I want to start out saying I am not here to condemn people. I understand there are circumstances out of people's control where they cannot breastfeed. I will say though, that I am pro breast feeding and I hope that all mothers at the very least try to breast feed if they can.
I have had quite the mixture of emotions while breastfeeding. Now nursing my second child, I feel like I have a much better grasp on things. So I want to talk about what I learned personally that no doctor ever seemed to tell me.
1. Sometimes babies don't know how to latch properly. I had this problem with Joshua. He struggled for the first few months with latching and we had to go to a lactation consultant and honestly he was partially on formula for the first month of his life until I discovered nipple shields that helped him latch.
2. Birth control can change your milk supply. My doctors vaguely mentioned this, but I had no clue what they meant and they put me on a stronger birth control that dried me up. As soon as I realized this I had to hurry and get my prescription changed.
3. Nursing hurts! Gosh it hurts and between that and my son not latching and my milk supply drying up, I had a really rough start. (And it hurt the 2nd time too for the first month with Addie, though maybe not as bad?). I have to say a HUGE thank you to my mother! She pushed me and encouraged me and I am SO glad she did! No one told me that nursing would hurt or be hard and I clearly did not research things because I thought things would come naturally. HA!
4. There are a lot of ways to get your supply back up. With Joshua (and Addie) I have used fenugreek (it's an herb that no one really understands, but it helps boost your milk supply) and it works! I took 9 capsules a day for a few weeks and pumped 30 minutes after every nursing, 10 minutes on each side. I literally pulled my milk from being less than an ounce to filling more bottles than I could ever use (with Joshua).
5. If you have extra milk, freeze it! I wish I had done this with Joshua. I had so much milk for the first 6 months, but as he got older my body struggled to keep up and I really wish I stored some of that milk. This time around I feel like I have just the right amount though.
6. What you eat and how much you drink water very much affects your supply! On days where I don't eat a good lunch or drink enough water I can tell my supply isn't as good. I remember thinking with Joshua that personally I have to eat more when I'm nursing versus when I'm pregnant. Now I understand I am a petite person, so others may not struggle with this as much, but I need those calories to make milk.
7. Stress can affect your supply. I'm not sure why my supply dropped off at 6 months with my son. Maybe it dropped because of stress or maybe I wasn't eating enough, or maybe I just couldn't get Joshua to focus enough.
8. Nursing burns calories. I don't think it's all that much, but it is something to take into consideration, making sure you stay hydrated and knowing what is going on with your body can help.
10. Nursing is a beautiful bonding experience. I have a love hate relationship with nursing. It is tiresome and can be exhausting, but it is also a great bonding experience. It encourages you to hold your child more and I have more respect for my body because of it.
11. Guys our bodies are super cool! Not only do our bodies know exactly how to grow these perfect little people and form their hearts and eyes and all the sweetness, but our bodies continue to be able to feed our children! It has been so empowering knowing that my children grow from the milk my body makes. It's really cool!
12. Your milk is never the same! I actually only learned this recently, that when you nurse, it creates a vacuum and your baby's spit goes in and some receptors in your body read the spit like a chart and say "hey this baby needs more of this nutrient" and so your milk changes to fit the needs of your baby. You also give them antibodies which can help keep them from getting sick and if they do get sick, it can help them fight off their illness. Guys breast milk is amazing!
There are plenty of other interesting facts about breast feeding. This isn't supposed to be a lecture on breastfeeding, on the contrary I hope maybe someone who is about to be a mom or maybe someone who is struggling might read this and maybe they won't feel so alone.
I guess I wrote this because nursing can be hard! There are so many factors that can go into our ability to breastfeed. Seriously I cried for the first 2 weeks of Joshua's life because he wouldn't latch and everything hurt and I was scared he wouldn't grow. It has taken a lot of research and personal experience to overcome these challenges. More than ever I have been incredibly worried about Addie growing, because I know the struggles I had with Joshua (she's doing fine by the way). But guys it's okay if it's hard. If you're at home crying being like "am I the only one struggling?" no you aren't.
I really wish people would talk more about nursing, giving birth and pregnancy. Now having had gestational diabetes with Addie, moving across the country, changing insurance in the middle of both my pregnancies and having had 2 c-sections, I kind of feel like I've been through a lot.
I'd like to hear from other moms of their experiences of being able to breastfeed or maybe not being able to. Did anyone else feel like they weren't given enough information?
I'm wish y'all all the success in the world!
-Megan
