Yep. This post is about boobs. So if it makes you uncomfortable or you're one of those weird people who is offended by it, then you might as well stop reading now!
My goal with my baby was to bf for 12 months. I'm on month three today and having a frustrating time.
Don't get me wrong, I love BFing my baby. It's definitely one of my favorite things. But it's also very challenging.
I always thought BFing was the most natural thing ever and since it was so natural, it would come super easy and be no big deal. I had no idea how complicated it could get.
BFing for the first time is painful. Elise didn't get a great latch and it caused me to crack and bleed. I cried those first couple times. I got a shield and used lanolin a lot hoping that would help. A week later, I was still having soreness and just the thought of taking a shower made me tear up. Cue my amazing lactation consultant (LC). She came over and instructed me to try olive oil and cloth pads over lanolin and disposables. This was a huge help! Course by this time my daughter had pretty much become addicted to the nipple shield and wouldn't latch well without it. I told myself oh well, at least she's getting breast milk!
Now we are back to today. Elise has been really tired lately. I assume it's a growth spurt. But as you moms know, if you allow baby to become overtired, good luck getting them to go to sleep! Well last night we did our usual bedtime routine. I decided I would try to feed Elise so she wouldn't wake up a couple hours later hungry. It was left side time. To make a long story short, she cried...a lot. I thought it was because she was overtired. She did not want to latch and I was getting very discouraged and sad. She fed better on the other side. So I nursed her, handed her to josh to go to sleep and I went to pump.
Barely anything came out on the left. No wonder Elise didn't like this side. It was a slow and weak letdown and not much after.
Called consultant again.
Apparently 73% of babies prefer their mothers right breast. How weird is that?
So I've been advised to keep pumping the left and nursing from the right.
I was up most of the night. There were tears and frustration.
I am determined to not let this hinder my goal for my baby.
Have you moms ever had similar experiences? Please share. This mom could use some positivity and encouragement! Thank you!
“Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you."
My right produces way more than my left. I still nurse both sides, but sometimes I do see frustration on the left. When that happens, I just switch him. One night, W was screaming... He wouldn't latch or anything. Ben finally gave him a bottle of frozen milk and he sucked it down. I cried bc I thought I failed. What I learned was sometimes babies are still hungry... If you're tapped or can't let down fast enough, it's okay to give a bottle. We do it probably once a week if he doesn't seem satisfied. Good luck, you'll get through it. Message me if you have any questions or need support!
ReplyDeleteI haven't had as many issues. For some reason, once my milk came in (it takes longer after a c-section), once we figured out he had a tongue tie, and once I started using a nipple shield it worked. I never had any pain really (until recently when he has discovered pulling on me).
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning I did supplement with formula. He has had NO nipple confusion. It is okay! I was worried he would never eat without the shield, but he did. I lost both of the ones I had and he did fine. I think it helps once they get bigger and can latch better.
Honestly, I was so adamant about breast feeding, but I am kinda over it now. I love that I can give him all he needs, but he is crazy distracted ALL the time. We are still going strong though. Strangely enough he prefers my left! Don't let what you pump worry you because pumps are not as good as the baby's suck, so it isn't an accurate representation of how much you are producing! Also around this time you are going to start to even out and not be so heavy and full. It is normal and don't be too concerned!
Call or text me anytime!
Oh I also had a lovely experience of mastitis. Hope you haven't!
ReplyDeleteYou can do it!
You can do it! Sending prayers your way! :)
ReplyDeleteOh man does this bring back memories! If you read my nursing post it was FULL of frustration, tears and confusion - why doesn't anyone tell you how difficult it is?! There was a point, at 3am, while fighting with Lemon to latch, that I turned to Ian and said, "I have a Master's Degree, I can DO this!" Ugh.
ReplyDeleteOk so I was in the same boat as you - cracking, bleeding and even a pink spit up that resulted in a call to the pediatrician because of the blood that she was swallowing while eating. I showed up to La Leche League meetings saying that I didn't want to feed my babe because it hurt so much and then I felt so guilty that I felt that way. I cried in the shower countless times and Ian thought I was absolutely nutso. I think a lot of it is post-partem issues too, although you don't realize it at the time.
It hurt to feed Lemon, no shield, until she was about 4 months old. It didn't get to be "fun" for me until she was about 6 months old. Now, I love it, and because the end is so close for me I cherish the moments where she just sits, relaxes and nurses. But, for 6 months, it was just a chore and for those first 4 it hurt like heck!
As for advice, since I am not a fan of it from others, I will just tell you what I would do next time, if there is a next time. Knowing that her latch was good and it was just me, and her, learning how to do it together, I would just sit with her, latched, for as long as I could to keep up my supply. I think my supply was never good because I didn't want to feed her, dreaded it, and that resulted in so many nights of her up screaming her head off, probably from hunger (I was the worst mother!). I also may have pumped more in the beginning, even though I was tired and didn't want to, and didn't really have time to, I think I would have forced myself. My left is the over-supplier now and my right is just in sad times, not producing much (which makes for lovely lopsided nakedness) and she has a hard time eating from it because she loses interest with the little milk it puts out. I would also start with the supplements right away instead of waiting a bit and I would be more diligent about taking them (fenugreek and blessed thistle). I think if anything, this time around, they gave me piece of mind that they were helping, even if they weren't. I still try to take them, because I pump every day at school (only once in 8 hours!) and I want to keep my supply up, even for a couple more months. It would be so silly to stop nursing now and then be out of school at the end of May, at home, and then not nursing - so I'm going to try and keep going! I also should be better about pumping, now, because when she sleeps longer or when I leave school early and she's already eaten, I should technically pump but don't, and that has lessened my supply for sure. I also wish I had more of a stockpile. I was doing really well there for awhile but now am down to about 10 bags, so sad if something happens. :(
ReplyDeleteSo the moral is, it's ok if one side is producing more than the other, that's how mine has been forever and that's how most of us are. It's also ok that you don't get a lot from that side, but try to use that side every single time. When I thought my right was going kaput, every single time she wanted to eat I put her there first, if she would have it, even if she wouldn't stay long. Then, when pumping at work, I would pump both sides and then just continue to pump the right after they were both done just to show it that it needed to produce more. Another blog friend, who has a 10 month old, is totally done on one side but continues to just nurse on the working side, that's totally ok, that side produces enough for her daughter just as it is.
One more thing that I'm sure you don't want to hear, because I didn't at 3 months, but it's something I would have no problem doing next time. Supplementing. If you gotta, you gotta and it doesn't make you a bad mother. We started giving Lemon 1-3 ounces of formula at night at 4 months thinking it would help her sleep (it didn't) but now it's part of her bedtime routine so it has stayed. I haven't noticed my supply suffering because of it, she has always seemed to want more than I have (that's why I took the herbs) and only really since about 6 months until now has it seemed like I make enough to satisfy her. I hate that night time depleted feeling, when you have a 3 month old, I hear ya, but it does get better, even if she just sits there sucking.
One more thing that helped me, immensely, was to get out of my head. I was having let down problems because I would think too much about it so I downloaded books (the Fifty Shade trilogy as a matter of fact!) on my iPad and read at night while I nursed, just to stop thinking so much about it and let my body do what it was meant to, that helped me SO much.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how you can be so prepared for labor and delivery, I felt like I knew everything, but be so unprepared for what happens after - that's also something I wish I would have done differently, taken more nursing classes and attended more meetings, just to be prepared for that part too.
Whatever you decide is best for you and Elise and what works (worked) for us may or may not work for you. Just know you are not alone, I had a REALLY hard time, almost gave up, but it DOES get better. My husband didn't really help or understand, saying things like, "just give her formula" or "just stop." They like to solve problems when they see us hurting but sometimes we just need support and encouragement. So, here it is, from me. I support you and KNOW you both can do this, you are just learning and growing together.
Hang in there mama! xoxo