Breastfeeding Tips
I loved breastfeeding. I fed Nathan, and I fed the babies.
In fact the nurses at Colchester hospital were amazed that I chose to feed them myself. What great nurses they were, even in that dreaful heat wave in August 2003, they were great. Someone even stole a fan for me from somewhere becasue Josh got heat rash - poor lil' guy.
Anyway, as I said, I loved breastfeeding, but it's not always easy to get started, and then its not so easy to keep going... and THEN it becomes a pleasure.
First, once you have made the decision to breastfeed (and I stand by breast-is-best), you may need to get some help initially to get your little one to attach himself or herself right. In most cases they get it right pretty quickly. Sometimes they need a bit of persuasion. Ask the mid-wife or nurse for help in getting both of you (you and your new little person) into action.
It is a get way to just snuggle and get loads of precious moments with your baby. So buy yourself at least 3 feeding bras, and a feeding nightie and shirts - or a few shirts with buttons you can undo and do up easily with one hand.
Second, just after you have mastered breastfeeding, you are going to wish you hadn;t because your nipples are going to get very sore. They will probably crack, and they may very well bleed. I had a friend who (bless her) gritted her way through a very painful brestfeeding adjustment, during which time her little one finished a good suck and promptly threw up blood everywhere - not the babies - though my friend had a few DREADFUL moments - hers.
What can you do about it? Very little, actually just expelling and rubbing a little breastmilk on the nipples is the best thing for them. But it may take up to 2 weeks of pretty white-knuckle feeds (which you may come to dread, and if you're like me, you will cry).
BUT after that, breastfeeding is an absolute joy. I am SO glad I stuck with it. You know when I had Nathan I remember thinking in between pushes that if I chewed my arm off it would be less painful. Breastfeeding is also pretty harsh new mums to be, but the end result is almost as great.
Oh, and for a mini-rant... OK, yes I agree with being disctrete about breastfeeding in public, but if anyone had ever told me NOT to breastfeed in public I would have bopped them one... well no I wouldn't but GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. There are very few things as natural in this world as breastfeeding your child.
And enjoy it.
Third, I loved breastfeeding all 3 of them. Nathan weened himself at 9 months, and Josh and Abby were goping strong at 2, so I moved them onto bottles, which I have only recently taken them off of (July this year, so one month short of their 3rd birthday). Now weeing is also pretty painful, but for an entriely diffferent reason. Your body hasn;t realised yet that it is requied to produce milk anymore, so your boobs are going to fill up... and fill up, and get lumpy and engorged...so EXPRESS people. You need to express and you need to 'cool' them down. This willmake sense when you get there.
The thing that worked for me, and I tried just about everything I could - I was producing milk for two 2 year olds - I SERIOUSLY need some help, were cold cabbage leaves.
You buy a big cabbage and you keep it in the fridge, and you just pop a cold raw cabbage leaf over your hot, sore boob - Ta-dah! instant relief... though not for too long. So keep replacing the leaves, and try to slow down on the expressing (don't want that bod of yours to think - 'Ahah! Wait! someone DOES want milk!'... and right back into production).
Some people advocate going right from breast to tippee-up cup. Well, mine were used to going to sleep with a suckle, so I decided they were going to be little for only a bit longer, and they could jolly well have a bottle to go sleep with (and as you all know from previous posts, I stay with them until they are asleep) so no dangers there.... Their teeth are fine - not out of place, no fillings, no nothing wrong - so there!
I am going to put in a small disclaimer here. This little blog of mine is a diary-stroke-experience based log of what I did, what worked for me, and in cases where things didn't work, what they were and what I did to change them. I am NOT saying that my way of doing things is right. I am in most cases describing and backing up what I did and do, how, why sometimes, and what the result was... OK? good...
In fact the nurses at Colchester hospital were amazed that I chose to feed them myself. What great nurses they were, even in that dreaful heat wave in August 2003, they were great. Someone even stole a fan for me from somewhere becasue Josh got heat rash - poor lil' guy.
Anyway, as I said, I loved breastfeeding, but it's not always easy to get started, and then its not so easy to keep going... and THEN it becomes a pleasure.
First, once you have made the decision to breastfeed (and I stand by breast-is-best), you may need to get some help initially to get your little one to attach himself or herself right. In most cases they get it right pretty quickly. Sometimes they need a bit of persuasion. Ask the mid-wife or nurse for help in getting both of you (you and your new little person) into action.
It is a get way to just snuggle and get loads of precious moments with your baby. So buy yourself at least 3 feeding bras, and a feeding nightie and shirts - or a few shirts with buttons you can undo and do up easily with one hand.
Second, just after you have mastered breastfeeding, you are going to wish you hadn;t because your nipples are going to get very sore. They will probably crack, and they may very well bleed. I had a friend who (bless her) gritted her way through a very painful brestfeeding adjustment, during which time her little one finished a good suck and promptly threw up blood everywhere - not the babies - though my friend had a few DREADFUL moments - hers.
What can you do about it? Very little, actually just expelling and rubbing a little breastmilk on the nipples is the best thing for them. But it may take up to 2 weeks of pretty white-knuckle feeds (which you may come to dread, and if you're like me, you will cry).
BUT after that, breastfeeding is an absolute joy. I am SO glad I stuck with it. You know when I had Nathan I remember thinking in between pushes that if I chewed my arm off it would be less painful. Breastfeeding is also pretty harsh new mums to be, but the end result is almost as great.
Oh, and for a mini-rant... OK, yes I agree with being disctrete about breastfeeding in public, but if anyone had ever told me NOT to breastfeed in public I would have bopped them one... well no I wouldn't but GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. There are very few things as natural in this world as breastfeeding your child.
And enjoy it.
Third, I loved breastfeeding all 3 of them. Nathan weened himself at 9 months, and Josh and Abby were goping strong at 2, so I moved them onto bottles, which I have only recently taken them off of (July this year, so one month short of their 3rd birthday). Now weeing is also pretty painful, but for an entriely diffferent reason. Your body hasn;t realised yet that it is requied to produce milk anymore, so your boobs are going to fill up... and fill up, and get lumpy and engorged...so EXPRESS people. You need to express and you need to 'cool' them down. This willmake sense when you get there.
The thing that worked for me, and I tried just about everything I could - I was producing milk for two 2 year olds - I SERIOUSLY need some help, were cold cabbage leaves.
You buy a big cabbage and you keep it in the fridge, and you just pop a cold raw cabbage leaf over your hot, sore boob - Ta-dah! instant relief... though not for too long. So keep replacing the leaves, and try to slow down on the expressing (don't want that bod of yours to think - 'Ahah! Wait! someone DOES want milk!'... and right back into production).
Some people advocate going right from breast to tippee-up cup. Well, mine were used to going to sleep with a suckle, so I decided they were going to be little for only a bit longer, and they could jolly well have a bottle to go sleep with (and as you all know from previous posts, I stay with them until they are asleep) so no dangers there.... Their teeth are fine - not out of place, no fillings, no nothing wrong - so there!
I am going to put in a small disclaimer here. This little blog of mine is a diary-stroke-experience based log of what I did, what worked for me, and in cases where things didn't work, what they were and what I did to change them. I am NOT saying that my way of doing things is right. I am in most cases describing and backing up what I did and do, how, why sometimes, and what the result was... OK? good...
posted by mom at 1:18 PM
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