Seewalds 25: Jessa is allowing Spurgeon to "jump for joy", er, dance

[Four is Enough]

I have to say I don't like seeing kids walking around with a bottle hanging out of their mouths. However, it's none of my business, and I don't mention it. In Jeremy's photo, Spurg also looks older than  22 months. I with draw all objections.. he's a small kid. Miine took to sippy cups, some don't. No worries, no blame.

[Rachel333]

2 hours ago, Carm_88 said:

Right! She said. I would take anything that Michelle says with a hefty grain of salt. She also says that they are not quiverfull, Josh's molestations were just mild inappropriate touching, she raises her own children, so on and so forth. 

So this is probably just gossip, but I know that the word among the other NWA homeschooling mothers was that Michelle intentionally stopped breastfeeding early to have more children. I also remember someone close to the family saying, "They say they want as many as God gives them, but they really want to get to 20 kids." I think that was pretty obvious though. 

[VeryNikeSeamstress]

23 hours ago, Furbabiesonly said:

Saw the thread was hot and thought maybe Jessa announced a pregnancy but nope, just another thread derailed by the Pink Weens of Doom 

 

eta: autocorrect 

Derailed by the Pink Weens of Doom. This needs to be a post count title.

[Seculardaisy]

Re: The photo of Lawson and Henry upthread, this guy should be running for Fundie President with the amount of photos he posts of himself and other people's babies.

[crazysnark]

4 hours ago, Carm_88 said:

Right! She said. I would take anything that Michelle says with a hefty grain of salt. She also says that they are not quiverfull, Josh's molestations were just mild inappropriate touching, she raises her own children, so on and so forth. 

Oh for sure! However on this issue I don't think she is lying.It seems like she always was nursing with that hideous blanket/my breast friend pillow. Whether she did this for attachment reasons or simply to not have to entertain the baby while she did other things I don't know. Also this interview stuck with me because the interviewer asked is there any misconceptions you would like to clear up and she responded to people accusing her of getting pregnant so quickly because she doesn't breastfeed and when she answered she seemed to be fighting back tears. It seemed like an odd thing to "clear up" based on all of the criticism they get but it seemed to really bother her. But I do agree on most things I take what she says with a grain of salt  

[Jenn The Heathen]

I really don't care what Michelle's reasons for weaning were.  I hate that so much of a mother's worth is based on how long she breast feeds for.  I wasn't able to breast feed at all.  My oldest had a difficult time latching and became dehydrated because I felt like I had to breast feed to be a good mother.  Finally the hospital said he would either have to get a bottle or be hooked up to an IV in the NICU.  Obviously I chose the bottle.  After that, he wanted nothing to do with the breast.  My youngest I just didn't produce enough milk.

A fed baby is best.  There's a lot to snark on Michelle for, but when and why she weaned isn't one of them.

(This isn't directed at anyone here, but I saw the post above about the mother's in the homeschool group telling people she weaned in order to get pregnant again).

[calimojo]

My other issue with sassy Jessa responding to criticism on IG, is that Jessa has never shied away from telling others who they should believe and live.  She was on a radio interview once and said that to love others as Jesus loves us, means we must correct someone if they are thinking or believing wrongly or doing wrong things.  Jessa and her family don't shy away from judging people who live differently than they do,  yet Princess can't handle a few comments from a handful of anonymous people on IG. 

I enjoy that Jessa has a sassy and outright snarky side sometimes, but she wastes her talents to put someone in their place on the wrong people.  She should have used that on her parents when she was pregnant with her first child and she was made to go on TV and claim that Josh's actions were no big deal.  Jessa has been exploited most of her life, and I feel badly for her and her sibs.  But now, she is choosing to continue this with her own children. 

And, she loves it as long as she gets plenty of feedback about how adorable her kids are, what a great mom she is etc.  But the minute she gets relatively mild criticism, she brings out the fangs. 

I am glad she has the talent for it, I just hope someday she will use her anger, her sharp tongue, etc, on a more deserving target.

[Rachel333]

2 hours ago, Jenn The Heathen said:

I really don't care what Michelle's reasons for weaning were.  I hate that so much of a mother's worth is based on how long she breast feeds for.  I wasn't able to breast feed at all.  My oldest had a difficult time latching and became dehydrated because I felt like I had to breast feed to be a good mother.  Finally the hospital said he would either have to get a bottle or be hooked up to an IV in the NICU.  Obviously I chose the bottle.  After that, he wanted nothing to do with the breast.  My youngest I just didn't produce enough milk.

It really bothers me how judgmental people can be of women who don't breastfeed, whether by choice or not. I definitely agree with the "fed is best" people. You did what was best for your babies, and that's what a good parent does!

[ThunderRolls]

Well, I can't blame Jessa for being pissy about the comments. Women get so vicious about other women - especially when it comes to breastfeeding of all things. I seem to recall Jessa also receiving flack for not exclusively breastfeeding and supplementing with formula. Obviously when you put yourself out in the public, you should expect that people are going to criticize (simply because they can in many cases). That being said, some of the standards people have for other mothers is a pervasive issue that I think every mom has faced at some point - the internet just makes people a lot braver to say what's on their mind.  

I recently met up with some friends of mine I hadn't seen a few years, and we're all first time mothers. ALL of us had issues with breastfeeding - whether it was latching issues, not producing enough milk, or having to go on medication to treat postpartum anxiety - none of us were able to exclusively breast feed for more than a few weeks, if at all. One friend said she belonged to a Facebook breastfeeding group (ruh roh!), and she was lambasted when she revealed she had to switch the baby to formula since her supply was low. She said she finally left the group when the mothers were suggested putting one woman's baby's broken arm in breastmilk to heal it (wut?!). I swear to Rufus, the internet breeds insanity.  

[coffeequeen]

@Jenn The Heathen I totally agree that a fed baby is best.  I had a 34 weeker because I had to have emergency, life-saving surgery.  I could not nurse because I did not produce.  ANYTHING.  The nurses in the NICU were great and really made me feel better about the no nursing thing.  But man some other moms were awful.  

So yeah, BF, supplement, bottle feed.  I don't care.  Feed your baby.  Other mom's need to chill and let one another do what is best for them. 

 

[HarryPotterFan]

Agreed about moms needing to chill out about other moms BF or not. I have a friend who blogged about wanting to BF, but couldn't because one one kid was allergic to her milk, and then her other kid has to be tube fed. I wonder what those judgmental moms would say about that.

Also who in the hell thinks breatmilk can fix a broken arm? What?

[Carm_88]

9 minutes ago, HarryPotterFan said:

Also who in the hell thinks breatmilk can fix a broken arm? What?

People who are insane about the natural lifestyle! Like push it so hard that you don't realize there's something elese! 

[Jenn The Heathen]

Omg... a broken arm?!?!?  Get out.  Please just... no.  What's scary is that's a BF support group which means these people are mothers.  Lord help their children.

[snickers34]

4 hours ago, calimojo said:

Jessa and her family don't shy away from judging people who live differently than they do,  yet Princess can't handle a few comments from a handful of anonymous people on IG. 

Right?! Well and why the fuck does she give a shit what a bunch of people think? YOU'RE the one that put yourself out there in the first place, and you're the one that put your children, who can't yet consent, on TV.

[Shadoewolf]

I won't jump in on the weaning /breast/bottle thing. A fed baby is a happy baby. 

HOWEVER, I would absolutely rake Jessa if she is allowing him to fall asleep with a bottle, be it naps or at night. Bottle rot of the teeth is very real and can have permanent consequences.

[calimojo]

Adam Ruins Everything has a good episode about Breastfeeding vs Bottle feeding.  I breastfed my first 2 and loved it.  I went nearly 2 years with #2.  But #3 would not take to it for a very long time.  I ended up with mastitis on both sides and was very sick.  We actually worked it out and he ended up nursing for about 18 mos., but during those first few weeks I was very grateful he would take a bottle, or he would have had to be hospitalized and given IVs'. 

Breastfeeding is great when it works out.  If it works out for you, it is easy, convenient, cheap, always available and you don't have to dedicate a whole cabinet to bottles and formula.  But if it doesn't work out, or if it is simply just not the right thing for the mom for whatever reason,  we are very lucky to live in a time when safe and nutritionally complete formula is widely available. 

 

[calimojo]

11 minutes ago, Shadoewolf said:

I won't jump in on the weaning /breast/bottle thing. A fed baby is a happy baby. 

HOWEVER, I would absolutely rake Jessa if she is allowing him to fall asleep with a bottle, be it naps or at night. Bottle rot of the teeth is very real and can have permanent consequences.

She said "before naps and bedtime' so I hope she meant just before he lays down.  JB and M seemed to care about Dental health, so hopefully that is one good thing they passed along.

[ThunderRolls]

Well said, @calimojo! Women need to do what works best for them and their babies. Social media has unfortunately put so much unnecessary pressure on women to conform to certain standards that are not always realistic or sustainable. 

[Rachel333]

Some people really exaggerate the benefits of breast milk. I had heard so many of those things as fact for so long that I was surprised to learn that there isn't actually a lot of evidence behind a lot of the claims that people make about breast milk. Treating a broken arm with breast milk is completely crazy, but it's not the first time I've seen such claims.

[Galbin]

10 minutes ago, Rachel333 said:

Some people really exaggerate the benefits of breast milk. I had heard so many of those things as fact for so long that I was surprised to learn that there isn't actually a lot of evidence behind a lot of the claims that people make about breast milk. 

Which claims in particular? 

[Chickenbutt]

2 hours ago, ThunderRolls said:

She said she finally left the group when the mothers were suggested putting one woman's baby's broken arm in breastmilk to heal it (wut?!).

The bigger concern is how did a baby get a broken arm?

[SassyPants]

Anecdotally, I worked in a very large NICU during my childbearing years(20 years). There were probably 60 females nurses working there during my tenure. I can say there were 10 nurses who developed breast CA during that time (SF Bay Area, high BC rate) and every single one was a nurse who had BF her child or children for  an extended period time. This made me scratch my head.  I know that for many years, EBF was supposed to be a protection against getting breast cancer. As a healthcare professional I truly wonder...

[ThunderRolls]

13 minutes ago, Chickenbutt said:

The bigger concern is how did a baby get a broken arm?

Yes! I wondered that as well. Poor little thing. Who knows what's going on in that child's home. 

[Carm_88]

Some women...

...want to breastfeed and love it

...want to breastfeed, can breastfeed, and don't like it/hate it

...want to breastfeed but can't.

...don't want to breastfeed at all. 

Seriously, either way as long as that baby is getting fed and it is going to bed happy with a fully tummy.  What source the milk comes from doesn't matter. It's silly for one mother to push what works for her child onto another mother and child. Mommy knows best right  

[HarleyQuinn]

I saw a baby at the store the other day that had both arms in casts up to her little elbows. It made me so sad, she must have took a tumble down the stairs or something.