Proudly poking legs

I'm proud. Proud of my baby and me. And this unashamed, glorious, giddy pride comes from not having been there before. So don't shoot me if you didn't manage to/couldn't breastfeed. I feel the pain. Today though, I feel the joy. The joy of these chubby legs, the joy of a baby that is clearly bursting out of the carry cot (and we only used it a handful of times!).

Snowflake is 24 weeks and exclusively breastfed. I never thought I'd be able to say this. Yesterday she had a cooked carrot and the nappy tells me she did manage to swallow some (to my surprise). We will soon be weaning onto solids (not just yet, she still ejects foods offered to her so not quite ready yet but I'll keep offering). Today though I want to celebrate the two of us for having made it so far.

With Cubling, we supplemented on and off, from 12 weeks, and when I returned to work (she was 23 weeks) I tried to express but didn't get enough for the two bottles she needed on my working days, so she had formula daily. Breastfeeding was hard, she fed long and often. I stuck to it through pain, blood and tears. There were many weeks where I gave it just one more day, one more feed. I was so ready to give it up. I now know that part of the problem must have been latch, possible some problem with her palate, and that she most likely never fed efficiently.

What a different story this time: Snowflake feeds quickly, if frequently - but you know, frequently is not bad if it doesn't last an hour! I'm more than happy to feed every 2-3 hours (or hourly while she had bronchiolitis, so she wouldn't bring up her feeds) if it only takes 10 minutes and I see a happy baby after the feed. I had no pain, no problems apart from early clusterfeeds. Before Snowflake was born, I vowed not to be so hard on myself about the breastfeeding malarky, to supplement when needed, surely mixed feeding can't be that bad (I now know why exclusive breastfeeding is actually better than mixed feeding but didn't 6 months ago).
Well, I didn't need to. Bottles and teats are unused (ok, I used the bottle once and gave her expressed milk). So are the just in case cartons of formula. I even threw expressed milk away, because I knew I didn't need it.
It was easy, convenient and I can't stop poking her Speckbeinchen (porky legs), knowing that I grew every cell of them.

And after this proud pat on the back, let the weaning mess begin.