Choices and Non Choices

There is something I learned this pregnancy.... everyone has an opinion on something. Even if they have never held a baby before. Some of the best have been about the fact I can not be a stay at home mom. (From people in my work building!) We need the two incomes, and I carry the health insurance. Many assume that I don't want to, but trust me, I would if I could! Some of the advice I have gotten from friends and family have been super helpful. There has been encouragement at every turn for everything. Some things I can't control, but some things I can. It is those choices that will shape the life of myself, my family and my baby. There is one choice that has heavy opposition on either side. Breastfeeding. Now, I made the decision to breastfeed, and a lot of people I know are not or are not fans of it. I am cool if you don't want to, and that is your own thing, but you would be surprised at the anti breast feeding movement. (Note: not so much from the people I know.) Last night, I attended Breastfeeding class, and it was very apparent that the instructor was extremely pro breastfeeding and anti pumping (meaning full time stay at home mom/breast feeder). The anti pumping bit did not sit well with me because I have no choice, but it was an extremely liberating and exciting class, because you learned about all the ways that breast feeding helps you and your baby and how your body is trained to feed the baby. Some benefits I had heard of ( bonding experience, less chance of SIDS, Better immune system for baby, faster weight loss) and some were new to me (less chance of cancers in breast feeding moms, better immune system for mom). I am more excited and beginning to really feel ready for the boy! The whole point though.... is that we are making the decisions about how we raise our children. This is much like our mothers and their mothers before them and so on. Times have changed, and there is a lot more to think about. Do we cloth diaper? Do we breast feed? Do we make our own baby food? We should respect and understand each others decisions and encourage each other as moms.