“I did not even give a thought to whether or not the dress was breastfeeding friendly as I was completely obsessed with the fact that I was going to be the MATRON of Honour and I wanted to look my age (32) instead of 80 (which my title suggested I was)…”

Life goes on even though we are breastfeeding. Is it too much to ask for all celebratory events such as weddings, birthdays and such to be postponed until I am no longer breastfeeding? 🙂 When I am no longer sleep deprived from frequent night waking and can have more than one or two alcoholic beverages? I suppose asking the world to revolve around my breastfeeding situation might be asking too much.  My sister got married this past weekend. I have flown across the world from Australia to the USA to be here.  With my three children.  All by myself. Without my husband’s help (he has to stay home due to work)…I cried about five times on the way over since I did not sleep for about thirty hours straight, but more about that in my next blog post.

bride

My sister the bride having a rest!

In between yelling, “where are my children?” and running around I was also breastfeeding, kind of looking after my children and responsible for getting them ready for the wedding along with my sister (and myself)!  We are day four after the wedding and I’m still exhuasted. So how can you party like a rock star at a wedding while still being there for your breastfeeding babe and having some fun at the same time? Here are some tips from moi!

breastfeeding

Here I am breastfeeding Mini The Milk before the ceremony.

1. HIRE A BABYSITTER TO FOLLOW YOUR CHILD AROUND! We had an awesome babysitter who was more like my mother’s helper. She followed me or my toddler around and brought him to me if he was upset and needed to breastfeed. She also had to help me out of my dress if I needed to feed him!  Because it was my sister’s wedding, all of my family members were unable to pay full attention to him.  I literally had about ten minutes to finish getting myself ready right before the ceremony. I stood at the sink washing my armpits out and quickly applying mascara while she kept Mini The Milk entertained…nothing like a quick armpit washing before a wedding ceremony! Welcome to motherhood, you won’t even have time to take a shower when you are the Matron Of Honour…

2. THE DRESS!  Thankfully my sister let me pick out my dress.  I did not even give a thought to whether or not it was breastfeeding friendly as I was completely obsessed with the fact that I was going to be the MATRON of Honour and I wanted to look my age (32) instead of 80 (which my title suggested I was).  So it was quite an ordeal when I had to feed him:

Step 1: Have baby sitter unzip my dress while one of us held Mini The Milk

Step 2: Remove the very tight Spanx

Step 3: Pee (which I only did about two times the whole night due to the amount of time it took)

Step 4: Squeeeeze back into the Spanx

Step 5: Have my baby sitter zip me back up

Step 6: Breastfeed my toddler because by this point we had been in the bathroom for an exceptional amount of time so he was probably dehydrated!

baby wearing at a wedding

Dancing with my sister while trying to get Mini The Milk to sleep…

3. A WET NURSE ALWAYS COMES IN HANDY! My friend Devon and I were both bridesmaids and both breastfeed3ng our little ones.  We spoke to each other about wet nursing if needed but never really thought it would have to happen…and guess what, it did!  While I was putting my oldest boy to sleep (which takes forever sometimes as he might want a drink, a bandaid or other various items before he actually gets settled) my youngest woke up. Since both our babies were asleep in the same room with the babysitter watching over the monitor in the next room, she was called and told her baby was awake. She walked in and it was actually MY child who was awake but I was across the street in a different building!  She did what many would do…popped him on the boob until I was able to come and take over! She is a great friend and I would have done the same for her in a heartbeat.   😀

breastfeeding

One of my fellow bridesmaids, breastfeeding her little one before the ceremony.

4. MOST IMPORTANT…HAVE FUN AND RELAX!  The thing that made this the easiest for me was I had fun, hung out with my baby when he needed me, had a great baby sitter right there to run after him when he was happy, slung him on my back when he needed to go to sleep and kept on dancing! 

It is possible to combine breastfeeding, partying AND celebrating! Get creative!