If I didn’t have boobs, I’d still be sleeping.
Breastfeeding is a very personal decision. But it’s also hard (so I’ve been told) and incredibly fulfilling for those that (a) are able to do it and again, (b) choose to do it. Mrs. FWL falls into both categories.
I have to admit, breastfeeding allowed me much more sleep than I expected during the first several months. While I did wake up whenever Isabel started crying, or get up during the nights to help whenever possible, I was fortunate enough to go right back to sleep… while Mrs. FWL was sometimes up for over an hour, multiples times a night. I know that the non-breastfeeding partner is not always this lucky.
Granted, this was a choice Mrs. FWL made. She wanted to physically breastfeed as much as possible (as opposed to giving bottles), and who was I to argue?
But, one of the disadvantages of choosing to breastfeed, is that you are the food source 24/7. Despite an intense desire need to sleep a few extra minutes on any given day (but especially weekends when working full-time again), a starving child, screaming at you through a 4-inch screen beckoning your liquid gold, is impossible to deny (both morally and emotionally). I suspect there were times Mrs. FWL wanted so badly to just tell me to get a bottle so she could sleep a little longer, and I would have gladly done so, but she’s still going strong.
Her sleep suffered, but I know she would tell anyone that asked, that she would do it again in a heartbeat.
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