After all, it's never stopped me before.
I've been very baby-centric lately, even though mine are 4 and 7. I can't have any more, but I still want to baby and nurture someone. Maybe it's good that Nick moved up here.
In any event, my empathy meter has been set on high. That's why I had an overly strong reaction to the following scenarios:
If your child is little, and very sick, you may have to hold him or her. You do not leave her screaming and crying in a crib because you have "other things to do." (By the way, you do not keep a child sleeping in a crib when she's really big-girl bed age just because it's more convenient for you to lock her up than to establish a real bedtime. Damn right, it's hard to set a bedtime for some kids. But you gotta. You gotta be a parent, no matter what it takes.)
Dishes can wait. Untidiness can wait. EVERYTHING ELSE can wait. Your two year old child is suffering and needs a loving parent to hold her. If you have to sleep sitting up in a chair while she sleeps in your lap, then that's what you do. Parenthood is the ultimate test of stamina and courage. I don't want to hear your pathetic excuses. Tell it to the people who raised kids in a log cabin with dirt floors and no running water. Tell it to the people sitting at a child's bedside in the cancer ward of the hospital. We've all been overtaxed and exhausted and we all had to cowboy up.
When you have an infant and decide to breastfeed your child, you cannot be selfish and not feed him just because you're "uncomfortable" nursing in public. For fuck's sake, when everyone is sitting around a table eating, he wants to eat, too. And if he doesn't take the bottle, as many nursing babies don't, you have to put aside your little hang-ups and feed the little guy. Or leave. Don't want to miss the party? Too fucking bad! Your baby comes first!
You should've had the baby using bottles from the get-go if you weren't willing to fully commit to nursing. You could've pumped and used bottles, if you didn't want to use formula. But yes, whipping out a boob is a lot easier; no sterilization or bottles or synthetic nipples necessary. But parenthood isn't about what's easiest for you; it's about doing what's best for your child.
None of us is perfect and we all make parenting mistakes. I'm not trying to sound harshly critical or holier-than-thou; I just get upset when I see little ones, vulnerable and needy, crying out and not getting an answer.
