How I'd Breast Feed, If I Was a Mom

In Breast Feeding Is Magic, I started talking about breast feeding.  I continue that discussion here:

The most frequent question at my house is, "Why is Clark crying?" The answer is almost always "because he's hungry."  The follow-up question is "is he getting enough milk? He just ate!"

Doctors and nurses have told us the only good indicators of an infant's health are 1) is the baby gaining weight, 2) is the baby pooping enough, 3) is the baby peeing enough (and what color), and finally, 4) no fever.  Well, even with his spitting up, and crying and growth spurts, check, check, check and check.

Clark's putting on weight pretty well (from 8 lbs 4oz to 13 lbs in 7 weeks).  He's pooping and peeing plenty (diaper companies are happy about that I'm sure.) And finally, no fever. So he's doing well. He must be getting enough milk to grow big and strong.

My wife is more of a trooper than I am or would be.  Convinced of the superiority of breast milk over formula, Clark's mom has chosen to breastfeed.  Clark used to eat every two hours.  So Clark's mom could maybe catch 2 hours of continuous sleep once in a while.  Recently, he must of snuck (not a real word, blah blah blah) one of my Men's Health Magazines and read the articles about eating smaller meals to boost metabolism while increasing muscle gain.

Clark now gets hungry pretty much every 60 minutes and the boy is getting big.  That means if his poor mother is trying trying to sleep, she still has to wake up every hour to feed him.  Bless her soul, I couldn't do it.  I try to take him off her hands and let her try to get some sleep, but I can only do that if there is some pumped milk in the fridge.

If I was breast-feeding, I'd just pump and feed the baby from a bottle.  Much like formula, that would free me up to occasionally get a good night's sleep.  All the benefits of breast milk with the flexibility of formula bottle feeding.  However, I understand that a certain bonds develops within the intimacy of breast-feeding between mother and baby.  Not being a milk producer myself, I can only admire that bond.  I do think my wife wouldn't mind trading that bond in temporarily for a few hours of sleep.

     - Clark's Dad