Ode to Side-Lying Position

I had started this post a few weeks ago, but never got around to editing and posting it. Thought I might as well do so now :)

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As mentioned in the 7-week update post, I had thought I was feeling a bit ambivalent about breastfeeding. While that was disproven given how put out I was when we began bottle-feeding Josie, a turning point also occurred when we started nursing in side-lying position. We had normally nursed with her perched on a couple of pillows, but I'm thinking that nursing with props takes away some of the connection that can be forged while nursing. However, if I don't use the pillows (like when we're not at home), I'm usually so uncomfortable holding up this giant baby without the best head control yet, and then she usually ends up fussing, and then we usually end up ending the session earlier than we do at home since we're both a little frustrated.

Enter... side-lying position. I first tried this when we were at the lake since she wasn't sleeping well and I was so tired, so I figured lying down to nurse her would be safer than me falling asleep while she's lying on top of some pillows. So it originally was for a functional reason again, but then I quickly realized that I love side-lying position, and I suspect Josie rather likes it too :) There's something very humanizing about being perfectly comfortable and not having any props, and having our bellies touching and her little feet resting on my legs (although I don't enjoy it quite as much when those little feet start kicking my belly or pushing off my legs!). I no longer feel like just a food source (which is fairly easy to do, given that I can usually only hold her without her rooting if I've just fed her... otherwise, she sees me and her mouth immediately starts working), and it's so much easier to rub her back, stroke her hair, etc., in that position too. And then when she decides she's done, she'll usually pull off, lift her sweet little moonface up to face me, and then puts her hands under her chin. Commence the swooning, and then I usually end up just watching her sleep until life catches up to me again and I remember that I have sleeping/showering/eating/cleaning to do.