Tuesday, May 19, 2009

How Breastfeeding Saved My Life

No, it's not what you think.

Last night, my house may very well have burned down, but breastfeeding saved us all. Feel free to laugh at my expense and/or stand in awe of the power of breastfeeding.

TheBaby absolutely refused to wake up to nurse when I went to bed. I tried to sleep, but was too engorged. I grumbled a whole host of expletives while I hauled my tired butt out of bed to go get the pump. I had to go through the kitchen to get it. When I did, there sat our cheapy coffeemaker staring at me with one bright red eye.

Our cheapy coffee maker is not nealry sophisticated enough to have an auto off feature. It's also very different from it's more expensive counterparts in that, when left on, it does not continue to brew the coffee, it just burns. If left long enough, it has the potential to ignite. That single red eye, yeah, that was the "on" button.

I set it up to brew before I went to bed with plans of turning it off before I did. Unfortunatley, I forgot all about it. It had been on for over an hour by that point. If not for the necessity of pumping, the whole house could have burned down as a result of my need for caffeinated goodness in the early morning hours.

Now there's a benefit of breastfeeding I'll bet you never read about in text books.

Anyone else out there have any other "off label" benefits you've found to breastfeeding?

7 comments:

Reiza said...

Commenting on my own post to share some odd benefits.

When the twins were babies, we had a bad weather warning and needed to stay in the hall where it was safe. They kept crawling away. So I nursed them to keep them still (and safe). Worked like a charm.

My favorite benefit, though, is the amazing people you meet because you share an interest in bfing.

Allie said...

It's saved my sanity many times excusing myself to rooms away from people to go nurse !

Judy - MommyNewsBlog.com said...

That is a great story Reiza!! My suggestion is to go to Gevalia's website and get a free coffee maker with your purchase of coffee - I believe even their free machines have auto-shut-offs and their coffee is GREAT!! If you search the web, I'm sure you'll find a coupon too!!
-- Judy

A Soldier's Mother said...

Ok, you both win completely. The only benefit I got from nursing was loving every minute of it with my kids...well, it also got me out of a lot of dishes and other stuff...but I can't beat the fire in the kitchen. It did save me from getting lost once. We were two cars on vacation. Head car was my husband, friend's husband and bunch of kids. My car was me, my friend and our littlest ones (before cellphones). I had to stop to feed the baby - he missed my signal. I gave up, pulled over and figured he'd find me eventually. He got completely lost, turned around, ended up behind us somehow and found us on the side of the road...we just got to sit there, talk, chat and nurse. still doesn't beat the fire in the kitchen though.

Rachael said...

Saved in so many ways...

Most recently when my family boarded a train for a scenic ride through the smokey mountains. This does not mix with a tired cranky sweaty toddler. She was squaking and crying and I could almost hear a collective grumble from the croud--sure thinking the 1/2 hour trip would be ruined. Little did they know I had the power of the boob on my side ;) She was sleeping in 30 seconds flat.

Reiza said...

"The power of the boob." I LOVE it. :-)

Phyllis Sommer said...

i once bought the "deal of the day" on QVC when it came out at midnight cuz i was bf-ing.

other than that i can't think of one:-)

glad the house didn't burn down. i vote for gevalia too.