1.You're going to need to pump. I took a prenatal class where they had an entire class on breastfeeding, it was all about how to hold the baby, latch and when your milk will come in. They didn't mention the pump AT ALL. So I didn't have one when we first took Jake home. It's also true that on the first kid, the milk often doesn't come in right away. A combination of the fact I had a C section and was too out of it after he was born to nurse, and I had Gestational Diabetes so they had to get on getting him fed RIGHT away, I needed the pump right away. The hospital provided one while I was there. The upside to not having it already, I was able to get the same brand as the hospital, and they encouraged me to take the parts home that I used there...yay free extra parts!
2.It WILL hurt. I was told up and down, if it was done properly, it won't hurt. How many times have you tried something in your life that you just nailed right off the bat? I can't think of many, and Breastfeeding was no exception. Between desperately trying to make it work, having difficulty with holds, and being terrified I was going to break the baby, I didn't do it right. Your kid doesn't know EXACTLY what they're doing. Instinctively yes they have the tools, but they haven't perfected anything, and you guys need to nail it as a team. When Jake started successfully exclusively breastfeeding, we were still getting our groove, and I got blistered, bruised and just all around sore. I used a couple different products to HELP, and I will share them in future posts
3.It may take a while. This works in more than one way, starting to successfully feed, and the length of time it takes. It can take a while to get your milk built up, and for your kid to successfully latch. When I was trying over and over to get Jake to latch, I read some people can take up to two months, but the average point was about 6 weeks. Yeah it can take 6 weeks to get the kid to do it on the regular. As a result EVERY time it was time to feed, I would TRY and get him to latch, and usually, didn't work. I had to use a shield for a while because he wouldn't open wide enough. So Cale would bottle feed and I would pump at the same time. The upside was considering I was pumping I was able to go to breast milk exclusively pretty quickly. The other thing is there can be health issues that slow things down, for us it was Jaundice. Jake would fall asleep as a result, to the point they told us not to bother trying to get him to latch until it was gone. It was about week 7 when it clicked and we started exclusively breastfeeding. The other way this works, in the beginning the kid is trying to build up a supply, so they want to nurse a LOT, even if they aren't eating, sucking to build it up. I had days where Jake would just go ALL day, this has been until REALLY recently actually.
4.You're going to need support. Your hormones are already all over the map, so when it doesn't work exactly how you want it to, you're going to feel defeated, you could have some breakdowns too ( I had SEVERAL). You will need a support system. Cale was my rock, and I could not have gotten to it without him. I had friends who would lift me up. Unfortunately I had people who seemed to be against me at times. Some would point out how I may not get my supply up, or be able to keep it up. I also had a family member who watched me struggle and felt the need to point it out to me and tell me all the things I was doing wrong, or why I was going to have difficulty. This was right after we started successfully breastfeeding, and from some one who didn't breastfeed themselves. I wanted to ask why they wanted me to fail, because that's how it felt to me. My hormones had calmed down a LOT at this point, and I had family who had breastfed lifting me back up, so it didn't get to me fortunately...but if that had been there in the first couple weeks, it would have sucked.
5.You'll need to feed more frequently. There are DEFINITELY pros and cons to breastfeeding or formula, a debate that continues. One that I didn't realize, you're going to need to feed more often. Here is the score, Breast milk is easier to digest than formula. The upside, less spit up, also breast milk doesn't stain like formula. The downside however is your kid digests it quicker, so you need to feed more frequently. I didn't realize this. Would this have changed my mind on breastfeeding early on? Quite possibly, there were multiple times early on where I almost gave up, and if I had known this then, I may have thrown in the towel. Where I made it to the other side of my struggle when I learned this, doesn't change a thing.
We're close to a month now of successful breast feeding and I'm so proud I stuck it out. That being said, it has been time consuming and frustrating on more than one occasion, and if/when we have a second, I don't know if I could do it with two little people, but that remains to be seen. Second children can be a very different experience from what I'm told.
K, Luv Ya, Bye!
Nancy
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