6 Things... Tuesday. WBW 2012.

I missed 6 Things Sunday.  I know, I know.  You can scold me.  But I did it on purpose.

In case you didn't know, August 1st marked the first day of World Breastfeeding Week, 2012.  Now, I'll be honest.  I didn't even know that WBW was a thing until last year.  (What can I say?  I live under a rock sometimes.)  However, once I found out about it, I jumped on board.  After all, World Breastfeeding Week is all about encouraging and supporting breastfeeding.

And if you know me, you know I'm a lactivist to the max.  If you don't know me, Hi. My name is Erin. I am a lactivist to the max.

So in honor of the last day of WBW, I give you

6 Things I've Learned About Breastfeeding (Beyond the basic latch on)

1. Breastfeeding may be natural but it doesn't always come naturally.

I expected my newborn to sleepily latch on and fall asleep with a full belly. And with my middle child, that's pretty much how it went down. So I expected the same experience with my newest addition.  Blissfully content baby, happily nursing to sleep. Soft music would be playing and my hair would look fantastic.  Instead, my newborn would fall asleep before even latching on and when he would wake up, he'd scream like a banshee about latching on. Once he did latch, he'd fall asleep.

Yeah. And my hair looked like crap.

2.  No matter how many times you've breastfed before, you will STILL worry about whether or not your little one is getting enough.
I spent a lot of time obsessing. "Is he nursing enough? Wait, how many times has he had a wet diaper today."  9 times out of 10, it's a ridiculous concern.  As long as your baby is gaining weight and has an appropriate amount of wet/soiled diapers daily, you're fine.  Which leads me to number 3.

3.  You will never worry about diapers the way you do in the early breastfeeding weeks.
Okay, that might just be me. I counted them.  Luckily, the cloth diapers make it possible to keep track of wet diapers.

4.  Breastfeeding is convenient.
I've gone out a few times and left the diaper bag in the car.  And the Little Mister started fussing for food. Luckily, I didn't have to worry about running to the car for a bottle.  I like that since I pretty much suck at running.  Especially under pressure.

5. Haters Gonna Hate.
So while I'm on the topic of breastfeeding in public, I've learned that people are going to have their own opinions regardless of what you think or do.  I'm all for nursing your baby where ever you want. It's not like it has to be a huge peep show... However, you will come across someone who makes a comment about how inappropriate it is. Or my personal favorite "Just because you 'have the right' doesn't mean you should exercise it in front of me." To which I say, please feel free to exercise your right to look elsewhere!

6.  It's okay to enjoy it.
If you say that to some people, they'll be a little put off.  But the truth is that breastfeeding is one of the most loving things I've ever done. I absolutely LOVE looking down at my little one to see him staring up at me with a look of pure adoration. Or when he looks at me and grins.  I really enjoy those moments and the bonding time we have.

So there you have it!  Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

Yep. I'm feeding my newbie!

So I still have the Summer Blog Challenge going on!

What is a skill you wish you had?

Hm.  I would LOVE to have better organizational skills.  I try to organize things but somehow it never ends up the way it should.  I need to give it another go, I suppose.

I would also love more motivation to start working out again.  Not really a skill but definitely worth mentioning.

Until next time, Happy Tuesday!