Support Group

Yesterday, I attended a breastfeeding support group . . . which, I have to say, is kind of a strange thing for me to do. I'm SOOO not a joiner - I hate to be around a group of strangers, and I hate to have to show up somewhere on a schedule. But, we are having issues, I kind of thought it would be nice to meet some other new parents who are dealing with breastfeeding crap, and mostly, I just wanted to get out of the house! I've been so worried about how to take Micah anywhere and deal with feeding, and I figured if I was going to give it a try, being around a lactation consultant and a bunch of breastfeeding women was probably the smartest idea I'd had in a while.

So, I fed Micah and put him in the carseat. I packed up the pump and the diaper bag, and off we went! We got to the session a few minutes late, but it was more of a drop-in session anyway. Micah mostly slept the entire time I was there. I have to say, I met several ladies around my age with new children who had dealt with some of the same challenges. It was actually kind of nice to hear! The lactation consultant gave us some good resources and some encouragement. I ended up needing to feed Micah there (and they had a scale so it all worked out for me). I did not realize how difficult it would be to put Micah down and pump there - he just wanted to be held, and I couldn't figure out how to pump and cuddle him at the same time. Every other feeding we've been doing the pumping, DH or my mom has been around to hold him while I pump.

The down side to the meeting was one crazy woman who was there . . . I really could write an entire blog post about how inappropriate she was. She kept talking about her upcoming book, and how she was all about being "all natural" so she was going to feed her baby soy milk (um, hello - isn't breast milk the preferred course of action to be "all natural?"). She kept trying to be the "facilitator" for the session - and she was NOT supposed to be the facilitator, nor did she have a clue about breastfeeding. She would take our questions and re-phrase them into something ridiculous and irrelevant and derail the conversation. Anytime side-conversations started (and remember, it is a drop-in, informal support group, so I would think these side-conversations would be desirable) she would ask us to stop talking and save it so she could follow all the different stories. I really wanted to strangle her the entire time. Oh, and did I mention she didn't have a baby yet? She was pregnant and just looking for information, but I really felt someone who was not there with an actual issue shouldn't be DRIVING the discussion - she should have sat back and observed/learned.

So, I learned a lot about nipples and bottles and supplementing and pumping and feeding techniques and got a list of resources for low milk supply. I think I'm now armed and dangerous!