… that is the question that a lot of mothers face today. With everyone being busy, and the unfortunate need for most households to be two income households a new mother can often be faced with a lot of difficult decisions. She wants to do what’s best for her and her baby, and for a lot of new mothers that means she wants to breastfeed, but in a lot of cases she also needs to get back to work and other daily life things. Deciding to pump or not pump can be difficult. It takes time, patience, and sometimes it can even be painful depending on how often you have to pump!

There are a lot of new pumps designed to help make pumping as easy, fast, portable, and painless as possible, like the Avent Duo Breast Pump. I never personally was able to pump, I physically was not able to because of a gland defect. However, I did use many Avent products including bottles and soft top sippy cups and it’s definitely a brand that I would trust and look to for something new and innovative in the feeding of a new baby. Their sippy cup technology was a step ahead of the others and finding the soft top sippy cup was a salvation for me in helping transition Lucas from bottle to cup.

Your nursing decision needs to be for you, not for someone else. Don’t let a doctor or even another family member dictate what is you should do as far as feeding your baby. You need to do what is right for you, your baby, and your family as a whole. It’s not all going to be perfect and fairytale like, as much as we’d like it to be when our children are so tiny and new. Enjoy your new little one, feeding time should be pleasant and full of bonding and not stressful or a chore. If pumping helps relieve some feeding stress, then by all means pump away! It also allows dad to get some feeding bonding time in as well, and gives mom a chance to take a break, get to work, or just go shopping for an hour or two.

Make a list weighing the pros and cons of nursing, pumping/nursing, formula feeding/nursing, and just formula feeding so you can make the decision that’s right for you!

technorati tags: nursing, babies, formula fed, breast pump, breast feeding, mom, new moms, new babies, feeding babies, breast milk