriving and gaining a little weight.

I am know there are many people who would continue to judge my decision to go to the bottle. I however could not sacrifice my baby on the alter of my pride.

The big questions I came to were "In light of eternity, will nursing or not nursing make a difference?", "Will my nursing give her better quality of life or allow her to live longer/forever?" and "Does this matter to God?", "Didn't HE make my body to do this?"

I had to forgive myself. I felt like such a failure even though I nursed solely for 4 1/2 months. Answers: The most important thing I can give to my child is not my breasts, it is my life. My life with Jesus, teaching her to follow her Creator. Nursing or not nursing will not change her life as GOD is the one who knows the number of her days. As to quality, that is in God's hands too, and my living a life in devotion to God. Yes, Yes, Yes, it does matter to God because my pride was involved. And, yes, HE did make my body for this, BUT do not forget this is a sin cursed world. I am no Eve, only one of her daughters 6,000 years removed.

Concerning pride, the Bible tells us to examine ourselves: I Corinthians 11:28, II Corinthians 13:5 and Galatians 6:4. I was very proud at that time. I was attaching some of my self worth to fulfilling one of the "female rights." As we reap what we sow, my fall was great. I was not looking to my Savior for my satisfaction.

As I confessed my sin of pride, my Shepherd applied the soothing balm of HIS Word. I found comfort in I Peter 3:3-4: "Do not let your beauty be that outward adorning of arranging the hair, of wearing gold, or of putting on fine apparel [or the 'girl scout badge of nursing']; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible ornament of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." (NKJV)

Because my life was crashing down around me, I needed to know where my value lay. God in HIS mercy showed me HE is my value and following HIM is my life's love.

I have to praise HIM for allowing me to live in a time when baby food is easy to acquire for the survival of our children.

Stay tuned for these topics, as they are close to my heart.

1. The lonely world in between nursing and formula

2. Exactly how long was I expecting to nurse my baby?

3. Benefits of nursing after 3 months

Corn Husk Doll continued

Corn Husk Doll continued

If you had corn last week and saved the husks you can make this doll.

You will also need dried corn silk, a 5-inch length of wire for the doll's arms and light colored thread for tying the husks together.

These are the steps I followed to make my doll.

1. Roll five husks together and tie at the center, peel top half down, and tie 1 in. below top to make head. Make a second bundle of five husks, set this one on top of the first, peel down, and tie the same. The first bundle is like the filler. Hide thread around the "neck" with 1/4-in. husk strips tied at back of head.

2. Thread arm wire (5-in. piece) through the length of one husk (cut off extra husk), then roll husk around wire. Tie at center and at wrists. Tie husk strips around wrists and elbows to hide the string. Push "arms" up through the middle of the body. Lash arms onto body with 1/4-in. husk strips, crossing each other. Then cover with 3/4-in. strips tied at waist, this will look like a shawl.

3. Wrap layers of husks-wide ends down-around waist for skirt, and tie in place. I ended up gluing these pieces on, they tended to slip off when I tied them. You can hide the waist with a 3/4-in. husk strip tied in place with two 1/4-in. strips

This was a fun mother daughter craft. Mary is cherishing her new doll.