Making the decision to breastfeed is a very personal one, many people have heard horror stories and many may have family who feels this is not an okay thing to do. Whatever your decision ends up being, this article is about those who finally made the decision to breastfeed.  Just some of the many stories & opinions other Moms and myself have heard are:

• Friends who had babies and thought breastfeeding was just disgusting.
• You are limited on what food you can eat, and can not drink alcohol.
• Public breastfeeding is condoned.
• Mom who works outside of the house can’t breastfeed.
• Breastfeeding will take up all your time.
• Breastfeeding babies sleep less and wake more often for feedings.

I am sure many of you have heard other stories that just make the decision to breastfeed even harder. I would like to touch on all the points above with a rebuttal:

• Breastfeeding is not disgusting, honestly, how can such a natural way to feed our baby be deemd “disgusting”. Before formula was created Moms had no other choice but to use the method they were born with to feed their babies – their breasts and with advanced technology a mom can now pump and feed a baby breastmilk in a bottle if the nursing on the breast seems “disgusting” to them.
• Although it’s recommended to eat a proper diet and get proper amount of fluids into your system to help keep your energy and milk supply up – really you don’t “have” to change your diet. I personally still eat hot italian sausage, pizza, and much more. Although eating high fatty foods will make you more sleepy, really you can eat whatever you want honestly!
• Public nursing has become something that society is accepting. The more moms choose to breastfeed the more society will accept this natural ability to feed our babies! Many restaurants will even allow you to nurse at a table while eating dinner {although I am not yet comfortable doing this myself}. Some states have even created laws to protect a Moms right to nurse in public!
• If you are a working mom – who works outside of the home or inside for that matter – you can still breastfeed your baby. There are so many ways to get around this – pumping ahead of time and storing milk in the freezer – this allows the care giver to feed your baby while you are away! Breast milk may be stored in a freezer for 3-4 months and still be good to use!
• I personally feel that formula feeding takes up more of your time than breastfeeding. Think about it – when you want to get out the door fast you don’t have to pack anything extra – babies food is always there because it’s YOU.
• I will say based on my own personal experience breastfed babies do seem to wake more often than formula fed babies in the beginning, but so do most formula fed babies. It’s all in the baby and his/her age really!

The fact that you can’t drink alcohol while breastfeeding just got better. No more pumping and dumping, thanks to a product invented by Julie Jumonville. The product is called Milkscreen and it was created to help extend the life of breastfeeding and give woman a tool to make sure they are not passing anything negative onto baby if they occasionally consume alcohol! Milkscreen is affordable and is one of the products that makes you say, “why didn’t I think of that”. Head on over to UpSpring Baby to find out more about MilkScreen and buy yourself a kit today if you plan on or think you may occasional consume alcohol while breastfeeding!

I hope this has helped shed some light on the decision to breastfeed and keep your eyes out for tomorrow’s post, I will be reviewing the GoPillow! Remember to subscribe to my blog if you are looking to keep up with my weekend posts about breastfeeding. Feel free to read the introduction article written last week!