I figured I should hurry with this one before I forget how it all has started lol I kind of want to make notes of every issue, so that if I EVER decide to have ANOTHER baby, I had some kind of a pony with all the information that I might forget by then.
First of all I should confess I hate breast feeding! It's painfull (still!!!), boring, time consuming, nasty, and gross. The first time I latched my baby to my breast, couple minutes after I got to hold him for the first time, wasn't bad at all. My milk was already dripping and he had a good latch. My nipples were pretty flat though, so I had to pull the skin of the areola together to give my baby something to latch on to. The nurses didn't try to help me much, they just brought me a nipple shield just in case. I also got a couple samples of medela nipple cream which was nice, even though I got mine ready in my hospital bag. The baby was latching better with each time even though at first it was pretty shallow and in two days my nipples got really sore due to their brutal abuse by my son:)
The biggest challenge we faced the first 10 days was waking up our newborn. He was like a little bear in hibernation, always tired and always sleepy. I was constantly nervous and freaking out because there was no possible way I was feeding my baby every two hours as instructed by hospital personnel. First, it took me around an hour, sometimes even hour and a half to wake him up. I tried everything: getting him naked, changing his diaper, kissing his cheeks, rubbing his back, shaking him a little, carrying him around. Nothing in the world seemed to work. Only later, at home we discovered one way to make our baby upset but awake - wet cloth on his face and neck. I remember the first night at the hospital after Sawyer was born I was so exhausted and tired, but I didnt have time to sleep at all. I spent about an hour trying to feed him while he was snoozing at my breast, then I changed his diaper cause he pooped during every feeding, then I had to rock him to sleep, then I had 1-1,5 hour of a nap and another 1-1,5 hour trying to wake him up for the next feeding. I should confess, the first 10 days I couldn't get him to eat more often than every 3-4 hours. I was counting his feedings per day and they never went over 8, usually 6 or 7. I thought I was a lazy terrible mother. I read all these articles saying that newborns must eat every 2 hours with one 3 hour stretch. Honestly, it was so discouraging. I felt like a failure. The other new moms were telling me that was just the effect of the drugs that get into baby's blood during birth and as soon as we get home he will be crying for food all the time. That didn't happen either. I think Sawyer started eating more or less frequently only with his first growth spurt at 3 weeks. Anyhow, he gained almost 2,5 lbs the first month. What kind of advice can I give you coming from my own experience? Listen to your baby and disregard everyone and everything. If your baby looks healthy and gains weight, there's no reason to shake your boob in front of his face all the time forcing him to eat. Your child knows his needs better than any specialist.
The situation with breast feeding changed completely when Sawyer hit his first growth spurt. He wanted to nurse every 45 minutes, literally. He was either sleeping or while awake eating or crying for food. It was horrible. I suffered from terrible oversupply, my breasts were constantly engorged, squirting, leaking. By the way, I had these issues from the very beginning even though my baby wasn't eating often at first. Can you imagine then how much milk I produced with my baby hanging on my boob constantly?! I remember the first month I looked like I had fake breasts of enormous size. I was always sore, itchy, I had to pump every couple hours to release the pressure. My baby was choking on my milk and spitting up a lot. Also I still have a pretty forceful letdown, and painful as well. I was using a nipple shield a lot cause my nipples were red, burning, and very sore. I would feed him one day without it, but the next one I had to get back to it, cause the whole process was so painful that I would just quit all that bullshit. You know how they say it's getting easire after 6 weeks. Well, in my case it got somehow better after 2 months. It's not that I enjoy breast feeding right now or feel some magical bonding, but at least I am not crying anymore when I have to feed Sawyer, I don't use nipple shield anymore either.
I remember days when I was extremly desperate and ready to switch to the bottle, completely. Especially during his growth spurts or days when he had gas or colics ( not sure if that's what it was , but it looked like he was in pain and he was constantly crying as well). One morning he woke up very upset. I could see something was bothering him. I was trying to rub his tummy and do other exercises to release gas but it didn't seem to work. My baby was crying like crazy. The only way I could soothe him was while breastfeeding. I spent 8 hours in bed with Sawyer laying on top of me either snoozing or eating. My whole body was itchy after that extremely long feeding session. I hated it so much!
Also the first probably month and a half I was sleeping on pee pads because my breasts were leaking and squirting so bad that otherwise I would get the mattress soaking wet all the time. At night I was breastfeeding in bed laying on the side. Sawyer was a sloppy eater at first since he couldn't handle the flow. So the pads were saving us from sleeping in a wet puddle. I still use them now for changing the baby. It's super convenient cause then I don't have to worry that he might pee or poo while I change his diaper. The best investment ever. I know there should be pee pads for people, but I didn't find them at our CVS. So we use the ones for puppies and no problems so far, even though I was concerned a little bit at first since they are scented.
I heard you shouldn't give baby the bottle the first 3 weeks of life to prevent nipple confusion. Well, the first time Sawyer had a small 2 OZ bottle of food was when he turned 8 days. We went out with my husband and he talked me down into having a beer, not really, it was a cider. I felt very guilty but wanted one so bad. I was craving alcohol while pregnant the most. I had half of a cider but still didn't think it was a good idea to breastfeed my baby, even after a couple hours. I wanted to pump and dump as soon as we get home. In the meantime Sawyer got hungry. We were still on the way home. I had a bottle with me just in case. I was sure we would make it home by the next feedinf and I surely didn't plan on drinking either. Also I am 100% against breast feeding in public. I think it's gross, sorry. I still think it's gross even when I feed him at home, I guess now I am just used to it. To my surprise Sawyer grabbed the bottle and emptied it in a couple minutes. He looked very content and full. Since then he could get an occasional bottle when I needed a beer really bad. Only once I had a trouble with that. He was probably 2,5 weeks and I had a big bottle of cider, thus I had to skip 2 feedings to make sure my baby doesn't get hit by alcohol content in my milk. When I finally got to give him my breast he was crying and protesting against it. Took me almost an hour to put my nipple in his mouth and make him suck. I learnt my lesson and next time I had a drink, my baby was over a month. On the other hand, I should admit I never had troubles with making him eat formula. When Sawyer is hungry he will eat anything. He has a pretty good appetite and I am happy about it. He only needs his food to be a little bit warm, he doesn't like it cold. Me neither, so I don't blame him:) But here and there I hear that crazy stories that a baby wouldn't take a bottle even with expressed breast milk, not even talking about formula. So, I don't regret introducing bottle to my baby so early. I don't feel guilty anymore about it as well. These cluster feedings can be so exhausting. From week 3 to week 6 or even 7 Sawyer was cluster feeding at least 3 days a week. This is when the bottle was saving my breasts.
As much as I don't like breast feeding I hate pumping. It's so annoying and boring. And the first weeks all you do all day long is feed, pump and change diapers. It was like a never ending nightmare. Talking about breast pumps. I have 2 of them, both medela. Electric pump for 2 breasts seems cool but it was only helpful the first weeks when I was constantly engorged. Ever after I find it ineffective. It has 3 speeds - slow, medium and strong. When it's on slow it doesn't pump much. When it's on medium it hurts. I never tried strong. Hand pump works only for one breast at a time and you have to do all the job. But it's much more effective and I use only this one lately. Plus you get to do smething, so it's not as deadly boring as an electic pump when you just sit there holding the buttles trying not to fall asleep. Also electic one makes so much noise while working that I have to turn the volume up significantly if I am watching something. So I would say invest only in a hand pump at first and see if it works for you before you buy a $300 electric pump, cause you might end up not using it. In my case I got a hand pump for the baby shower. And I got the electric one for free through my doctor's order, my medical insurance covered the cost. If I had to pay all that money for it and then stopped using it after a couple week, I would have been very pissed. They reccommend to pump after every feeding. I am sorry, I am too lazy for that bullshit, since unfortunately no one takes into consideration the fact that mommy needs to sleep and have rest at least sometimes. I was better with pumping the first month. I have a bunch of breast milk stored. But after that I only pump occasionally when I feel full. As I already said I was usually suffering from oversupply and more pumping could stimulate the production of more milk. I remember a couple weeks ago I was getting so full after I went to bed that I was waking up in the middle of the night crying. My breasts were huge, sore, with lumps in them, itchy. I had to apply hot wet towels to them and then pump till they were empty. So, usually I try to feed my baby on one side a couple times and only then in 5-6 hours switch to another side to prevent overstimulation.
Foodwise I don't stick to a crazy diet. I still drink coffee in the morning, sometimes I let myself have an extra cup in the late afternoon. It doesn't make Sawyer any fussier since I guess he got used to it while being in my belly. I try to avoid dairy but I do have an occasional ice cream or a couple slices of cheese. I don't eat citrus fruits as they are not reccommended. Also no cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, beans or any other veggies that make you gassy. All the rest is okay, but everything in moderation.
I plan on breast feeding till New Year. Then I wanna do 60% of formula, so that I could go back to work and survive through an 8-hour shift without pumping. We'll see how it works.
There's only one thing I can't get. If breast feeding is so natural and beautiful why is it so painful then? Why are there so many troubles with latching on, oversupply, mastitis, thrush, low milk supply, leacking...Plus I don't find anything beautiful about carrying around a huge udder the first weeks or walking half naked around the house ready to feed on demand at any time. I am truly happy I made it this far, cause I was one step away from quitting so many times.
Here are some links I found useful:
http://www.breastfeedinginc.ca/content.php?pagename=doc-WBD
http://www.drjen4kids.com/soap%20box/yoda.htm
http://kellymom.com/category/bf/
Also for Russian speaking I found "Momom журнал для кормящих мам" magazine pretty useful and inspiring, available online, just google it.
First of all I should confess I hate breast feeding! It's painfull (still!!!), boring, time consuming, nasty, and gross. The first time I latched my baby to my breast, couple minutes after I got to hold him for the first time, wasn't bad at all. My milk was already dripping and he had a good latch. My nipples were pretty flat though, so I had to pull the skin of the areola together to give my baby something to latch on to. The nurses didn't try to help me much, they just brought me a nipple shield just in case. I also got a couple samples of medela nipple cream which was nice, even though I got mine ready in my hospital bag. The baby was latching better with each time even though at first it was pretty shallow and in two days my nipples got really sore due to their brutal abuse by my son:)
The biggest challenge we faced the first 10 days was waking up our newborn. He was like a little bear in hibernation, always tired and always sleepy. I was constantly nervous and freaking out because there was no possible way I was feeding my baby every two hours as instructed by hospital personnel. First, it took me around an hour, sometimes even hour and a half to wake him up. I tried everything: getting him naked, changing his diaper, kissing his cheeks, rubbing his back, shaking him a little, carrying him around. Nothing in the world seemed to work. Only later, at home we discovered one way to make our baby upset but awake - wet cloth on his face and neck. I remember the first night at the hospital after Sawyer was born I was so exhausted and tired, but I didnt have time to sleep at all. I spent about an hour trying to feed him while he was snoozing at my breast, then I changed his diaper cause he pooped during every feeding, then I had to rock him to sleep, then I had 1-1,5 hour of a nap and another 1-1,5 hour trying to wake him up for the next feeding. I should confess, the first 10 days I couldn't get him to eat more often than every 3-4 hours. I was counting his feedings per day and they never went over 8, usually 6 or 7. I thought I was a lazy terrible mother. I read all these articles saying that newborns must eat every 2 hours with one 3 hour stretch. Honestly, it was so discouraging. I felt like a failure. The other new moms were telling me that was just the effect of the drugs that get into baby's blood during birth and as soon as we get home he will be crying for food all the time. That didn't happen either. I think Sawyer started eating more or less frequently only with his first growth spurt at 3 weeks. Anyhow, he gained almost 2,5 lbs the first month. What kind of advice can I give you coming from my own experience? Listen to your baby and disregard everyone and everything. If your baby looks healthy and gains weight, there's no reason to shake your boob in front of his face all the time forcing him to eat. Your child knows his needs better than any specialist.
The situation with breast feeding changed completely when Sawyer hit his first growth spurt. He wanted to nurse every 45 minutes, literally. He was either sleeping or while awake eating or crying for food. It was horrible. I suffered from terrible oversupply, my breasts were constantly engorged, squirting, leaking. By the way, I had these issues from the very beginning even though my baby wasn't eating often at first. Can you imagine then how much milk I produced with my baby hanging on my boob constantly?! I remember the first month I looked like I had fake breasts of enormous size. I was always sore, itchy, I had to pump every couple hours to release the pressure. My baby was choking on my milk and spitting up a lot. Also I still have a pretty forceful letdown, and painful as well. I was using a nipple shield a lot cause my nipples were red, burning, and very sore. I would feed him one day without it, but the next one I had to get back to it, cause the whole process was so painful that I would just quit all that bullshit. You know how they say it's getting easire after 6 weeks. Well, in my case it got somehow better after 2 months. It's not that I enjoy breast feeding right now or feel some magical bonding, but at least I am not crying anymore when I have to feed Sawyer, I don't use nipple shield anymore either.
I remember days when I was extremly desperate and ready to switch to the bottle, completely. Especially during his growth spurts or days when he had gas or colics ( not sure if that's what it was , but it looked like he was in pain and he was constantly crying as well). One morning he woke up very upset. I could see something was bothering him. I was trying to rub his tummy and do other exercises to release gas but it didn't seem to work. My baby was crying like crazy. The only way I could soothe him was while breastfeeding. I spent 8 hours in bed with Sawyer laying on top of me either snoozing or eating. My whole body was itchy after that extremely long feeding session. I hated it so much!
Also the first probably month and a half I was sleeping on pee pads because my breasts were leaking and squirting so bad that otherwise I would get the mattress soaking wet all the time. At night I was breastfeeding in bed laying on the side. Sawyer was a sloppy eater at first since he couldn't handle the flow. So the pads were saving us from sleeping in a wet puddle. I still use them now for changing the baby. It's super convenient cause then I don't have to worry that he might pee or poo while I change his diaper. The best investment ever. I know there should be pee pads for people, but I didn't find them at our CVS. So we use the ones for puppies and no problems so far, even though I was concerned a little bit at first since they are scented.
I heard you shouldn't give baby the bottle the first 3 weeks of life to prevent nipple confusion. Well, the first time Sawyer had a small 2 OZ bottle of food was when he turned 8 days. We went out with my husband and he talked me down into having a beer, not really, it was a cider. I felt very guilty but wanted one so bad. I was craving alcohol while pregnant the most. I had half of a cider but still didn't think it was a good idea to breastfeed my baby, even after a couple hours. I wanted to pump and dump as soon as we get home. In the meantime Sawyer got hungry. We were still on the way home. I had a bottle with me just in case. I was sure we would make it home by the next feedinf and I surely didn't plan on drinking either. Also I am 100% against breast feeding in public. I think it's gross, sorry. I still think it's gross even when I feed him at home, I guess now I am just used to it. To my surprise Sawyer grabbed the bottle and emptied it in a couple minutes. He looked very content and full. Since then he could get an occasional bottle when I needed a beer really bad. Only once I had a trouble with that. He was probably 2,5 weeks and I had a big bottle of cider, thus I had to skip 2 feedings to make sure my baby doesn't get hit by alcohol content in my milk. When I finally got to give him my breast he was crying and protesting against it. Took me almost an hour to put my nipple in his mouth and make him suck. I learnt my lesson and next time I had a drink, my baby was over a month. On the other hand, I should admit I never had troubles with making him eat formula. When Sawyer is hungry he will eat anything. He has a pretty good appetite and I am happy about it. He only needs his food to be a little bit warm, he doesn't like it cold. Me neither, so I don't blame him:) But here and there I hear that crazy stories that a baby wouldn't take a bottle even with expressed breast milk, not even talking about formula. So, I don't regret introducing bottle to my baby so early. I don't feel guilty anymore about it as well. These cluster feedings can be so exhausting. From week 3 to week 6 or even 7 Sawyer was cluster feeding at least 3 days a week. This is when the bottle was saving my breasts.
As much as I don't like breast feeding I hate pumping. It's so annoying and boring. And the first weeks all you do all day long is feed, pump and change diapers. It was like a never ending nightmare. Talking about breast pumps. I have 2 of them, both medela. Electric pump for 2 breasts seems cool but it was only helpful the first weeks when I was constantly engorged. Ever after I find it ineffective. It has 3 speeds - slow, medium and strong. When it's on slow it doesn't pump much. When it's on medium it hurts. I never tried strong. Hand pump works only for one breast at a time and you have to do all the job. But it's much more effective and I use only this one lately. Plus you get to do smething, so it's not as deadly boring as an electic pump when you just sit there holding the buttles trying not to fall asleep. Also electic one makes so much noise while working that I have to turn the volume up significantly if I am watching something. So I would say invest only in a hand pump at first and see if it works for you before you buy a $300 electric pump, cause you might end up not using it. In my case I got a hand pump for the baby shower. And I got the electric one for free through my doctor's order, my medical insurance covered the cost. If I had to pay all that money for it and then stopped using it after a couple week, I would have been very pissed. They reccommend to pump after every feeding. I am sorry, I am too lazy for that bullshit, since unfortunately no one takes into consideration the fact that mommy needs to sleep and have rest at least sometimes. I was better with pumping the first month. I have a bunch of breast milk stored. But after that I only pump occasionally when I feel full. As I already said I was usually suffering from oversupply and more pumping could stimulate the production of more milk. I remember a couple weeks ago I was getting so full after I went to bed that I was waking up in the middle of the night crying. My breasts were huge, sore, with lumps in them, itchy. I had to apply hot wet towels to them and then pump till they were empty. So, usually I try to feed my baby on one side a couple times and only then in 5-6 hours switch to another side to prevent overstimulation.
Foodwise I don't stick to a crazy diet. I still drink coffee in the morning, sometimes I let myself have an extra cup in the late afternoon. It doesn't make Sawyer any fussier since I guess he got used to it while being in my belly. I try to avoid dairy but I do have an occasional ice cream or a couple slices of cheese. I don't eat citrus fruits as they are not reccommended. Also no cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, beans or any other veggies that make you gassy. All the rest is okay, but everything in moderation.
I plan on breast feeding till New Year. Then I wanna do 60% of formula, so that I could go back to work and survive through an 8-hour shift without pumping. We'll see how it works.
There's only one thing I can't get. If breast feeding is so natural and beautiful why is it so painful then? Why are there so many troubles with latching on, oversupply, mastitis, thrush, low milk supply, leacking...Plus I don't find anything beautiful about carrying around a huge udder the first weeks or walking half naked around the house ready to feed on demand at any time. I am truly happy I made it this far, cause I was one step away from quitting so many times.
Here are some links I found useful:
http://www.breastfeedinginc.ca/content.php?pagename=doc-WBD
http://www.drjen4kids.com/soap%20box/yoda.htm
http://kellymom.com/category/bf/
Also for Russian speaking I found "Momom журнал для кормящих мам" magazine pretty useful and inspiring, available online, just google it.