Sunday, March 15, 2009

I've surrendered...

... to the fact that Grace is a little too young to impose a strict bedtime on. She'll get the hang of it. She's still really hungry at night though. I've been giving her a bottle of expressed milk at night and she gobbles it up and then goes to sleep fairly easily. She sleeps for longer too, sometimes 6 hours stretches. I've decided that Sejin giving her a bottle at night is worth it if it gets us some much needed sleep. It doesn't seem to put her off nursing, so why not? Problem is, my freezer stash is running very low and it will run out. I'd love to keep her on breast milk exclusively, but it doesn't look likely. I have a can of formula in the cupboard and it looks like I may incorporate a formula bottle a day. Many people who mean well have been telling me that I don't need to, but it's very obvious to me she's pretty hungry in the evenings...drooling, sucking her fists, crying, and so on.

Here's Grace late one night when she should have been sleeping. Little rascal...
It was a few emails from my lovely aunt in Alberta, Canada that made me think about this problem more logically. Being a good mom is so much more than breastfeeding and down the road this problem will seem so small. I'm going to keep on breastfeeding for as long as possible anyway, but I have a new, positive attitude about it.
In other news, some mom friends came over today. One mom brought me a Moby Wrap and showed me how to use it. I have to admit that I was skeptical at first because I've been on the Moby Wrap site and watched the instructional video and thought, no, that's not for me. However, once she showed me how to use it and helped me try it out, I'm very impressed. Grace sits in there so secure and warm. It has far more support than I thought it would have. I like how it keeps her so snug to my body... I think it's ideal for winter when it's cold out. I think I'm going to go shopping this week with her and try it out! Also, it's nothing more than 5 or 6 meters of cotton jersey fabric (no seams at all), which means I can head to the textiles market in Dongdaemun and pick out some fun fabric for different seasons. Fun, fun!
That's it for now.

2 comments:

Mama Seoul said...

Even if you do 1 bottle of formula a day, it is still mostly breastfeeding. She will still get all the benefits and if it gets you through to continuing longer, then you should do it. I did it with Ian and you know how Ian feels about nursing! I didn't even need to do it for very long. I should have sent you this post before:

http://cairomama.blogspot.com/2007/03/good-advice-this-is-not-test.html

The only change I need to make to that post is to change "supplement" to "substitute". I had adequate milk, but I needed the break because of the other issues that hadn't been worked out.

You are doing a great job and have shown lots of commitment. We all have to make adjustments for our lifestyle and individual needs. Taking it out of an "all-or-nothing" scenario will make you feel better and help you keep going without going crazy.

Readaholic said...

Stumbled upon your blog... I'm a first time Korean American mom of a now 18month old hapa baby boy. Your baby is so cute! I wanted to leave you a note of support. Oh, the newborn days absolutely KILLED me with the lack of sleep and not knowing what to do. As Mama Seoul above said, 1 bottle a day (at bedtime) isn't bad. In addition, a lot of babies won't take a bottle if you introduce the bottle too late. I tried to breastfeed for 5 days and it just didn't work for me - too painful. My husband really liked doing the formula/bottle as he got to feed the baby as well - or my MIL, or anyone else. Very flexible.