111. Breastfeed successfully

This will probably be the first of a bunch of items I'm adding to the list related to baby LP. Things that couldn't possibly have been on my original list because having a baby wasn't on my radar back then.  Actually, if I was to be honest with myself, babies have always been on my radar, but to include having a baby and it's related issues to a bucket list is just to invite trouble.  Specially when such list has an expiration date.  I mean, how was I to know if we'd have trouble conceiving, if the baby would be healthy, if we'd even be in a position to have children.

However, we did have a baby.  And though it's impossible to retroactively change the list, I'm just gonna add to it.  After all, there are things I won't be able to do anymore due the baby related time constraints.  It seems fair.

Anyway, where was I?  Yes, breastfeeding successfully.  I'd talked before about my desire to breastfeed, and I am happy to report that LP has been exclusively breastfed all the way to 7 months. At this point, she's still breastfeeding, but she's also having solid food, which she loves.  And she'll need her mama's milk less and less.

That day is not today though, so I figure at the rate we're going we will be weaning her to cow's milk around the one year mark, which is now only 5 months away.

It wasn't without it's setbacks.  Despite having a pretty good latch from birth, we still struggled when my milk first came in, and with her having a good latch that wouldn't hurt the living daylights out of me.  I credit the great nurses at NYU hospital who helped us find our groove, the lactation consultant at our pediatrician's office, a lot of support from Nate and family to keep at it, and mostly, having the good fortune of a baby with a good latch combined with lots of milk production.  I know breastfeeding is not something everyone can do, gets to do, and many try with all their might but have too many problems.  We had a lot of support, but also, LP was just a natural nurser, and that can't be taught.  She's such a chunker.

We breastfeed everywhere-  parks, cafes, restaurants, Hobby Lobby, the subway, peoples houses, museum cafeterias, and even in a moving car while she sat in her car seat and I leaned over her and nursed.  That last one might be the weirdest of the bunch.   Though ultimately, our favorite spot is on the couch, with her laying on her boppy pillow.

After she turned 6 months, LP eventually had 3 bottles of formula, due to circumstances beyond our control.  So far it hasn't affected my milk production, and we are still rocking the booby milk.

So rock on, mama's milk, rock on.