Rant following ....
My daughter is 6 weeks old. My son is 20 months old. I breast fed my son until he ditched me at 7 months for the bottle. I am trying to breast feed my daughter.
The major impediment to this is that it sends my son into an absolute fury, and whilst I was feeding her a few days ago, he went into a cupboard and started throwing crockery on the tiled kitchen floor .
He will also come up to me and try to pull my hands away from her, or her head away from my breast.
Now, try as I might, I can't distract him via the usually suggested means (food, tv, books, etc). And of course, I am making time for just him and me without the newly arrived baby. However, none of this seems to be working and he just seems to be getting more and more upset.
It doesn't help that my daughter is a big, and very hungry baby, and is demanding a feed about every two hours. So this state of war in our house is fairly much a constant factor at present.
I have tried expressing and giving in a bottle, which goes down better with my son, but in my case, in the absence of actual feeding, ends up decreasing my supply in the long run.
So, what do do?
If I stop, harmony is restored to the house, but I deprive my daughter of breast feeding.
If I don't stop, we continue with havoc, but at least I am giving my daughter the same as I gave my son.
To add to the picture, my husband leaves in 3 weeks for a new job in a new country, and I will not be leaving to join him for a couple of months (which leaves me to manage both of them 24/7).
I feel like I could cope better if I bottle fed, but I am not sure this is the right thing to do, or the best thing for my daughter.
Also, minor point though it is, my MIL is ardently against my BFing, and a part of me doesn't want to give up to give her any amunition or satisfaction .
I am not sure if I am asking a question here, or just needing to be heard.
Thanks for reading.