Nursing

My son will be almost two months old, I have started back to work, and am trying to continue nursing him. I choose to nurse for several reasons, the main one being of which is economical. Don't get me wrong, I love the special "bonding" time that I exclusively get with him. My husband was always diaper Dad and bath Dad with our daughter so he got his special time in too. And I have read the reports about how nursing for up to the first twelve months will help his immune system and can improve brain development. (I tried to eat enough seafood while I was pregnant - yeah for Omega-3's!)
However, the biggest reason I choose to nurse, is like I said economical. Why should I (or for that matter can I) pay anywhere from $10 for generic formula in the large container or if you are lucky (as we were with our daughter)$27 for a small jar of Alimentun that last only 3 days - once again if you are lucky?! Babies are on formula/breastmilk for up to, if not beyond, the first 12 months - can you imagine how much mony can be saved by nursing?! I know from our experience with our daughter and her high priced formula, that we could have save over a thousand dollars if I had not had to spot pumping. That was even after I bought it by the case at a great discount off of E-bay (yes, I sat down and added up how many bottles she would take multiplied by how many anticipated onces multiplied by how many day left until she was a year old - I was only off by a week! Pretty proud if I do say so myself!) and I was able to nurse her/pump up until she was 5 months old! Even if we had been able to keep her on the cheap, generic formula (as we try to do everything else...)we still would have been able to save hundreds of dollars if I had been able to continue pumping. Oh well, maybe this go round!

I do have to say pumping sounds easy, but until you've tried it....(which off on a tangent - I heard on the radio the other day that some crazy guy, in I think Denmark, is doing a reality show where he is going to try and stimulate himself into producing breast milk! Really?!) As a mom with two little ones, who has now returned to work, I hardly have time to go to the bathroom - much less take several breaks through out the day to pump. But if taking a couple breaks throughout the workday so that I can stay in the same sequence as my son can save me tons of moolah - I'm all for it! And to keep my production up (yes, just call me Bessie the dairy cow) I try to make sure that I'm drinking tons of water (my husband is getting very frustrated with all of my styrofoam McDonald's cups that I keep around the house b/c they don't sweat when I put cold water in them), and have resorted to taking the herbal supplement Fenugreek. I would say I'm trying to get enough rest, but who are they kidding by saying you can get enough rest with little ones! The Fenugreek seems to help and so far my son seems to be staying satisfied - I guess we will wait and see!