I have always had a love/hate relationship with it. (I'll spare you the pictures) Both of my babies I have only been able to nurse for about 9 months. Due to the fact that they start loosing weight and drop into the very low percentile and my doctor becomes worried.
My little girl is going to be 10 months and I'm still nursing but only once a day. She is petite and everyone makes a comment when they see her. When she was 6 months old we put a helmet on her to try and reshape her head because it was flat on the left side. Typically babies only have to wear them for 3 months but our baby girl has hers on longer. Why? Because she has only had one growth spurt while she has had it on. I replaced a nursing feeding with formula. Hoping that this will help her grow.
Things I love about nursing:
Bonding, Convenience, Saves lots of $$$, No stinky formula.
Things I love about formula:
Faster, Others can feed baby, I know how much baby gets, Also can be convenient in public.
When the doctor told me I should stop nursing I felt relief. I felt that now I have a medical professional telling me that my breast milk is not best anymore, I have a valid excuse for not nursing. I nursed because it was best for the baby and saved money. Now that we have switched to mainly formula I've started to feel guilty. Even though I know my milk is not giving her what she needs. I've tried to set a goal to nurse for a year and I thought for sure I would make with my daughter but I didn't. I still have milk and I think that's why I feel the guilt more. To me nursing is a never winning battle, the love/hate relationship!
Thanks for posting this, you put into words what I've been feeling lately. Formula feeding is rough on my self esteem but dang it's great to see skinny little legs get some chub rolls on them!
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