breastfeeding advice

As I was writing product reviews on the items associated with breastfeeding and pumping I thought I might share my two cents on breastfeeding first.  I won’t go on a tirade about why you should breastfeed, but without hesitation I will tell you that I am think breastfeeding is amazing and I firmly believe in it.  


First, let me say that you can never know enough about breastfeeding ahead of time.  You think you get it, then you get home with a baby whose sole food source is coming from you and it is so easy to get overwhelmed.


Second, let me tell you that I’m not entirely happy how my breastfeeding adventure went.  I made a lot of mistakes, but I definitely plan on learning from them (and contacting my lactation consultant as soon as I have a problem) the next go around.


There is a ton of advice that comes with breastfeeding so I won't go into it all, but if I had to give a new mom only a few words of advice, it would be this:

1. Get a book and read up ahead of time
2. Take a breastfeeding class
3. Get to know your lactation consultant.  If your hospital doesn’t have a lactation consultant (which most do), find out the contact information for one in your area (the La Leche League has a list of resources)
4. At any moment that you run into trouble or difficulty, contact your lactation consultant – don’t wait
5. When things get tough, don’t stop breastfeeding your baby and switch over to a bottle (even if you are going to pump your milk) if you have the intention or desire to continue to breastfeed

It’s pretty obvious that #5 is what got me.  My baby lost a lot of weight the first week (which is common, but I freaked when the pediatrician showed a hint of concern).  I was beyond worried that she was not getting enough milk (which is also a very common worry for nervous new moms).  My pediatrician told me to offer my baby milk or formula after I try to breastfeed to see if she was still hungry.  Sure enough, we did this and my little one was starved – ate up the bottle immediately.  I was so relieved that my baby was eating and putting on weight that I started pumping to get my supply up while we supplemented with formula (mixed with whatever breastmilk I got).  It took my milk about 10 days to come in (which can be a side effect with a caesarean).  It was only then I contacted my lactation consultant for help.  Waiting that long was a big mistake; I should have called her immediately.  I should have also continued to try to breastfeed rather than pumping.  All things I will learn from.  My consultant gave me great advice and tools to use, however my baby was not interested in working for her food anymore.  She wanted to be bottle fed.  I even tried transitional nipples (called nipple shields) that give your baby that rubber nipple feel they are looking for, but I was completely unsuccessful.

Needless to say, I started pumping full time (huge, HUGE, mistake).  I can tell you firsthand, you never want to do this.  Pumping is time consuming.  Feeding your baby is time consuming.  My life went on a 3 hour cycle:  Feed the baby (45-60 mins), pump (75 mins, until I broke down and spent the money on a double pump, but then it was still 45 mins), about 30-45 minutes of downtime and then repeat.  When you are solely pumping you have to pump a lot and for a long time to keep up production.  Your pump can never pump as much as a baby can intake from your breast itself.  Also you can get all the less desirable side effects that come with breastfeeding (engorgement, mastitis, chapped and bleeding nipples, etc.) without the nice side effects (the close bonding and time with your baby).  This is not the life you want – just take my word for it.


I have vowed to learn from my mistakes and so desperately want to prove that I can be successful at this.  Unfortunately it will have to wait until my second child.