All or Nothing

Happy Monday guys!

 

I'm sitting in our half packed up house, with a three year old at schoool for the morning, and a ten month old who won't take his morning nap. errr.

 

 

Even though I have had the blog for a couple of years in the past fews weeks I have gotten conected with so many fellow bloggers who are amazing and encouraging. It is such an awesome community to be a part of and for that I am so thannkful!

 

Just like every other person in the world I struggle daily with judging. Every morning and night as i'm praying one the the things I always pray for is to have an open heart and mind. To not judge people. and its hard. Judging is just in our nature. Even for the nicest person.

 

Judging- It's what brings me to the "all or nothing" post.

 Can we please stop judging each other.

We are all guilty of it. Even if we try not to it happens.

 

I'm going to talk a minute about my journey with breastfeeding.

With my first baby I had every intention on nursing her for a year. I had no problem from day one. She was an excellent nurser. and then life happened.

 

Barrett and I had a trip planned to Kansas City before AR was born. We went when she was three months old. She stayed with Barrett's parents while we were gone and I was exclusively nursing. We had a ten hour car ride. Which means pumping every two hours in the car. Complete misery.

 

When we got back two days later she never skipped a beat. Right back to breastfeeding. Fast forward two months and we started  introducing formula for reasons I don't even remember. Probably because it was convenient.

 

By the time she was almost six months we had a trip planned to New York. A few weeks before we went we stopped breastfeeding. Again she stayed with family. Barrett and I had an amazing trip and we never looked back. I did go through days of feeling guilty for stopping. Sometimes when we would go out in public I would feed her before or in the car because of the giult of formula feeding.

 

When Hayes was born he was also an expert nurser from day one. Hayes was a "cluster feeder" geez it was every thirty minutes at first. At one month old I was exhausted. My sweet husband was so encouraging and helped me push through.

 

 

Hayes had awful reflux. It was only when he nursed. When he would have a pumped bottle he wouldn't spit up nearly as bad. We learned it was from my forcful letdown. For the first six months he was spit up pretty much ALL of his feeding. We were both changing clothes five times a day. Again we pushed through.

 

It wasn't until about eight months that he started crawling around the entire time he nursed. He would nurse for ten seconds and he done. I tried forcing him to nurse and it just got exhausting.

One morning I was trying to nurse him. He was all over the place- so not in to it. Barrett came in the room and said, "Babe he's done. Stop beating yourself up about it. IT'S OKAY TO STOP" I pumped for a little while and then we finally stopped.

 

Did I mention I was a complete over producer. Yep, I so could have been a "wet nurse" eek. JK.

 

So even though we are finished nursing, because I had so much milk this little dude is STILL getting breast milk from the freezer. We are doing both formula and breastmilk.

 

My whole point to this post. Can we please stop judging each other? When we see a mom formula feeding her two week old, let's not judge. Why dont we try encouraging. You nursed for two weeks? Thats awesome Mama!

When we see the mom nursing her two year old can we please not judge? Two years? That's amazing!

We never know what someone is going through.

 

It most certainly doesn't have to be all or nothing. If we are breastfeeding and formula feeding who cares!?  

 

We use cloth diapers. Sometimes every day and sometime we will go weeks without using them. It just depends on what life is throwing our way. Again it doesn't have to be all or nothing. Do whatever you feel is best for your baby, and YOU. Being a happy mama is what it great for your baby.

 

We are ALL great mama's. NO matter what.

Formula, breastmilk,disposable, cloth, stay at home mamas, and working mamas.

 

Let's stop judging! Everything doesn't have to be all or nothing unless it comes to encouraging each other.

Let's try doing that ALL!