The Formula Crisis

When I found out I was pregnant with baby #4 the biggest thing I was dreading was having to breastfeed again. I breastfed my three babies and absolutely hated it. I know I know it’s a beautiful bonding experience with your baby, they need the nutrients from my body & my fave one “it’s just what women are supposed to do”

But I was NOT looking forward to breastfeeding yet again. It took me a while to verbalize and even feel comfortable with the idea that I am not breastfeeding this baby at all. I felt shame & guilt and couldn’t help but think what’s everyone gonna say? But I stood my ground! The thought of having to tend to three other kids plus the house and breastfeeding on top of that stressed me out so bad and my baby hadn’t even arrived yet!

But I stood my ground! I had my baby and did NOT breastfeed her! I felt such a relief like a huge load off my shoulders feeding her at the hospital when she was first born.

So happy to not have to deal with breastfeeding at all this time around! We still got to bond we still had our beautiful moments. When we came home it was a relief that I wasn’t on tap around the clock. Baby’s hungry? Dad can fix her a bottle or her older sisters.

I always see posts and stories talking about normalizing breastfeeding but to me, breastfeeding is pretty normalized because upon making this decision to not breastfeed I felt so lonely. Pretty much everywhere I looked was normalizing breastfeeding but what about normalizing not breastfeeding?

So many reasons to not breastfeed from not being able to to straight up not wanting what ever the reason may be they’re all valid! My baby is fed and happy and at 3 months she is doing just fine.

But now we are in a nationwide formula shortage. Really? Now? The one time I decide to not breastfeed is when we have a shortage seriously what in the world!!! Going to the stores and seeing the shelves literally bare made me want to regret my decision yet again. I fell back into that guilt/shame cycle. In a panic thinking what if I completely run out of formula? Then what!

Thankfully I had a stash from before she was born so I had a good amount on hand. It’s been hard to find formula to add to the stash but depending on the store there’s been one or two cans laying behind so if I see it, I grab it to add to our stash.

Not sure how long this is going to last but I sure hope it’s over soon because this sure is stressful!

Article Written by Roseiby Jackson

@roseiby & @dynamicmomduo