A Breast-Feeding Dilema

First I would like to point out that I really am a laid back Mom.  Based on this post and the sleeping game, I may sound like a crazy woman who won't let her baby play with another baby, because I would be afraid she would contract some mysterious disease.  I am certainly far from that.  Monday - Friday my children are on the same schedule as the rest of the kids in my child care, but on weekends, it is up in the air.  Bedtimes, nap-times, playtime are always at different times.  I don't want my children to be the kid who is whining because they are up past their bedtime.  Mine is the one sitting listening to a band play in a bar around 9:30pm.  I am extremely flexible with my children in most areas, but there is one area that I am not really good at giving up control: Breast Feeding.

Here is my confession:  my daughter is 9 months old and has not eaten from a bottle.  That is not all, my son never used a bottle.  There are some people that would slap me on the back and say "great job", while others look on disgusted and say "what a control freak".  While, there may be an under lying control issue, the main reason we don't use a bottle: it is way easier not too.  When my daughter is hungry or sleepy, I can stop crying immediately (makes me kind of feel like a super hero).  It is wonderful!  When my son was cranky, I could feed him a little and then pass him off to a family member and then he would melt their hearts with his smiles.  When my baby wakes up in the middle of the night, I can stay snuggled in bed and nurse her - no kitchen run.  For my family, this is the easiest, most natural option.

There are some drawbacks to it.  My husband feels left out at times.  Both of my children have become "Momma's babies".  They know where the food is, they aren't stupid.  I try to leave (and we did this with my son too) my daughter with her father at night, while I catch up on cleaning or a shower... a little Daddy Time.  But I am sure he wants to feel like a super hero to and have her stop crying the moment he picks her up - He and I know we will get there soon, but not as fun to be ranked #2.

The major drawback: exclusive breast feeding makes it really hard to leave those babies.  This weekend made this so clear.  I had a play I was attending where I was going to be gone for 4 hours.  The baby was going to miss a nursing session.  (I have left her before for meetings, grocery shopping, yoga, but I had never had something that interfered with a nursing session).  I did what I had to and left her caretaker (my sister) with plenty of supplies: cups, bottles, baby food, teething biscuits and of course pumped milk.  Well, as expected when I got back, my sister informed me "she hates bottles, she just was getting frustrated so I stopped." Apparently my little bundle of joy cried half the time I was gone and no one could calm her down.  The worst part is that I saw this coming from a mile away.  The play snuck up on me, but once I remembered, I knew my little girl wasn't ready yet, I had done nothing to prepare her.  She sucks at eating food - doesn't enjoy it as much as nursing and doesn't quite have the hang of a cup.  She lived, but who knows if my sister will ever volunteer to watch her again.

So here is where I am hoping to get some feedback from other breast feeding Momma's out there or Daddy's with breast feeding ladies in their lives.  If you are a stay at home Mom and exclusively breast fed your baby, how did you introduce a bottle and/or cup?  What kind of bottles did your baby use, how old were they?  Help Momma's out there like myself by giving us the inside scoop and letting us know we can leave once and a while without coming home to a super sad baby.

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