The F word
/I was torturing myself.
Pumping 7-8 times a day and barely getting enough milk for my baby. He's eating 36+ ounces a day now!
The other night I was in tears. He needed 9oz for his bedtime bottle but after depleting my frozen stash of breast milk over the past few weeks and pumping for eternity I only had 6oz! I bit the bullet and screamed the F word, FORMULA!
When I was pregnant, a doctors office sent me home with a sample of Similac. I scoffed and stuck it in the back of the pantry thinking, "I'll never use that!" Well, I swallowed my breast milk snobbery and made Santi his first bottle of formula. He gulped it down and I felt a HUGE weight lift off my shoulders.
Since then, Santi has 3 breast milk bottles and 1 formula bottle everyday. Nothing is as good for babies as breast milk and I'm happy Santi benefitted from 7 months of it exclusively. However, I'm thankful there is an acceptable alternative.
I will continue to pump and give him what's best for as long as I can. Including formula in his diet is not the end of the world. In fact it opens up a new world. One where I can relax a little more!