During the pregnancy I read up on it as much as I could. JR and I even went to a breastfeeding class hosted by the hospital. It was very helpful and she even recommended a few books on the subject. I settled on one and read it thoroughly--even highlighting information I thought I would need when it came time.
Towards the end, I packed my bag for the hospital and threw the book in there too! After all, I would be nursing Eli for the first time in the hospital. What if I needed to reference the book?
With all the information in the book, also came the advice not to give babies anything but the breast for absolute success! I listened to this advice and decided I wouldn't give Eli a pacifier for at least a few weeks so that he wouldn't get "confused" between the nipples. I also made a sign that said something like "I am learning to breastfeed, please do not give me anything without my mommy's permission." and gave it to the nurses. I felt a little silly, but I was determined.
Within 20-30 minutes of Eli's birth, I was asking the nurse when I could nurse him. They were very encouraging and even showed me how to get him to latch on and different positions. Thankfully I still remembered some advice we got from the class and all my reading. I didn't have any trouble the first time. In fact, it went really well and Eli ate eagerly, haha! JR and I enjoyed our new baby, just the three of us, for the first hour of his life. After our family came to see him, he seemed to be hungry again. Everyone stepped out to grab some food or make calls or whatever, and I started to nurse Eli again. But this time, he got tangled up a little in my awkwardness, all those stupid cords they have attached to you! I called the nurse in to rescue me and Eli and she repositioned him. All I have to say is, once you get to the hospital, it seems you have to throw your modesty out the window!
Everything went fine at the hospital. I did agree to let the doctor give Eli a little sugar water for his circumcision. It makes them feel a little better while they do the procedure, so I agreed. Through teary eyes, they took him away. He slept for about 4 hours after that, and I started to panic because I hadn't nursed him in awhile. I was afraid my milk wasn't going to come in if I missed a feeding. We tried and tried to get him awake, looking through the book for advice, nothing worked. So I called the nurse in to help. She got him latched on, but he didn't eat well. I guess he was exhausted from the procedure. They gave us a sheet to record all his feedings, pees and poops! He was doing really well. Eating every two hours (at least) and going through tons of diapers! That part I felt confident in.
It was hard in the beginning. Somewhat uncomfortable, especially when my milk came in. Holy moly! That part was extremely painful and I was relieved it only lasted for about a day. The worst part about nursing for the first time is the uncertainty. I never knew if he was getting enough, because he always seemed hungry. So then I began to doubt myself. Maybe I was doing something wrong? I saved some postings to a mother's help website during those first few weeks. Here they are:
This was on October 22nd, he was two weeks old!
Lazy/Rester Breastfeeder, help
Hello everyone,
My little guy is 2 weeks old today, some days I feel confident the breastfeeding is going well. He certainly poops and pees the required amount (and then some) and he is gaining weight. However, I feed him for about 40 mins plus sometimes, he falls asleep or will just be really lazy. After he falls asleep, i will burp him and try to put him down and he starts screaming that he wants to eat again. Sometimes this will go on for 3 or 4 hours. I don't know if he is crying for other reasons, i try to calm him down with shooshing and make sure he has clean diaper, etc, but he always wants to be at the breast. I have also tried a pacifier, he doesn't like it. I don't want to start any bad habits, but will he ever get into a routine if this keeps up. Could he be using the breast to put himself to sleep? Maybe that's why he is fussy? I am not doubting my milk supply and I definetly want to breastfeed exclusively, can anyone give me some peace of mind on this? I have a million baby books and look up info on the web, but nothing makes me feel okay about his patterns. Any info would be great, thanks!
Hehe...I'm so glad I kept these!
Here's another one, just five days later!
Hello mamas,
Just another question regarding breastfeeding. I am going to go to a breastfeeding support group this Wednesday, they also have professional help there so I am looking forward to it. After feeding my two and half week old son (sometimes sessions will last about 40mins, he is always falling asleep) I will burp him and he will still act like he wants to eat. I am having a hard time determining if he is really still hungry or just fussy. If he is still hungry, would he give me signs like rooting and putting his fingers in mouth, or would he do these things even if he wasn't hungry? He is so confusing, I just don't want to overfeed him. Will he take the breast even if he is full? I am just afraid I am misreading his cues and overfeeding him, causing this domino effect. Thanks ladies.
I did end up going to the support group. I was also able to weigh him and it reassured me to know that he was gaining weight. I must've been doing something right.
I asked about my breast pump once, which I only tried to use a few times. I never got much and it just seemed to be too much work! Eli never had a bottle.
Although strictly nursing did have it's downside sometimes, like early on I could only go out for an hour or two at the most before returning home again to nurse him. I was never a big fan of nursing in public. I did take advantage of the dressing room once and used my car more than a few times. But I don't regret it, I always had food for him wherever we went.
I have to admit that when Eli turned one, I considered nursing him for much longer. I felt sad that this bond we had, our one on one time, might be lost. Then I realized I would just have to substitute the time we spent together usually nursing, with some other special quiet time.
And so the weaning process began. Eli would nurse when he woke up in the morning, at his morning nap, when he woke up from his nap, at his afternoon nap, when he woke up from that nap, in between nap and dinner, and then finally bedtime. Although, if he did wake up at night, I would nurse him back to sleep then too. So I cut out the nursings after he woke up from his naps. Those were a little tough, because he would wake up cranky, and wake up wanting to nurse. I would distract him and give him something to drink. This went over well! Then I cut out the nursing between his afternoon nap and dinner time, I gave him a snack instead. During this time, Eli transitioned from taking two naps a day to just one nap a day. That made it easy to cut out the other nursing.
Cutting out the first morning nursing was probably harder on me than it was on Eli. This was my chance to wake myself up in the morning. And sometimes, Eli would fall back to sleep after the morning nurse, that was always nice. But it had to go. Instead, I became a coffee drinking machine. So at this point we were just down to the morning nap nurse, the bedtime nurse, and the midnight nurse (or whatever time he woke up nursing). I knew if I was going to be serious about it, I would definately need to get rid of the middle of night nursing. Again, very difficult, because I just want to get back to bed in the middle of the night. And the fastest way to do that was to nurse him. Once I did it a few nights in a row, I knew I couldn't surrender and give in. So I succeeded!
For the nap time nursing, I decided we would go to his room and read some books for 15 minutes or so when he started to get sleepy. I always have the music playing in his room, so after we were done reading I would rock him in the rocking chair and sing to him. He was usually passed out in a few minutes. I did this for two weeks before I decided it was time to get rid of the bedtime nursing. I do the exact same thing for bedtime, except we take a bath after dinner and then stories and singing. We have been doing this for five nights now, and I am officially retired!
I am a little sad that this time of his life (maybe my life?) is over. It seems like just yesterday that weaning was a way too distant future. And now it's here and gone! My baby is growing up. I'm just happy that I have these memories to look back on.
These are pictures from the first time I nursed Eli! Please excuse me because I look like hell, but after all I did just deliver a baby!
No comments:
Post a Comment