Looking Back: Mom of The Year

I make my own baby food for S {and use jar food on the go or when I am being lazy}...
who can I contact to receive my Mom Of The Year Award? :P

In light of the formula moms vs. breast feeding moms... which has seems to exploded thanks to Facebook and the Similac recall that just happened. I figured it was time for me to voice my thoughts. To stand up for us LM mamas and everyone else in between.

I find it disgusting how as a mother-you need to take a side. You can go ahead and say you don't have too...but lets all be honest. You do. As soon as someone finds out someone else is pregnant... before they even say congratulations they want to know "are you going to nurse or bottle feed?" Like for some reason it will affect THEIR life. Face it, we have all done it. We have all asked that question. We have all been ASKED that question. And no matter what the response from the mom to be-it is wrong. If she plans on nursing-she has no idea how hard and time consuming it is. If she plans on bottle feeding-why doesn't she want to nurse? If she plans on deciding when the baby gets here-she needs to be more organized. We are only setting mothers up for failure-why?

And then the blame falls on the formula companies for pressing their products- for sending coupons to your home, from the hospitals and OB offices for making formula samples available to a new mom. Work environments not supporting breastfeeding/pumping.

But the real blame needs to go on the other mothers. The other mothers putting the pressure and judgment on mothers who do not view baby raising the same way they do. All the other stuff are definitely bumps in the road but I feel like-if your really set on doing something {specially as a mother} you will do it... regardless.

Either way... support don't judge.

And then us LM moms come in. For me... nursing S was a wonderful {pretty easy} experience until she started choking and gasping for air while nursing. By the time she was actually done nursing... it was time to start again. Which caused me to get a double breast infection with golf balls under each arm... fun times! Obviously it was not working for either of us. Even with bottle feeding...it wasn't until after her surgery she was actually able to drink a bottle without choking and turning blue/purple.

After you put your 4 month old through major airway surgery then see her struggle to breathe in ICU while on morphine, oxygen and steroids to keep her lungs open... bottle or breast does not seem to matter anymore. Whatever works...matters. Whatever gets you and your baby through the day...matters.

And you want to talk about bonding? Bottle feeding moms can not bond with their babies? I am only speaking for myself right now... but can you tell me the bond, the love you feel to your baby when you hand her over to a stranger as she goes into surgery? As you sit in the waiting room... unable to breathe because something is missing in your life... she is missing. The bond between a mother and a child is untouchable-unbreakable...regardless of how her/his belly is filled.

At the end of every day we are all doing the very best we can.

So unless you can find me the direction manual on Raising a Baby in 2012... you can close your mouth.