Week 2: This Week's Advice

This is advice I got from a friend of mine when I was only four or five months pregnant. She said to start pumping from the very beginning so that other people could get involved feeding him a bottle ASAP. It means that a) Steve can handle a feeding during the nighttime, or for that matter any time I'm just not up for it and b) it trains the child early to feel comfortable with a bottle.

(I am aware that there is a whole theory about the baby not wanting to take the breast if he sees how much "easier" the bottle is -- but since there are so many more kids who reject the bottle in favor of the real thing, I strongly suspect that the real issue is the mother. I mean that bottle is so much easier for ME. I'm still struggling to get him to feed properly, and I can see how there's some nice peace of mind with knowing, "Phew, I just watched him eat, it wasn't frustrating for either of us, let's do that more often.")

I got a rental pump from the hospital for $75 a month. It's not peanuts, but it's not exorbitant either, considering it's stronger than a commercial grade pump, and the best of those (which aren't as good as the one I have) cost some $250.

So: rent a hospital-grade pump, teach the kid to use a bottle (but don't give up on learning how to feed him the normal way), and let all the other people in your life feed the baby once a day and/or once a night. It does wonders for your psyche.