This "parent"dox involves traveling back in time for me a few years, but I remember it all so very clearly.
I distinctly remember meal times at our house when both of my children were newborns. I think the biggest learning curve was with my son, as he was our firstborn, but this "parent"dox rang true with our daughter as well.
Without fail, my sweet, precious, angelic baby would be sleeping away. They were so adorable, I could lay there and watch them sleep. Sweet little nose, sweet little fluttering eyelids, sweet little chest rising up and down ever so slightly. Oh, this is love, without a doubt.
Whether we were preparing a meal at home (read as: heating up something in the microwave or pouring a bowl of cereal. Come on...these were NEWBORN days, remember?!) or actually eating out as a restaurant, as soon as a plate of food was set in front of me, my baby, without fail, would start stirring. I would plead Please, please, PLEASE stay asleep!! even thought I knew it was a lost cause. There was absolute, 100% certainty that baby would be awake by the time I shoveled my 3rd bite of food into my mouth. By the 5th bite, they would be in an all-out screaming bout, ready to eat.
That sweet, angelic, precious baby was now standing between me and my food.
Not a good place to be, mind you, not a good place to be.
Words like "sweet," "precious," and "angelic" were no longer coming to mind.
It was like they had super sonic smelling and hearing, and when they so much as smelled a hot meal and heard it hit the table in front of me, it triggered them to wake up. It didn't matter if they had been asleep for 5 minutes or 2 hours, they were definitely going to wake up at that moment.
I'm pretty sure their baby line of thinking in that moment went something like this:
What? What's that? Mom is hungry and ready to eat? I don't want to miss out on this action. Surely, surely, that must mean I need to eat now, too.
RIGHT NOW.
Not after the meal is over. Not in 5 minutes.
NOW.
People say that when you nurse, it also helps you to lose weight. I'm pretty sure this is only because you never actually have a chance to eat real, hot food. By the time you're done feeding your tyrannical baby, your once lovely, delicious meal is now cold and doesn't taste nearly as good as you had hoped. You choke down a few bites, and that's all you can muster.
That, my friends, is really where the weight loss comes in to play.
Although I will say the first time in my life I ever ate cold pizza was after my son was born. I had never, ever been a fan of cold pizza, even in high school or college. I just couldn't bring myself to eat it. But enter New Mom mode, and I was just happy to have food around. Period. I didn't even bother sticking it in the microwave...just bit the bullet (or cold pizza, in this case) and went for it.
And knowing how very, very healthy cold pizza is, maybe there is actually something to that whole "nursing helps you lose weight" thing...
Hang in there, Moms of Newborns and Infants!! There will come a day when you will eat foods -- hot if they're supposed to be hot and cold if they're supposed to be cold -- once again.
When somehow, miraculously, everyone in your family actually gets fed, You Are a Good Mom.
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