Breastfeeding

Let me preface this by saying I think all women should breastfeed if possible. It is best for your baby, and, well, it's cheap.

Myth - it is a fabulous bonding experience for you and your baby. Truth - it's worse than child birth!

No one in the hospital really helped me with breastfeeding, they just said if you want to do it start whenever you want. I only spent one night in the hospital and by the time I left I was black, blue and red. One nurse said it was normal that it hurt like hell, another said it wasn't supposed to. Thanks for the help ladies.
When the health nurse came to visit a day or so later he wouldn't latch and she didn't really say anything about it. 4 days after he was born and my milk came in I ended up in the ER in the middle of the night because I was getting engorged and couldn't get the milk out. YOU MUST HAVE A BREAST PUMP BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE HOSPITAL. It is a necessity. Until you and your baby get sorted with feeding and your milk supply levels out you may need to pump. I just used the Medela hand pump because I only needed it occasionally. I don't think it matters which one you get as long as you have one. Mine only cost $60 and came with two bottles. It has worked great.

After that, we still weren't getting the hang of this whole breastfeeding thing so I called another health nurse to come to the house. She was helpful and said we were doing it right but it didn't feel the same on both sides so I still thought something was wrong. At this point he was just over a week old and wasn't gaining weight. I was terribly damaged, cracked, bleeding, the whole bit. She gave me a nipple shield but it didn't help with the pain. The toe curling, eye tearing, cry out loud pain. My husband told me to just give up, that it wasn't worth all the pain, but I really wanted it to work so I went to the doctor. She referred me to a specialist at a breastfeeding clinic. Finally, someone who knew what they were talking about. I went to see her every week for a month. Even after knowing how to do it the pain continued because the damage was already done. I almost gave up three different times. I'm not sure what made me so persistent. I guess I really just didn't want to spend money on formula and I wanted my baby to be as healthy as possible. It was then that I remembered how the frozen pads had worked so well for the pain and I did the same thing with the breast pads. At last, some relief. 

After 3 months we had the hang of things and the pain was gone. Then 4 months came... he decided he didn't like the right side anymore. Now he is 7 months old and for the last three months he has only been eating on one side. The specialist said it's rare but possible. I make enough milk on the one side to sustain him. The problem is the one full side is three times bigger than the other side. Needless to say the bra situation is difficult. And now that he has two teeth there are new challenges. Oh the joys of breastfeeding.


What you need to know:
Buy a pump
You need to offer both boobs at each feeding
The time between feedings is when the feeding starts, not ends and should not exceed three hours.
Offer one side, then change them, then feed on the other side. This makes for less screaming during changing.
If you need to, you can feed with only one boob!


The Adventures of Weaning

I had planned to breastfeed for a whole year, however, by the 10th month of no sleep I decided to look into weaning. I started giving him water in a sippy cup (the free flow kind) so he could get used to the cup. At 11 months I started cutting out a feeding and replacing it with whole milk in his cup. He had no problems taking it so within a week I had completely stopped breastfeeding and had him on the cup. It was not an issue for him but it sure was for me! I think a week was far too quick and I ended up on the couch one night shivering and shaking and couldn't get up. I went to the ER in extreme pain and found out I had a breast infection called mastitis. Now usually one gets mastitis when beginning to breastfeed not when finishing, but of course it happened to me. It's like having the flu but with big painful lumps in your breast. The lumps have to make their way out before the infection is gone. I had to go to the hospital for 3 days for IV antibiotics and it took just over two weeks before I felt better.
The good news... as soon as I stopped breastfeeding, he slept through the night and has been ever since. Ahhhh, sleep, how I've missed you!