Workshop #2 - Baby’s Early Years; Breastfeeding - Page 3

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

Originally Posted by LoganBsMom

So much great advice! I have a couple questions for all you well educated ladies. Is there anything to do for a milk supply that never really started? With DS I never had milk "come in" like everyone talks about. I didn't know about herbs back then, but did try reglan, pumpled finatically, ate well, drank lots. Still, I never had a real supply. Looking back, my breasts never got any bigger during pregnancy, and I have read that can be a sign of supply trouble later on. Fast forward to now. I am almost 8wks with #2, no growth in the chest area as of yet. I am very concerned I am going to have the same problem, and would really like to exclusivly nurse this time for as long as possible. Any thoughts? Thanks.

I have heard numerous times about women having trouble breatfeeding the first child, but no trouble with another. Sometimes it seems that the body actually learns how to do something. I would try to stay positive about it. But honestly, every drop of milk you gave to your baby was a gift! You should be very proud of yourself for doing all that you did and I know you will do everything you can for your next babe as well.

[thefragile7393]

This was something I always knew I would do....it's just the way things were done with the women I saw at church. No one I knew formula fed, if I saw a bottle I assumed it was breastmilk somehow.

I never thought it was hard to do, you just did it...and that's what happened to me.....I put him on, he latched right away, I got clear instruction on a good latch, and I had no problems. It wasn't until later that I learned of all the different problems women can have and why many give up. Coming here and seeing some mamas struggle, as well as reading Mothering, really makes me appreciate breastmilk and the lengths many women go to to try and provide the best for their little ones, be it pumping exclusively or supplementing due to low supply, or whatever. Reading books like The Politics of Breastfeeding and some others (forgot their names) really shed light on the ugly side of the formula industry (and I'm only talking about the industry, not parents who formula feed).

[Faliciagayle]

I was lucky going into pregnancy because my DHs best friend's wife nursed all her children till about 4 years old (she has three). By the time DH met me he was gung-ho on breastfeeding and insisted we would. I took it for granted that I would - I saw it often where I lived, my best friend was pg and extended bf/coslept/babywore long before I entertained the notion of getting pregnant. My mom bf'd my sister and me, Dhs mom nursed him and his sister, so everyone was ready for it.

DD was born at home, in the water, and we put her on my tummy right away and let her crawl/root for the nipple... well, I tried to anyway but after a few minutes I just wanted to hold her in my arms so I helped her along. She latched right away. I got so engorged, my milk came in after 2.5-3 days and it was painful. I looked like a porn star. In fact, I called my friend and said "no wonder men like fake breasts - they must remind them of their mom!" I remember feeling like a salad: I had cabbage leaves in my bra to help with the engorgement and seaweed in my panties to help with tearing.

Learning to nurse was painful. I never had cracked or bleeding nipples, or mastitis, or even a plugged duct but I did have a forceful let down and looking back, I think a bit of an over supply. Thus, DD had some latching issues but we kept going. DD is 8 months old now and still mostly EBF. We do self feeding and sometimes she's interested in solids, other times not. It certainly changes the smell and consistency of her poop, tho, whew! She gained fast and furious in the beginning and she's tapered off lately, but she's long and has a few cute creases, but no rolls

I figured I would nurse at the very minimum one year, probably two. I want to start charting because I still haven't had a post partum period. DH and I are not using any form of BC except nursing The other day my mom and I were talking (she nursed my sister 4 months and me 9 months) and she mentioned her least favorite part of nursing was weaning. We looked at each other and started laughing as I said "well, I probably won't have that problem!" At first, both Moms were surprised that I haven't started to wean her but now no one has a problem with it. I just keep explaining the benefits to baby and myself... We have a history of breast cancer on both sides so when I espouse the benefits of extended nursing for the mom - they listen.

Nursing in public isn't my favorite thing to do but we've done it plenty. I use a nursing cover (bebe au lait) sometimes, not always. I almost always wear a nursing tank and a shirt over it so my tummy doesn't come rolling out the sides of my skirt - at least not in an obvious way. I never mastered nursing in a wrap or sling. I think my boobs are too big/low to get that right. A couple weeks ago I nursed her through an entire tour of a historical sight. I held her in my arms and walked with her for an hour. I don't think anyone realized we were nursing.

We co sleep. I haven't attempted to night wean her. I just finished school and she had reverse cycled while I was in class so night time was when she got the bulk of her nutrition. She's slowly coming back to a regular schedule. We nurse on cue, sometimes we're both so distracted we go quite a while between feedings. She is MUCH more easily distracted now that we have to be in a quite, dark place to nurse or she pops on and off to look at everything.

[Bellabaz]

I really wanted to breastfeed. I tried what I could to prepare myself, but I didn't really know anyone who had done it. None told me about the possibility of bleeding cracked nips. I didn't have the knowledge or support I needed to so I ended up exclusively pumping for a year. I learned so much thouigh through the experience that I will be much better prepared next time.
I had mastitis, thrush and nerve damage. I had supply problems around month 4-5. We went to an LC becuase I had been in pain for 3 months, not realizing it wasn't normal. I thought it was just my body adjusting. She was so helpful and explained alot. Then I started going to LLL meetings and they were fantastic. Exclusively pumping wasn't that bad but there were a lot of times when I wished I were nursing so I didn't have to steal back to teh car to pump. But I pumped just about everywhere, hiking, camping, hostels, highways, on a plane. I was happy I could at least do that for my baby.

[Writerbird]

I only knew two people who breastfed. My mother breastfed me for six months (and then she got the "breastmilk isn't any good after six months" speech and believed it), but my mother is not the type to talk about things - I did not know about the time/reason for quitting until just a few weeks ago.

I did a lot of research (final count was 72 books) during my pregnancy, and came to the conclusion that I needed to breastfeed for at least six months, and that at least a year would be better. I read Womanly Art, of course, along with the Companion, the Answers, and Martha Sears. If it was possible to learn it from a book, I learned it. On the advice of these books, I rang for the nurse every time I fed my son at the hospital to check my latch and positioning.

I was horribly conflicted, though. I've always considered my breasts to be primarily sexual, and I am very, very modest. My breasts didn't grow at all during pregnancy, and I never had any leakage, so I was concerned about supply.

My son came earlier than I expected, and was under seven pounds. The pediatrician had me come in for daily weight checks, and by day four was muttering about supplementing with formula. Every bit of reading I'd done said he would lose weight in the first week, so I put my foot down about the daily checks. I told her I'd be back in a week, sooner if he looked dehydrated, and I went home with a very "do or die" feeling.

Nursing was not fun. I didn't feel my milk "come in," and to this day I've never felt what the books described as "let down." I got no hormone rushes, no sense of rightness, no peace. No cracks or bleeding or blisters, either, so at least there was some balance. The worst I had was a plugged duct, easily recognized and treated because of my prenatal research, and of course some rawness from being sucked on for most of the time my baby was awake. I still hated it, hated being exposed even though it was in my home, hated the loss of a vital part of my feeling like a sexual, sexy person.

But my son gained nearly a pound in that one week. I felt like I'd done right by him. And my husband was a rock of support, even though his mother was a formula champion.

I decided to give it the thirty days the books said I'd need to form a solid nursing relationship. I still might have quit if it hadn't been for my husband, my two breastfeeding friends, and my DDC here. It's too lonely. The LLL group nearest to me in my early weeks was comprised of a lot of judgmental zealots, and I felt like confessing my mental conflicts would not be safe. But I remember clearly that Day 29 was the effortless, enjoyable experience I was "promised."

My next challenge was nursing in public, and it turned out to be anticlimactic. The first few times I went out with my husband and had him check my exposure. That's when I found out that it really does just look like I'm holding our baby, and I never tried a coverup of any kind past our first outing, as that draws the very attention I want desperately to avoid.

Anyway. He's 15 weeks old on Saturday, and I'm 100% converted. Before it was an intellectual exercise of wanting my son to have the benefits of breastmilk, but breastfeeding was something alien. Now it's a nursing relationship, and it feels right.

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

I have a funny NIP story. About a week after ds2 was born, I was hankering for a steak. So we went out to Bugaboo Creek. Now, if you haven't been there, they have fake animals as mounts on the wall, and every once in awhile, the animals will talk or sing a song, or whatever. Well, it was the first time that I had been out since ds2 was born and I didn't dress very appropriately. I didn't really have any clothes that fit or were clean other than a pair of overalls and a button down shirt. So about half way through dinner, ds2 wakes up and is hungry. So in order to make this work, I had to unbuckle the overalls and unbotton the shirt from the top down, because it was too tight to go the other way. As soon as I got this done, my breat hugely engorged with milk, hanging in the breeze, the fish above our table bursts out in song! Everyone in the restaurant turns around to our table to look, and there I am in all my womanly glory. I get laughing so hard I can hardly get ds2 latched on and milk is spraying all over the table. It was one of my funniest breastfeeding moments ever!

[heidirk]

That has got to be the funniest NIP story I ever heard!

I went to WIC the other day, and one of the questions they ask is, "and how are you planning to feed this baby?" I said, "I will be breastfeeding, I was able to exclusively BF Hen until I got pregnant this time."
raised eyebrows. . ."So you fed him for over a year!? Wow!"

Even though my birth and nursing story was dicey for us, I am longing to hold and nurse this new baby. I know things will be easier because I now have nipples, and I've done it before, sheild, mastitis, thrush, cosleeping. . . the whole shebang.


I am grateful to be a Momma, and I feel very blessed to have been able to nurse DS for 18 mos. My goal had been a year.

Thanks for all the stories, Mommas.
I haev one question. . . How do I avoid an oversupply this time?

[a(TM)?Star]

My breastfeeding experience with my first couldn't have been more picture perfect, IMO. Jack was born, and immediately was given to me to nurse. I wasn't sure I would like breastfeeding. My mother had breastfed both of her kids, so I had learned from her about the importance, but hadn't decided if it was for me.........I wasn't nearly as crunchy then as I am now.

Anyway, he was born in a hospital, and took to latching on immediately. It hurt, but the cramps were worse, NOONE told me about those! What surprised me, is that he wasn't allowed to be with me all night in the hospital, only for "their" feedings. I made sure he wasn't given formula. No matter how tired and sore i was, I went back to that nursery all night long to get him so I could breastfeed. The nurses commented to me how dedicated I was. It really didn't seem like dedication at all, it seemed like mothering.

When we arrived home, he was probably nursing almost every hour and a half. It drained me. He wasn't a good sleeper either, so I was up around the clock. I can remember getting knocked down with a terrible cold when he was 3 weeks old. I was concerned that breastfeeding could make him sick. No one had told me that the opposite was true, until I talked to a La Leche League leader. I felt so good knowing that I was possibly preventing him from catching my cold.

Basically from the start, I began feeling like a breastfeeding warrior. I couldn't believe I even considered not doing it. It was amazing, and empowering to know that I was doing what nature intended. jack nursed until he was 19 months old. He weaned himself, but now looking back, it may have been a nursing strike. I know better with my LO now to keep trying.

When I had dd....it was second nature. She's a beautiful nursling, and she took to it naturally, without a hitch. She's just like Jack, down to business, and she's done. I wish sometimes she would relax a little more, but that's what night nursing is for, right? I can enjoy it more at night when she's calm. I plan on doing child led weaning.

I have had a life changing experience breastfeeding. It has made me more conscience of my world. It's made me feel beautiful, and bonded with my children. Back to nature in a sense. I'll cherish these moments forever.:

[rhiasmum]

I also always knew I wanted to breastfeed. I'm the oldest of three and we were all breastfed - even though my mom came from a family of six and none were breastfed. I never considered formula and was a staunch anti-formula pregnant woman with my first pregnancy.
Dd#1 was born by c-section - and so our nursing issues began. I was so full of fluids that my nipples wouldn't/couldn't pop out for her to nurse. I was in a breastfeeding friendly, small hospital with wonderful IBCLC's. Unfortunately most of them worked the day shift so when they went home, night time was tough for us. One night I had a nurse sitting next to me while I was trying to get dd to latch on whispering, "You can give her a bottle of formula. She's starving." New mommyhood, not wanting to starve my child and general exhaustion had set in and I gave in. The next morning the IBCLC nurse came in, looked at my dd's chart and asked, "Who gave this child formula?". I told her the nurse last night told me I was starving her so I said ok. She looked me right in the eye and told me I wasn't starving my baby and that if I wanted to give her formula that was fine but I needed to make a decision. I told her I wanted to breastfeed.
Of course dd#1 lost some weight and the ped wanted me to supplement. Thank goodness the hospital had a breastfeeding support group run by the IBCLC nurse we had in the hospital and two CLC's. They told me breastmilk has more calories than regular formula and if they wanted dd to gain weight why would I stop nursing her? The other moms also related their similar stories and I felt confident I could do this. We did and I nursed dd#1 until she was 19 1/2 months old and I realized I was pg. She kept patting my breasts telling me the milk was all gone.
Dd#2 was born by emergency c-section. I got to hold her for 10 minutes and attempt to nurse her before she was taken from me for over 3 hours for tests. She had IV antibiotics for her first 48 hours and was very sleepy. She was not interested in eating. I was hoping not to have the issues we had with dd#1. We were not that fortunate.
Dd#2 wasn't back to birth weight by her 6 week checkup. I was nursing her constantly, skin on skin, etc. The ped came up with a plan of supplementing, pumping and adding formula to the breastmilk. I cried with every bottle but she gained weight. The ped told me I could stop pumping as she'd probably never latch on again. I went home and stopped pumping - I put her right to breast. I would nurse her and if she was still hungry I'd give her a bottle. Eventually she stopped needing the supplement of formula. She's over 9 months old now and is breastfed.
She's developed some food allergies but we're dealing with it. She's doing great. From being in the 2nd percentile for weight she's now in the 50th. I never gave up. I knew from my experience with my first dd that we could do this. It was definetly a challenge and with dd#2 I thought many times of giving up but I knew that I would miss this time with her. Plus I believe that breast milk is the best. Especially where she's had these food allergies.
After having two children and all the issues involved my mantra has been stick to it, it's worth it and it will all work out in the end. I think our society is too quick to give up, thinking everything should be easy and convenient. I read books before my first dd on breastfeeding but none of them covered what we went through. I thank God everyday for the wonderful support group we found and still attend.
My dh is extremely supportive. While I was having meltdowns, pumping and a hungry baby crying, he did whatever he could. He told me numerous times I could do this - I had done it before. He's take our toddler out so I could rest and concentrate on dd#2. Education and support are what's needed I believe for any mom to breastfeed successfully. It saddens me how much misinformation I've received from OB/GYNs, pediatricians and nurses who work for them about nursing.
I don't know how long dd#2 will nurse. I'm just grateful she's nursing now. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

[OTMomma]

I'm lucky- my mom nursed me for 15 months and my brother for a year. I know my dh's mom also nursed him "until he could unbutton her shirt" LOL So I never questioned I would breastfeed my children. While pregnant with my first, I read books and attended a breastfeeding class. I had never really seen anyone nurse a baby before though- at least not as an adult, and so I felt I really needed the pictures in the books to explain how I would be able to hold the baby to the breast.

Dd was born full term, and latched right on. Unfortunately she had a bad latch, by day 2, I had cracked and bleeding nipples. Thankfully my hospital had a good LC who worked with us on that latch for a week, I also developed thrush due to antibiotics during labor. I am so glad I had read about nursing, because it had prepared me to know that I could work through potential problems. My mom had never had those kinds of problems with nursing (and my MIL was deceased), so she was really no help for advice. But she and dh were both great during those early days and weeks at helping with everything else that could possibly need done, and getting me food and drinks. By the time dd was 6 weeks nursing was easy.

I had thought I would nurse for one year- because that's what you do, right? But then dd turned one, and she was still a baby! She didn't have a full set of teeth, and wasn't interested in a full range of foods, so how could I wean her I thought? Suddenly, my support system was gone though, everyone I knew seemed to think nursing past a year was weird. But then my chiropractor had a copy of Mothering magazine in her office, and talked some with me about extended nursnig. I found MDC and suddenly had support to keep nursing!! The nearest LLL meeting to me was an hour's drive away, dd hated the car, so I never was able to go. But with the support I found here, I ended up nursing dd for 3 years and 3 months. I can't say it was fully CLW, I forced night weaning when I was too tired to function when she was 2, and I gently encouraged her to nurse less. But I'm really proud that we nursed so long, and I worked with dd to wean when she was ready.

With dd I NIP like I thought it was a public service announcement- and she was SO helpful about that. She nursed in the sling, she nursed like a pro, almost never leaving me hanging out, getting right down to business. But at 18 months, dh convinced me we needed to stop NIP, even though I had never had a negative comment from a stranger. For whatever reason, dh is uncomfortable with me NIP, he doesn't care about other women doing it, that's fine, but... however, he was always wonderfully supportive of me choosing to EBF and helping at home.

When ds was born, I was prepared for the first 2 weeks to again be hell. But it wasn't. He was 2 full pounds bigger than his sister, and nursed like he had been doing it for months. No nipple pain, no thrush (homebirth this time), but at 2 weeks, mastitis. I've had a number of bouts of mastitis, it seems to be related to getting dehydrated, so I watch my liquid intake more now. Ds is now 11 months, and nursing him has been so different. He almost never wants to NIP, he's just too interested in everything else when we are out. He's also much more interested in food than dd was, and has more teeth. I wonder if he'll nurse as long as she did, but only time will tell.

Interestingly though, a few days ago we were on a family vacation in Chattanooga, TN, and I nursed ds at the Aquarium there. It made dh very uncomfortable, but while nursing, I had 2 seperate mamas approach me and thank me for nursing an older baby in public! One woman taught bfing classes and the other said her 2 year old was still nursing and she had no support, and it was just nice to see someone else nurse. It made me feel SO good.

[nanay2bella]

watch breast crawl from unicef in you tube

hello! i just watched a short video of a newborn baby on youtube doing the breast crawl. it is amazing.i want you guys to see it too. It will change the views of the skeptics.:

[mouso]

I love reading all your stories, mamas! Hopefully they can help and inspire other mamas.

Here's mine:

I always thought I would BF b/c that's just what you should do. My mom Bfed me and my brother. I never really thought about it too much, or thought about formula either. I did take a BFing class at the B. Center before DD was born so I knew what to expect, more or less.
DD was born in a birth center and put directly on my chest. She latched on and nursed for the next 2 hours. When I got up to clean up and she snuggled in with DH I saw that both nipples were completely covered with small blisters- already!

Those blisters turned into cuts and took a long time to heal. I was pumping and trying to feed DD as well as nurse when I could take the pain. They could see nothing wrong with her latch. Finally they healed but nursing remained painful. Eventually we were diagnosed with thrush which took 2 months to get rid of. I also had recurring plugged ducts at least twice a week for the first few months. Taking Lecithin capsules reallly helped with those- as well as heat and massage and nursing in all kinds of crazy positions. Although I got ill feeling a couple of times from them I always managed to unplug the duct before getting mastitis. Phew!

I was lucky and was able to go to the BC once a week and talk with the nurses, weigh DD, etc. Without their support I don't know how long I would have lasted.

It was so difficult to be in pain all the time. I did tons of research on BFing and FFing because I was so desperate to give it up and be out of pain. Of course, I just cemented the knowledge that BFing was so important if you can do it. So I continued on. I thought I would make it to 6 months and then think again.

I was diagnosed with thrush, painful letdown, oversupply and Reynaud's. DD's mouth was small so her latch was pinching me (they finally figured that out!), that didn't get better until she grew more. We nursed exclusively in the football hold for the first 2 months. I thought I'd never be able to nurse "normally" and have her latch on properly.

But it got better. My mom once said to me "You can't BF out of guilt." and I said "Watch me!" I loved the look on her face when she'd get near the boob. How excited when she smelled me. And by 6 months I was loving nursing her and so very happy I had continued.

Seriously, it is one of the things I'm most proud of. I stuck it out and we are still going at 17 months- and I always thought I'd wean at 1. Now I'm thinking 2 years, but we'll see- This girl loves her "Boo boo!"

And I am always here for a PM for support or advice if you feel I can help you!

[detroitgirl77]

I always knew that when I had kids that I would breastfeed. My mom breastfed all 4 of us kids for about 6-8 months, but I was breastfed for only 5 months as her milk dried up suddenly--she was pregnant w/ my brother--we are 13 months apart. We never had formula, as this was the late 70's/early 80's we went straight to cows milk.

I had ds1 on December 20, 2005. I was planning on a natural childbirth, but he ended up being born by c section due to me have tetonic contractions, which caused his cord to become compressed and limiting oxygen to him. I didn't get to nurse him until about 6 hours after he was born. We had latch issues from the start, since the nurses gave him a bit of formula. I was finally able to get him to latch on, but he tore up my nipples--they were cracking, bleeding,etc--so much pain. My milk came in within 48 hours of delivery. Come Christmas day, 5 days later, I am feeling so out of it--no appetite, forcing myself to eat, wanting to sleep all day. I ended up going to the hospital and found that I had a bladder infection, which I believe was caused by the catheter. I was trying to nurse and pump but was so lethargic, so dh ended up giving him a bottle or 2 of formula while I was at the hospital. After being on antibiotics for a few days, I was feeling back to normal just about. If I was too out of it to nurse him, I would pump instead so I wouldn't lose my supply. When Anthony was a few months old, I woke up with a huge pain in my right breast, plus chills, fever, shakes. Yay mastitis!! I ended up doing tons of pumping, pressure massage, hot moist compresses, etc and I finally got rid of it w/o taking antibiotics. I went back to work when he was almost 3 months old and I was pumping 3x a day, 15 minutes each session. I pumped a combined total of anywhere between 12-18 oz each day. I kept on pumping at work until he was about 13 months old, until I noticed I wasn't getting much anymore. I was late, so I took a pregnancy test and found out I was pregnant!! Unfortunately I miscarried at 8 weeks.

Two months later, I found out I was pregnant again! Anthony still nursed throughout the pregnancy. I was still producing milk until I hit 16 weeks, when I noticed nothing was coming out. At this point, it was very painful to nurse. I stuck through it, since he should no interest in weaning. Finally around 23-24 weeks I started producing colostrum. No more pain. I ended up night weaning him when I was about 8 months preggo as I wasn't able to get any sleep otherwise with the constant nursing!! Anthony nursed through my entire pregnancy, even when I was in early labor!! I knew that I would probably be tandeming, since Anthony showed no signs of slowing down!

Went to the hospital on January 20, 2008, when I had ds2 Bryant. I was going for a VBAC, but ended up w/ another c section, due to knots in the cord, lack of oxygen. It wasn't as traumatic as ds1's birth since I knew what to expect. This time around I told them that I would be nursing him in recovery. He nursed less than an hour after he was born!! Champion nurser right from the start--no latch issues, nipple pain, etc. My milk came in about 24 hours after delivery this time around!! The next day when Anthony got to meet his younger brother, Bryant was nursing. Anthony walked right over, climbed on the bed and said "please the booby?" Starting that day, I was a tandem nursing mama!! When I went home, I was nursing both. I ended up assigning each of them a breast. I gave Bryant the right, as it produced more than the left.

Tandem nursing was rough from the start, especially for Anthony since he didn't want to share. I had to deal with tons of tantrums. This time around, even nursing the 2 of them, I didn't have any sleep deprivation issues like I had before, since Bryant was able to nurse lying down right from the start!! Anthony didn't master that until he was about 6 months old.

Since my oldest night weaned and my youngest wasn't taking in a lot, I was constantly engorged at night. I ended up using my ameda one handed breast pump, as using the electric ameda purely yours pump would've taken too much effort. By the time I went back to work when Bryant was almost 3 months old, I had pumped and put up in the deep freezer over 600 oz. of milk. That was amazing in itself, as I only stashed about 300 oz with my first son. Within a month of being back at work, I was at about 1100 oz in the deep freeze. I knew we would never use that much, so I decided to donate 900 oz (wanted to keep a bit of a back up stash, just in case) A wonderful mama from here was chosen to receive the milk for her son, who is just one month older than Bryant. Last I heard, he was gaining weight!

My first day back at work, I wasn't sure if I would respond to the electric pump, since I hadn't used it since my first son was born. I ended up getting about 34 oz!!! Shows what tandem nursing can do for your supply!! Since then, I've been getting anywhere from 24-36 oz, between 3 pumps/day, this time only pumping 8 minutes on average!! I am now at over 500 oz in the deep freeze again, so I'll probably be looking to donate again pretty soon, especially since Bryant is only taking 2-3 4 oz bottles/day, and Anthony likes his directly from the tap!!

One great thing about have a nursing toddler is that they are there to help with engorgement, unblock plugged ducts, etc. Anthony always asks "please the Anthony's booby" He is so excited when I tell him to nurse off the brother's booby. Its a big treat for him!! Also, I started getting some plugged ducts on Bryant's side, so I let Anthony go to town since he has a much stronger suck than his brother. He dislodges it every time!!

I will be nursing both boys as long as they want to, but I would definately wean before they would start kindergarten if they didn't self wean by that time. If both are still nursing when we decide to have another kiddo, the brothers would share one while the baby gets the other!

I've also been attending a wonderful breastfeeding support group through my local wic office--we've been going over 2 years!! There's another tandem nursing mama who's been going nearly as long--she's tandeming a 26 month and 8 month old. Now,we've been the ones helping out the new mamas, sharing our experiences, etc.

I'm so glad that I decided to breastfeed. The reasons are purely selfish: I'm cheap--can't imagine having to pay for formula, I'm lazy--don't want to get u in the middle of the night to fix a bottle--i can just pop a boob in the mouth and go back to sleep(yes we cosleep--family bed) and i know its the best thing for my kiddos!!

If anyone has any questions, etc, feel free to pm me!!

Whew! Sorry for the long winded post. Thanks for reading if you got this far!!

[CatherineEL]

Hey ladies. Thank you very much for this. It's very healing to read your words.

I didn't think I'd be successful at breastfeeding. My nipples are really sensitive, and I simply didn't think I could take it. After DS came quickly into this world (almost in the car on the way to the hospital), we slowly worked our way into a comfortable routine. It took a while (maybe 2 weeks) to feel comfortable at all, but we had help. (Including dh who "popped" the babe onto my breast to help him latch on!) The best suggestion I had was to treat my bruises with cold packs and to side-lie and nurse, because my episiotomy stitches hurt too much to sit on them. That's still to this day the way we mostly nurse.

(And we made it even tho in the early day there were hinderences, including a LC in the hospital who asked me on dy 2 of DS's life, "Why did you let him bruise you all night long?"
-"Well, I guess because it all hurt, and I was exhausted and couldn't see at night and didn't know any better, you mean thing you!")

Like others, I thought, ok, let's try to get to 6 months. Then a year. Since DS is over a year, I've been rethinking breastfeeding, but it's going so smoothly. I pump once at work, and I nurse mostly at night or in the early morning. It's such a sweet thing, and I love holding him in my arms while he has his milk. How adorable - how precious.

There are those moments when I realize that he's making his body from my body, and I feel like such a Goddess. You know? How amazing is that? Sometimes he curls up his legs and it's almost like he's a tiny newborn again. I think that must be so nice for him.

Also, because in his early days nursing meant his very survival, I think it must be so calminig and reassuring to be in that space again, taking in the same elixir that helped him live and grow in his first months. We never did formula until his 4th month when I got stung horribly by a jellyfish and had morphine shots. That was just for a few days, then it was on his 6 month bday that he started solids, and then only in small amounts. For many months he just had mama milk - his whole body was made from it. What an incredibly powerful thing for him to still enjoy it.

At any rate, blessings to all of you lovely mamas. Thank you for being here.

K: wife to S lovin' our baby P

[aaronsmom]

I was only 17 years old when my DS was born. At that time I knew very little about breastfeeding in general. My family had a sort of attitude that breastfeeding was "icky" and "why would you want to when it's so much easier to formula feed?". So, unfortunately I did not nurse my son.
Now that I nurse 4 month old DD I realize how much I missed out on. I have a bond with my daughter that I never had with my son and I regret not nursing him soooo much. It pains me that I'll never be able to forge that bond (although I love him with all my heart).
Breastfeeding is wonderful and everytime DD latches on I feel as though my heart could burst with love. Breastfeeding, to me, is like an external extension of when DD was in the womb. Though she is no longer within me, my body alone continues to provide her with the nourishment and comfort that is so vital to these early years of development. What a wonder that nature crafted mother and child so perfectly to compliment each other. My milk helps her grow and develop physically and mentally while the bond of nursing helps us both to grow emotionally.
Nursing my daughter has now helped my family members realize that breastfeeding is not only as natural as breathing, but it is also beautiful and a physical manifestation of love. It has also helped my husband to realize that my breasts are not just sexual objects but that they perform a much needed function.
Growing up uneducated about breastfeeding it is now my mission that any young mother I meet be as informed as possible when it comes to nursing so that not only they make an educated choice about whether to nurse or not, but they realize they have the choice to breastfeed.

[Arwyn]

Originally Posted by heidirk

How do I avoid an oversupply this time?

Hm, that's a good question. It never occurred to me to avoid an oversupply, just to deal with it with block feeding. I also know women who are big donors due to their massive "over" supply! So that's another option I suppose.

Anyone else have any ideas?

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

I'm not sure you can avoid it, but I have heard that you can do the cabbage leaves on the breast to bring your milk supply down. But I think you have to be careful also to not disrupt your supply too much.

[a(TM)?Star]

I've had issues with an oversupply with both kiddies. What I did was breasfeed 2x on each side in a row...I did this for a few weeks, and my body finally got the drift to produce a little, and I mean little less. It didn't work wonders though. When either of them goes through a growth spurt, I'm back at square one. I don't pump with dd, but I would donate if I could.

[heidirk]

Thanks for the ideas! I do plan on Donating, as I will probably NEED to pump extra away in the first few weeks. My milk came in on day three PP even with a moderate hemmorhage, and my let down is full-force, Niagra Falls. DS would latch on, get it going and then pop off and let it spray everywhere for a minute till it calmed down! I just can't bear the thought of dumping good milk when there are BB's that need it!

My only idea for avoiding oversupply is to pump less, even if I'm too full.


Mastitis advice-
The second time I had mastitis (I had it three times) An IBCLC told me to take Lecithin every day. It keeps the fat in the milk from forming blockages. She said I have an unusual amount of milk producing breast tissue, and my milk is probably very fatty. After I started taking the lecithin I didn't have any more mastitis.

[Nillarilla]

One thing that jump started my supply was pumping right after feeding. I drained the last little bit out of the boobs and since this is the fatty stuff it is excellent for supplementing. This is probably why DS was soooooooooo fat. He looked like the michelin man. My supply dropped to almost nothing when I had mastitis and this is how I got it back. Plus it helped drain out the plugs. I think pumping was probably the hardest thing for me. There was no bonding and connection just a lot of time effort and sometimes discomfort.

How do you ladies support another mom who you know is struggling with bfing without sounding to preachy?