Thumbs Down Thursday

Made you look didn't I ;) 

Okay 'Thumbs Down Thursday' is gonna be the one day a week I give a THUMBS DOWN to the one thing this week that has bothered me the most & after today I am going to try to move forward from it (yes I know I'm a day late, but school got in the way last night).

My 'THUMBS DOWN' for Thursday this week would be "sleep deprivation from breastfeeding!"

While I believe breastfeeding is the best thing for children, I do believe know that there are many downfalls to it as well. Let me give you a list below:

1. Breastmilk is digest faster than formula, therefore causing a breastfed baby to want to nurse more often.
2. Most *strangers (ie. people who you are not related to or are not friends with) feel quite very uncomfortable around you when you are nursing, even when you're covered!
3. Breastfed babies are more attached clingy than formula-bottle fed babies (well at least mine was).
4. Breastfed babies like to you use as a way to calm pacify themselves.
5. It takes forever (plus a lot of pain from engorged breasts) to wean a child off of the breast, therefore resulting in more sleep deprivation night of the living dead episodes.

While this may seem like I am making 'light' of the subject I am very serious!

With 3 children, full time school, nursing, & caring for a house....DOES NOT make for a very happy mommy!

Okay comment time did you or do you nurse? Even if you enjoyed it very much what was the one thing (& don't tell me there was not one thing) that bothered you or annoyed you the most about breastfeeding/nursing? Would you change your nursing experience because of that one thing? Why or why not?

One of the many lonely struggles of being a single mommy!

Okay so I knew that when I left my husband it was going to be hard, especially with 3 kids, but I think I underestimated just how hard. Let me start over,  I was single long before I left him a little over a month ago considering I have always gotten up with the kids since the day they were all born.

My youngest was sick this past week with something awful: fever, no appetite, sleeplessness, cranky, diaper rash, & ear problems. Ugh! As if that wasn't enough to send any mother screaming, I have school & I'm up until at least midnight every night then up again the next morning by 6am. 

Gee, doesn't that sound just delightful ;)

Okay I'm done moping now. Anyways when I was still with my husband (albeit that was only a little over a month ago) I was a single mother for several years before that. 

You know what though, I would have loved  (actually still do) to just once when a child is sick NOT have to get up with them & get a full nights sleep. Really, its not that I don't love each one of my children more than I could ever explain, its just I haven't had a full nights sleep in over 5 years now. When I planned on having children I NEVER planned on doing it all by myself! *What single mother does, right?!

He's breastfed & will be 10 months tomorrow so he would wake up at least 1 time a night to nurse, normally. This past week from Tuesday until last night Thursday I was awakened at least 6 times from midnight until 6am, AHHH! That is so insane that I can not even believe that I functioned the next day for a utter lack of rest. 

I know they say a mother can stretch on when her children need her, but isn't it also true that I too need to be at my ultimate level so I can be the best mother for my children. 

I've thought of trying to start an organized play group for some stay at home mommies in my area (its a REALLY small town) so that we could get to know one another, get out of the house, & just get a break. *You know when you put kids together its easier to focus on something else, well at least when their not siblings, lol!

So my lonely struggle for this week as a single mommy was actually one that I had been handling all along, just hadn't noticed. 

SLEEP DEPRIVATION!!