This Post Was Coming Sooner or Later

If you don't want to read anything about breastfeeding, then you might as well stop now. 

But, here is today's rant...I read online that the process of making breastmilk burns 1000 PER DAY. Let me take a moment to point a finger at someone (or the entire breastfeeding industry) and say: "Ummm...BULL- CRAP."

I'm sorry, but I don't believe it for a millisecond.  

Before I continue let me just pause to say I do believe 100 per cent that breastfeeding is the way to go. No question about it. However, I also think that it's far more difficult than most new mothers anticipate or than most people tell you. And that having a new baby can be such a challenge that anyone who feels it's not for them, or simply cannot handle it should not be made to feel like a failure. 

However...anyone who knows me at all will not be surprised to learn that I'm not one of those mothers who find breastfeeding magical and spend the time staring loving at my baby. I really don't like it all that much. It's boring, unbearably painful (at least for me...still) and time consuming. Instead of contemplating the miracle of life, I usually wind up watching crap on TV because either the remote control is nowhere near me or there is just nothing remotely watchable on. OR in the middle of the night, I fall asleep and wake up 2 hours later with a crick in my neck and I shuffle back to bed only to be woken up 1 hour later to do it all again. However,  I am doing considerably better this time around than I did with Kieran...which was a struggle from day one (although with him I lasted almost 3 months before officially throwing in the towel, I had been dangling the towel for most of his young life). 

THIS time, I haven't had to supplement with formula even once. And, although it's still ridiculously painful, Kaya is simply a much better "latcher" and seems to be able to go far longer between feeds than Kieran ever did. So...I'm breastfeeding to my full potential and yet, let's just say that I don't think I'm burning 1000 calories a day. If I was, say,  going for an hour jog every day, I would think after 3 weeks there would be more visible results, but to be honest, I still think I'm as shlubby as the day I came home from the hospital, which is no surprise to me. I know I'm not one of those crazy-fast metabolism people who are going to fit into their pre-maternity clothes within a week of giving birth  - but I don't want to be misled or outright lied to. 

I guess it's still early....possibly two months from now, I will put up another post saying that the 1000 calorie per day burn is NOT merely breastfeeding propaganda (and Ill post pictures to prove it!)...but somehow I doubt it. 

On the upside...my new favourite joke when trapped on the couch for 40 minutes while Kaya slowly sips her lunch while Kieran demos the house unhindered,  is to tell Eric that I'm "working out". He doesn't think that joke is nearly as funny as I do.