Breast-Free Breastfeeding
Exclusive pumping's growing popularity.
by Kate Tuttle
January 14, 2008
Many exclusive pumpers find that a second baby offers a new chance to nurse. It worked out that way for Lisa Strong,
an art historian from Maryland. Five years after exclusively pumping for nine months for her son, Strong was able to nurse her daughter. "I still sit back sometimes and say, oh my god, she nurses. It's great, so great. I still feel that sense of relief."
Like Mehi and Laycock, Strong felt unsupported at the hospital, and worried about
her son's weight loss. When he was one day old, she agreed to let him have
a bottle, but began pumping right away too, so that he would benefit from breast
milk's immunological properties — especially important to Strong
because of a family history of ulcerative colitis. Even though Strong was able
to feed her son with a less rigorous pumping schedule than some other mothers
I spoke with, the memory still brings pain.
"It's a huge source of regret and guilt, even now," she said. "The
books are so cruel. I made the mistake of reading Dr. Sears and I felt like such
a failure as a parent." She still wonders if a better lactation consultant
could have gotten her son to latch on, and she wonders whether her difficult
pregnancy and delivery put her at an instant disadvantage. "I've 
"I made the mistake of reading Dr. Sears and I felt like such a failure as a parent." - Lisa Strong
heard that women who've been on bedrest, and women who've had C-sections,
can often have trouble nursing," she said, "because you feel your
body has failed at these basic natural things and expect it to keep failing at
these things, and so you don't have much confidence, and I think that was
very true for me."
While Strong said she was devastated not to nurse her son, she added that "there
was this whole other side to me that didn't even want to nurse. I was afraid
of the commitment, afraid of being tied down to him."
When her second child was born, Laycock also found that, after a few minor nipple
problems, she was able to nurse without incident. "Looking back," she
said, "I have mixed feelings on nursing instead of pumping. I'm so thankful
for the experience and the bonding I got from direct nursing, but this time around,
I ended up with a baby who wouldn't take a bottle. I also have a baby who still
doesn't sleep through the night. Everything has its pros and cons, I guess."
©2008 Kate Tuttle and Nerve Media
About the Author
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Kate Tuttle is a writer and editor raising two children just outside Boston. |
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