Breastfeeding has been hard to say the least. Now, I am going to be brutally honest in this post about breasteeding so I hope it doesn't offend anyone about what I have to say.
I am being well, truthful. Breastfeeding is damn hard. I am still trying to find the women who say it went so beautifully for them and was the easiest thing ever! Yeah, I kind want to have a few words with them. Yes, I do understand there are many women out there where breastfeeding just comes "natural" and yes I envy those women because I was not one of them.
In fact....we are still ironing out some bumps. Where do I even start?! Lets start with the fact that there is no amount of preparedness that can make you a breastfeeding champ besides the "extra" wealth of knowledge which flew out the window the minute Harper was born. We envisioned the birth and breastfeeding as something so amazing like kids running in fields full of dandelions. Ha, well try fields of dandelions with lots of thorns on the ground.
As soon as we had Harper they placed her on me immediately and they respected our wishes of not having her weighed, measured or cleaned until after an hour of bonding time with her. She laid on my chest and it was the most beautiful thing ever. During that time we let her try and find my breasts but she was so sleepy from all the meds that was not going to even began to happen. It didn't matter at that time because all three of us were in a place I can't even describe to you in words. It was just pure magic.
After the hour of our bonding time family came in and after an hour of them visiting we decided to try again with breastfeeding and my nurse Tina helped me out. It seemed so easy at that time. I was presently surprised. It felt weird, and it hurt but she was latched and that was all that mattered. After that we had our "celebration dinner". She started crying but as soon as we picked her up she was content. I continued to breastfeed her. It was going to perfect.
Then as the night creeped on we were exhausted. We got settled for the night. Got a new nurse and tried to go to sleep. At this time Harper started to cry and I put her on the breast right away. Nothing. Her latch was gone. Its like they switched our once beautiful latched baby with a different baby. She didn't want anything to do with my boob. Nothing. I called the nurse to have her come in and help me and she came in for a brief moment said my latch was perfect and left. Long story short we got no sleep that night and no help. Finally, our night nurse changed and we got our new day nurse. She helped me with latch and called the Lactation Nurse to me right away. As soon as she came in I felt a sense of relief. Soon to find out one of the reasons Harper was not latching was due to my flat nipples. She left the room brought a nipple shield and helped me with it. Bam, our baby was back. She was latching no problem.
Long story short...I am still using the nipple shield, pumping/nursing like a mad woman, taking supplements to increase supply, doing all sorts of tricks to help milk supply, and trying to get away from formula supplementation since she dropped weight so drastically. We are doing pretty darn well because were down to one bottle a day and now my goal is to get away from the nipple shield!
One step at a time!
Till next time!
Then as the night creeped on we were exhausted. We got settled for the night. Got a new nurse and tried to go to sleep. At this time Harper started to cry and I put her on the breast right away. Nothing. Her latch was gone. Its like they switched our once beautiful latched baby with a different baby. She didn't want anything to do with my boob. Nothing. I called the nurse to have her come in and help me and she came in for a brief moment said my latch was perfect and left. Long story short we got no sleep that night and no help. Finally, our night nurse changed and we got our new day nurse. She helped me with latch and called the Lactation Nurse to me right away. As soon as she came in I felt a sense of relief. Soon to find out one of the reasons Harper was not latching was due to my flat nipples. She left the room brought a nipple shield and helped me with it. Bam, our baby was back. She was latching no problem.
Long story short...I am still using the nipple shield, pumping/nursing like a mad woman, taking supplements to increase supply, doing all sorts of tricks to help milk supply, and trying to get away from formula supplementation since she dropped weight so drastically. We are doing pretty darn well because were down to one bottle a day and now my goal is to get away from the nipple shield!
One step at a time!
Till next time!
6 comments:
Ugh. So sorry to hear it's been hard for you. The majority of what I've heard/read is along these lines. I think we put a lot of pressure on women to somehow just do it and do it well and if you can't, well you feel bad. My mom (granted this was 30 years), was told my a doctor, "Good luck breast feeding with THOSE nipples!" And, since I was born preterm, she DID have a hard time with breastfeeding, until they eventually convinced her to switch me to formula because I had dropped below 5 lbs (my birth weight).
BUT, the breast feeding class I went to recently was SO positive and the message was that it shouldn't be something you have to stress over so much and it shouldn't be painful such that you have to "endure" it. The woman was so calming and maternal. I would see if you can find a private person like that who can do a home visit for you and give some advice. Or just some hugs. ;)
It's like reading my own story!...although I had it a bit rougher. I'm in the process of weening him off the shields now and it's slow moving. I hope it goes better for you!
I really appreciate the honesty re this (as well as the birth post) - much rather hear the cold, hard truth. You're both doing great, Mamas!
Like I said, breast feeding is the most unnatural "natural" thing there is! It's freaking hard to get a hang of for both mom and baby!!!!! We had trouble too...it's natural - lol..literally
Your daughter is beautiful, the birth story sounds awful, but I'm glad you got through it. I also had a tough time with breastfeeding and I think most people do. I was not as strong about getting assistance so we didn't continue to breastfeed very long. Good for you for continuing to work through it!!
Hey mamas! Just thought I would stop in to say hello and see how baby girl is doing? It's been far too long since we last got some pictures of that little cutie. I'm thinking it's time for a photo update. ;)
I hope all is well and you both are getting some rest when you can!
Post a Comment