[blparent] Sensitive breast feeding concern, ladies only

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

I'm not opposed to try feeding from the breast, but my mom and both
sisters had such difficulty because of the size of their breasts, it
just didn't work. I'm not quite as big breasted as my sisters, but
definitely big enough that it may present challenges. I plan to feed
breast milk to the baby but just from the bottle, unlike both sisters
who gave up on breast feeding completely two weeks later. I will be a
stay-at-home mommy for a time, so I fully intend to pump and feed the
baby breast milk, which I know plenty of working moms who do the same;
it's just easier for the whole process when you don't have to be in
public, grin.

But I'm not against trying to see if it works at all, and I know for
many it's an amazing bonding experience, but there are also many other
ways in which to bond with a child. And for me, there is also the
potential risk of infection from breast feeding that could affect my
blood sugars, and breast feeding alone will lower blood sugars since you
burn so many calories, and as a type 1 diabetic, it will be easier to
monitor glucose levels from pumping than feeding directly from the
breast. If I were to drop low while feeding, it would be more difficult
to monitor and treat as opposed to pumping and not handling a baby at
the same time.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
 
"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan

Message: 8
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:10:31 +0000
From: "Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC)" <REBECCA.PICKRELL at tasc.com>
To: 'Blind Parents Mailing List' <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [blparent] Sensitive breast feeding concern, ladies only
Message-ID: <AAE38548E198F64B8E345439B68CCC7832FDEF88 at TSEAMB02>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

        If you don't want to breast-feed for whatever the reason, just
say no and stick to your guns. I know plenty of sighted women who have
done this. They've all said the hospital staff pressured them to
breast-feed, and when that didn't work, the staff told their husbands to
"see if you can talk her into it".

All of them were annoyed that there wishes were not respected.

They all also said that the hospital left the issue alone when they had
additional children.

The other thing I'd suggest is that since you are planning to pump and
bottle feed that you give breast-feeding a shot.  It didn't work for us,
but I'm glad I tried it.  I say this partly because it's not something
you can just decide if you are ever curious.  Also, you may like it.
Really though, you can feed this kid any way that works for all
involved.  There is way more to being a mom then where lunch comes from.