Baby Bond

**Disclaimer:  I have nothing against those who nurse their babies!!
I had made the decision that I wanted to bottle feed Mason before he was even born, so when the nurse handed me this darling baby and asked if I wanted to try nursing I quickly said no thank you.  The nurse was very understanding of the decision I had made. 
Throughout my hospital stay I was told by many of the countless benefits of nursing a baby.  I'm not a selfish person, but I continued to stick to the decision I had previously made of bottle feeding my baby. 

Towards the end of my stay a Utah Valley University nurse in training was helping out the nurse who was in charge that day.  When they entered my room and assisted me with the things I needed the Utah Valley University nurse asked the head nurse if she could take to me in private.  The head nurse left the room.  The UVU nurse proceeded to ask me my reasoning behind not wanting to nurse by baby.  I gave her my reasons.  She then gave me her reasons to why I should nurse my little baby.  She told me I was making a horrible decision and that she had 6 kids where she nursed all of them.  She began to tell me of all the benefits, that I had already heard, to nursing a baby and ending with, "If you don't nurse your baby, you will NEVER have that special bond between you and your baby." 
After she left the room, I broke down in tears.  This nurse had no right to tell me what was best for my baby!  The head nurse came back into the room and asked if everything was okay.  I proceeded to tell her what happened.  She calmed me down and told me that my decision to bottle feed my baby was not a bad decision.  She had 6 kids and she bottle fed all of them. 

I've never regretted my decision to bottle feed my little Mason.  Although there are benefits to nursing your baby, I believe there are just as many benefits to bottle feeding.  So, I'd like to say one thing to the UVU nurse that told me that the horrible decision I was making was going to effect my baby's life forever:

Dear UVU Nurse,

At 1:30 this morning (disregard the miracle with his sleeping that I mentioned in my last post, he's woken up every night, at least twice, for the past 5 days.) as I was asleep in bed I was awoken by my little Mason who was starting to fuss.  His fuss soon became a cry.  I walked across the hall to his bedroom where I picked him up, gave him his bink and blank, and sat in the rocking chair to rock him back to sleep.  He looked at me and raised his hand toward my face, as if he felt safe again in my arms.  As I reached for his hand he grabbed mine, squeezed it, and held onto it.  I sat and rocked my precious baby boy for the next hour enjoying every minute of him squeezing and holding onto my hand. 

It was at this moment that I remembered what you said to me when my little Mason was just a new born, "If you don't nurse your baby, you will NEVER have that special bond between you and your baby."  Just so you know, I have created a special bond with my little Mason.  You were wrong!