Breastfeeding: It’s NOT as Easy as Falling off a Log

In the interest of keeping it real around here, I thought I would share a little bit about my breastfeeding experience so far.  Vera is almost 2 months old (wow!!), and so I wanted to give you an update in this area.

Before giving birth to Vera, I tried to be as educated about breastfeeding as I possibly could.  My mom was a great resource (since she nursed three babies successfully), and she also shared several great books with me.  I attended a breastfeeding class offered by my practice, and I read lots of blog posts, web sites, and magazines that had great info about breastfeeding.  I know women who have had no problems at all breastfeeding, and I know women who have struggled tremendously with it.  I tried to learn from both.

When Vera was born, things went so well with breastfeeding.  The nurses, my midwife, and the lactation consultants at my hospital were all very helpful.  My mom was also there to offer guidance and help, and my husband Tad was incredibly supportive as well.  Of course I dealt with sore nipples (doesn’t everyone?) and engorgement when my milk came in.

I nursed Vera religiously every two hours for her first several days of life (yep, I set an alarm and actually woke her up!).  My milk came in on my second day, and I think that this was due in part to how much we nursed at the beginning.  Vera nursed 10-12 times a DAY, which I know sounds like a lot, but I think it really helped our nursing relationship.  (She still nurses 9-10 times a day now.)

At 3 1/2 weeks, Vera started sleeping 5-6 hours at night.  (Don’t hate me, please!)  I think that this was due to several things.  First, we nursed so much during the day that she was full and content when she went to sleep.  Secondly, we started a bedtime ritual that we still follow (it includes a massage, changing her into her PJs, putting on a new diaper, reading her a book, nursing her, and swaddling her).  Thirdly, we started swaddling her in a Miracle Blanket, which by the way, are AMAZING!  (Thanks, Andrea!)

By 5 weeks, Vera was sleeping for 6-7 hours, waking up for a feeding, and then sleeping another 2-3 hours, for a total of 9 “nightime” hours.  Again, this I think is due to the above reasons (and the grace of God, of course!).

Everything was going really well with nursing until she started going this longer stretch at night and I became really engorged again.  I was over-producing at night and my body had not adjusted yet, so I got a clogged duct at around 6.5 weeks.  A clogged duct feels like a hard lump in your breast and is quite painful.  It can also turn to mastitis (an infection) if not treated.  To ease the pain, I used warm, moist compresses and a heating pad.  I also nursed Vera a LOT and always started on the affected breast.  After that duct cleared up (in about a week’s time), I got ANOTHER one a few weeks later.  I started treating it right away and it cleared up within a few days.

This brings us up to present day… and I’m facing another nursing challenge!  This week I am dealing with incredibly sore nipples due to (I believe) an improper latch.  I think Vera and I have been getting a little “lazy” about ensuring a proper latch at the beginning of our nursing session, so I have been experiencing a lot of pain.  I thought at first I might have thrush (a yeast infection that is passed back and forth from breast to baby), and while that is still a possibility, I really want to see if correcting Vera’s latch (and using lanolin ointment) will help solve the problem first.

All this to say… breastfeeding, while natural, designed by God, and wonderful, is not always easy!  Just like any new life experience, there is definitely a period of adjustment, and there are definitely hard things along the way.  I am so thankful that I have been able to breastfeed Vera and that I haven’t had as many difficulties as some people have.  Again, I am thankful to GOD for that!

For those of you who do not have children yet but hope to breastfeed when you do, I encourage you to become as educated as you can!  Read, read, read!  Talk to other moms.  Try to form a network of support around yourself so that if you have difficulties you can receive help.

I hope that reading about my experience will be a blessing to you.  I’ll add an update at the bottom of this post when my latest nursing struggle is resolved!

Update: It seems, as I suspected, that this problem has been caused by improper latching.  I’ve corrected that, and things are going much better!