Last Sunday I had a very interesting conversation with a fellow mother. She was “done” having babies and was looking to pass on her baby stuff. Knowing that we are expecting our 6th baby, she offered to bless us with milk bottles and crib sheets.
I gratefully and politely declined, explaining to her that I breastfeed all our children and therefore had no need of milk bottles. She looked shocked. So she asked how long I breastfeed each child. When I told her at least a year or more, her look of shock turned a lighter shade of pale. I gather that she had not breastfed her two children nor have heard of extended breastfeeding or exclusive breastfeeding. She probaby thought I was mad. Lol!
That got me thinking – most breastfeeding mothers do keep a bottle or two ready in case they need to leave their babies with a caregiver. But ever since I became a SAHM, I had gladly given away all the milk bottles. I didn’t see any need for keeping them anymore since I always brought our breastfed baby with me whereever I went. It was much easier for me.
To get the baby used to drinking from a bottle was such a hassle. Pumping and making sure that the pump, the bottles and all the parapharnelia were properly sterilised all added up to extra work for me! Then there’s the worrying about how much to pump and what if the baby wanted more than I had pumped?!
Call me lazy if you would but that’s the beauty of breastfeeding! A steady stream of nutritious, natural, God-made, God-given milk, fresh, uncontaminated and always at the right temperature! Perhaps if I had a live-in helper whom I could trust with the washing and sterilising of the baby equipment and who’s able to get the baby to bottle feed without any fuss, I may think differently.
When they are ready, they progress straight to drinking from a sippy cup with a soft spout. Then to drinking from a straw and then directly from a cup. How fast they progress fromone stage to another depends on the child and how hardworking I am to encourage them to move on.
So, no, we don’t do milk bottles here. Weird as that may seem to the majority of people out there.
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same here…i am breastfeeding my 4-month-old and don’t use bottles. but i have a question: how do u get time away from the kids eg, to get a haircut or date night without leaving a bottle with a caregiver?
Stephanie. I don’t get away from the kids till they are older and not nursing every hour 🙂 Date nights? Haven’t been to one since I don’t know when. We have our together time when the kids are packed off to bed at home! 🙂 Basically I am attached to the baby.
Thanks for replying! 🙂 I finally went for a hair cut last weekend – hubby carried the baby while I told the hairdresser to hurry up! 😛
Really encouraged by your blog…thanks for sharing!