Decisions.

Peach has now been on the outside longer than he was on the inside. At almost 9.5 months old, his days are filled with much adventure. And very little sleep. And he is drinking me out of house and home.

I had wanted so much to nurse exclusively for this first year. By that I mean, no formula. I don’t have anything against formula. I just had this as a really important goal. The older two kids were supplemented with formula from the very start. Everything was different with Peach. He roomed in with us for months in his little Co-sleeper. I wore him in his sling almost exclusively during his first three months. My frozen milk supply was plentiful.

Or so I thought.

Somewhere along the way I must have gotten complecent. Not pumped as often as I ought to have. Or maybe the back-to-back bronchial episodes have had something to do with it. Certainly the decongestant had an effect.

So after much thought, I resigned myself to the reality that I can only pump as much milk as I am going to pump. Can’t force more milk just by sheer desire. I packed a canister of formula in Peach’s school bag and hoped for the best.

It so happens that he hasn’t needed it the past two days. What he has done is eaten more solid foods than usual. And tonight, mostly out of sheer desparation, I introduced Cheerios. Damn, I love those things! Beernut has a 3-D book presentation due on Friday and I needed a distraction. You would have thought it was the second coming. Peach was trembling with delight. What’s more, the Cheerios occupied him long enough for us to finish the first part of the project AND eat dinner.

So for now, he is still a mama’s milk-exclusive boy. Maybe having made the decision to supplement has relieved some of the stress…who knows.