I kind of made up my mind what to do around the question which is asked every single time I've got an appointment with my midwife. Did you make a choice? Breastfeeding or bottle feeding? To be honest, according to me and probably many others, both ways of feeding your baby has its own pros and cons. I do believe though that we aren't able to completely reproduce the healthy benefits of breast milk within a powder.
One of the major aspects for which made it difficult for me to make my decision is the period after my maternity leave. Within my country this period is about 10 to 12 weeks and then work is calling again. Of course, there's this option to buy a fancy (electric) breast pump. But within my quiet hectic marketing job, I cannot see myself taking the time to sit down somewhere private in the office (and what if I have appointments outside the office) and start working with this breast pump. This being said and lots of thinking I decided to breastfeed during my maternity leave and stop with this according to a schedule as soon as the end of my leave comes near.
Just when I thought I had everything cleared out I came across this article of which my mind can't let go. I am not sure if I am allowed to share the link to the article here on Steemit, so I'll try to give a very short resume of it.
The newborn of this mom only lived for three days, due to breastfeeding. It was her first child so she had no experience in breastfeeding or whatsoever and gave her full trust to the maternity care workers/doctors in the hospital. Her newborn cried a lot and she was almost breastfeeding continuously. In the hospital, they said this was no problem and gave it a special name 'cluster feeding'. There was only was one person who mentioned that this mom might have some problems with her milk production and this could be the reason of the continuous crying.
Unfortunately, due to relying on the medical staff she did not know her newborn became dehydrated. Within three days he lost a lot of weight and eventually past away. She wrote that if she had given him just one bottle he would have been still alive....
An awful article to read and I cannot imagine how much pain and sadness she must have felt when holding her dead baby, to which she had given birth just three days ago.
Since reading this I'm lost about what to do with feeding. It makes you insecure as I am also new to this whole being a mom world and need to put my faith too in medical staff. I'm highly considering bottle feeding now, just to be sure that my newborn boy, which we're expecting in December, will eat enough.
Please share your thoughts with me on this.
source photo: google