Discover Top Posts Tagged with #breastfeeding101

Breastfeeding 101, a photo book project by Leah Hawker. Working on the order and getting my template sorted.

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Breastfeeding 101

I've been at this breastfeeding thing for about 61/2 months now and I've learned a few things about what to do when...

1. Your milk hasn't come in yet...

Eli was 3 days old. It was nighttime. He wouldn't stop crying. He wouldn't sleep. I was the most exhausted I had ever, ever been. He was hungry for milk, not just colostrum! What did I do? The little can of newborn formula I had received free in the mail from a big formula company was calling my name... I was so close to giving him a bottle. No, it wouldn't have been the end of the world, but in my heart I knew I didn't want the little guy to have anything that was man made, and if I got out the formula one time when things got hard then what would stop me from doing it other times? I just let him suckle on me, all night, however long he wanted. Even if he wasn't getting much still he was comforted by nursing. Then the next day he had his first newborn dr. appointment and the doctor actually touched my boob and showed me that my milk was coming in. It was SO HARD being patient for my milk to come in for the little guy but it was so worth it. So what do you do in this situation? You hang in there and let that baby suckle all night if you have to!

2. You start taking birth control at 6 weeks postpartum and it drops your supply (even though "it shouldn't drop your supply")...

This was a biggie for me. My doctor assured me my supply would be fine on the pill. It wasn't. Maybe I'm a special case but I can't help but think that I'm not the only one this has happened to. I felt empty. Eli would eat for 30 minutes EACH SIDE and still be hungry. I didn't know what was going on. I tried eating oatmeal, drinking Mothers Milk Tea, drinking extra water, getting more rest. My life revolved around his feeding times because they were so long. No, he wasn't cranky, but I truly felt like he wasn't getting enough. Eli's doctor suggested I started supplementing with formula... I did NOT want to do this. So I fed Eli for 45 minutes and I would pump an extra 10 just to get all I could out. Then I would do all of it again 2 hours later. Talk about exhausting, my boobs were working overtime! I finally resorted to my last option, the idea that just maybe my birth control had dropped my supply... so I quit taking it. What do you know? 48 hours later my supply was bigger! It still took some time to get my supply up so I kept eating oatmeal about twice a day and drinking 2 cups of Mothers Milk Tea (which is fantastic btw!). What do you do in this situation? You get off birth control if you choose to keep on breastfeeding. It's scary, I know. But I haven't gotten pregnant again yet so maybe there is some truth to that breastfeeding is a natural contraceptive thing :)

3. You get a clogged milk duct (OUCH!)...

Three words for you... NURSE, NURSE, NURSE! Make that baby eat extra if you have to! I had this really bad within the first month of Eli being here and occasionally get it if I go too long without nursing (usually if I go more than 9 hours overnight). It really freaked me the crap out the first time it happened. I thought I was gonna have to go to the hospital and have surgery because I googled the problem. But the reality is that you just need to nurse, massage the mass (even though it's really uncomfortable to do so), apply a warm compress (I fill a diaper up with hot water as a compress because it hold in the moisture) and take a hot shower and massage some more and make sure you're drinking plenty of water! Sometimes you'll see the tiny ball of dried up milk come out and sometimes you won't. These things hurt like a mother but more than likely you'll live without having to go to the hospital and have emergency surgery haha :)

4. You breastfeed in public...

When Eli was first born the thought of going out into public and breastfeeding TERRIFIED me. First of all he was so little it was so hard to get my girl out, his head in the right place (making sure his little nose wasn't squished in my boob so he could breathe!) AND do all of this with a nursing cover on... oh lordy I was scared! So what do you do in this situation? YOU DO IT ANYWAY! You face that fear! Heck, you just push a child out of your body, you can breastfeed in public! There is a lot of hype about women publicly breastfeeding and that's because a lot of mamas choose not to cover themselves. I personally would be uncomfortable not being covered. I am an advocate for breastfeeding but I wouldn't want to have little children looking at me nursing without a cover and asking their mamas what is that lady doing and what is that?! I have little nephews and cousins who are curious enough with a cover on, I can't imagine without!!! Breastfeeding is a beautiful thing and the best way to nourish our babies and if anyone has a problem with that then that is their problem not yours. This is the 21st century too, people are very open to breastfeeding in public. It's really nothing to be afraid of and honestly it is empowering in a strange way, it feels good to be able to make a statement of "I'm nourishing my baby the best possible way and I am PROUD of it!". Plus they have super dooper cute nursing covers out there so that helps :)

Breastfeeding is the best, the bond between you and baby is amazing. It's the healthiest thing for baby, you burn extra calories through the day and it can help prevent breast cancer. What's not to love!?

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