Comments on: the womanly art of brain-feeding

By: the new girl

the new girl — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:39:50 +0000

Oh, Man. I’m so late on this one but I gotta tell you…I would have gone completely INSANE without my cable TV while nursing. I was also bouncing on that friggin’ exercise ball for hours.

I got caught up on a lot of things I’d never watched.

By: Motherhood Uncensored

Motherhood Uncensored — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 02:23:24 +0000

I took to nail biting, mixed with crappy television. Sleep was way too logical.

By: Painted Maypole

Painted Maypole — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 05:09:12 +0000

during the day I would read or watch random cable movies… at night I would hunker down in the Lazy Boy and wake up an hour or so later with a sleeping baby in my arms.

By: Christine

Christine — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:52:51 +0000

Hi Bonnie,
I read a lot while nursing. Somehow I managed balancing Kait on a pillow, freeing up my hands to read. Small paperbacks worked best. I also watched TV and movies.

If you are interested, I left my cuddly wrap at the parents’ house. I was able to have Kait in it using the cradle hold, freeing up hands, AND she could nurse. So yes, my friend, I could use the computer (hurrah!) and nurse at the same time. I think she got too big for it around 3 months…

Anyway, if you would like to borrow/have it, I’m sure we could arrange pick up. Let me know!

Link to cuddly wrap: http://www.peapodcreations.ca/

By: amanda

amanda — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:15:44 +0000

I’m not sure what I did. Do. I think I slip away, somewhere between rapture and reminiscence. I would say go wherever the mood takes you, a magazine, tv, or la la land.

Congratulations.

By: Must Be Motherhood

Must Be Motherhood — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:56:04 +0000

websurfing
watching dvr’d Tv or DVDs
reading reading…magazines are eady to hold
all are best done with a boppy or some kind of nursing pillow.
first time around nuesing felt like an imprisonment. now it’s me time!

By: mo-wo

mo-wo — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 03:35:54 +0000

Yes the CBC! And, the family bed. We are only occasionally accidental co-sleepers but we did have a family bed pretty solid those first months of breastfeeding. With my daughter it was me and the tv.. Huzzah the Kew Gardens series!!! Then me and the radio 5am Boxing Day as the non-sensible news came from Indonesia of a wave. A tidal wave that became a six week long expansion of news to knowledge to destiny’s disdain for the humanity we have become in a world we scantly care for and hardly understand.

In 2006 with my son there were stories upon stories. The three of us sprawled over the family bed nursing and storytimes out workout. Those were my most luscious moments — completely lost to me now? Vaguest of memories. I beg you to try it and report; if for nothing but to prove the vapors of my rememberings weak or false or otherwise misled.

With my second baby in 2006 there were those dark pieces of the night(s) suckling and CNN. Agape at the outcomes of another watery flow, this time just south, a bit east rather than far west. The waters in New Orleans my brows knit at the spin and god knows whatelse of that disaster. My heart deflating like the boob my baby worked over.

I guess I’m saying, sure get TV. But honey. Don’t watch the news. I enjoyed reliving all this. And all the this above me in this comment stream. Thanks for asking.

By: nomotherearth

nomotherearth — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 03:30:20 +0000

Haven’t read the other comments, so there may be some duplication here, but in this – at least – I have a LOT of experience. The Boy took ONE HOUR to feed each time so I had a lot of time to fill.

Not only does cable help, but PVR is a must. That way you can watch shows you actually like, instead of just what’s on at the time.

When you tire of TV, reading is a really good option. I read stacks of novels. I don’t know how people held books and breastfed, though. I’d always look for books that fall open easily, or use a paperweight for those that didn’t. I set up a side table especially for the book so that nothing would get in it’s way.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:53:24 +0000

In the beginning when it seems I was on that couch forever, I read when I could. Little bits of The New Yorker here and there. And then, lo and behold, my Lillian became such an effective nurser that at 5 months, she’d finish a side in like 5 minutes.

And by that time, I was positively pining for some time stuck on a couch, dammit.

In the middle of the night, though, when she was little and not sleeping a lot (okay, never) I cop to nursing by the light of Law and Order reruns.

(And I’m so glad it’s going better for you. Nursing both of my girls was trouble. Hannah was a breast refuser. Weird, huh? But they exist, and they’re TROUBLE. With Lillian, it was like you describe with Oscar, but she never took a bottle, and god knows we tried every brand under the sun. It took a few months for her to settle down and not be nursing every hour. That was hard to get through, and so your words resonate. With Hannah, she got some breastmilk up until 3 months. With Lillian, we made it to 18 months. The kid never took a bottle, that stinker.)

By: mamatulip

mamatulip — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 14:47:15 +0000

I can’t live without television, so my opinion is highly biased.