My New Year's Resolution was to blog once a week. As you can see that didn't work out so well but in the past 3 months, I've had the opportunity to ponder some mom (non) issues that annoy the crap out of me almost as much as the "I birthed my kid in a wading pool in my living room with my entire family watching and while my 2-year old breastfed so I'm a WAY better mom than you" scenario. I just read a post on Baby Center about the appropriate length of time to breastfeed. Here's a newsflash you aren't under ANY obligation to breastfeed at all if you don't want to. NONE. Surprised? I think most moms-to-be would be. Ok so say you do decide to breastfeed; great. But whatever you do, don't do it just because you think formula is too expensive. I'm sick of parents trying to cheap their way out of everything. The cost of formula should have NOTHING to do with your decision. Just like you wouldn't buy a used carseat (or would you?), you shouldn't cheap out on FEEDING your kid. Yes, breastmilk is free but let's say you decide you're going to do it because you can't afford formula and then lo and behold! some issue prevents you from breastfeeding? Then what?
There are things you can be frugal about. Baby clothes? Definitely. Baby wipes? Sure if you find a brand you like. Diapers? I personally will only use Pampers (I have attitude about a lot of things including my diapers and wipes) but I know plenty of people that are content with generics. You may be able to be cheap about some other things too. If you don't have a need to use expensive bottles, by all means go with the cheap bottles and nipples. BUT if you have a colicky or gassy baby, then you need to invest in some Playtex Drop-Ins or Dr. Browns. (Speaking of Drop-Ins, you do not want to buy the generic liners. Stick with the actual Playtex ones.) I guess you could say this is the "gray area" of baby gear. Things that depend more on the needs of your individual baby. There are things you should NEVER cheap out on. Car seats, cribs, baby food, formula and anything related to the safety of your child. I want a Britax car seat now that my son is outgrowing his infant seat (S1 by Safety First). It's well over $200, I've been saving since Christmas. Drop-side cribs are now illegal. Baby food might be an iffy subject. I feed my son primarily organics. I made his food for a while until he became picky and I no longer had the time to steam and food process all the fruits and veggies (nope not feeling guilty about this one either). I have known moms who will buy whatever formula is on sale instead of using the same one. This is not good for your baby. The only time you should switch formula is if your BABY needs a different formula. I'm not saying don't use the generic, what I'm saying is be consistent. I honestly don't know what the difference is if there is a different. I started my son out on Enfamil Newborn and when he got super gassy at one month, we switch to Enfamil Gentlease and all has been well since then. The bottom line here is that parenthood is expensive. Babies are expensive. Use coupons and make educated choices about what you are doing and why but if you tell me the only reason you're breastfeeding is because it's free then you should re-evaluate why your commitment to parenthood in the first place. Kind of reminds me of when teachers say they got into teaching so that they could have summers off. See my point?
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