"CY" wrote in message news:NPz0c.6640$Zp.1756@fed1read07...


The top 3 reasons I hear:

1) It's inconvenient (HELLO! What's inconvenient about a food that's always
exactly the right temperature, always there, perfect in every way and GOOD
for your child?)


I plan to bf my baby for as long as possible, but I have to ask: are
you hearing this one from SAHM's or working moms? I wonder because as
I've thought through the process for pumping once I go back to work, I
am afraid that it will be terribly inconvenient (I still plan to try,
though...). Between the time it will take out of my day, to the fact
that the only 2 rooms in the entire office that don't have uncovered
windows (not windows to the outside, but windows into the office) are
the 2, tiny, one-seater bathrooms that I'd have to wheel a chair into,
to the fact that I'm only 1 of 2 women of childbearing age (and the
only one who's planning to have children at all), I'm thinking that
the whole pumping thing may be VERY awkward to do.

And what if I have to work late and didn't have enough milk put away?
And then there's the fear that I'll be sent on a business trip without
much advanced notice (it doesn't happen frequently, but it does
happen...usually we trip plans are figured out less than a week before
we go)--what if I don't have enough time to pump sufficient milk
before I go, or if I find it difficult to impossible to continue
pumping during off-site meetings. Or, better yet, if I try to explain
to my boss that I can't go on a trip and it ends up reflecting poorly
on my review or I get passed over for a promotion for being unable to
perform job duties. Or worse yet, I get fired for refusing an
important trip....not likely but still a fear.

Oh yeah, from what I've been reading, the better breast pumps for
daily use run somewhere around $250-300. I guess compared to several
months of formula, that might even out in the end. I do still have
the fear that I'll pay for the expensive pump, and then end up having
to wean the baby to formula anyway and will have wasted a lot of money
that we don't really have to waste.

My mom bf all of us. With my youngest sister (who's now 7), she bf
for about a year while working full time. But mom's a nurse in the
NICU, and had access at work to hospital pumps (plus worked in an
environment exceedingly friendly to mothers). I don't have those
advantages, and I'm worried about how well I'll be able to do for our
children.

*sigh* It's good to hear so much encouragement for women to bf, as I
agree that it's absolutely the best thing possible for babies. I just
wonder sometimes how well some bf-advocates really understand the
fears and/or realities that many women face when it comes to the
logistics of it all. Please consider that when you think you are
hearing "whiney" excuses from other mothers.

--Elit.
#1 due 9/20/04