Breastfeeding

I know I owe you a post about camping and solids, but I need pictures to blog about those and I don't have them handy at the moment, so I will come back to those topics.

I apologize in advance to any male readers, as this post is about breastfeeding.

I just wanted to take a moment to jot down my experience so far with breastfeeding. Actually a moment sounds ridiculous, I could probably fill an entire book about my experiences thus far. I can't believe I haven't blogged about something that has become such a huge part of my life. We'll start small....

I've been breastfeeding Reed for 5 1/2 months now and I intend to keep on going and going, God willing.

It all starts in the hospital, you think your baby will just latch on and the rest is history, right? Well, maybe for some, not for us. Maybe its because Reed was 3 weeks early or for some other reason, but it took a lot of convincing and persistence on my part. I can recall trying again and again only to have him fall asleep in my arms over and over again. Its not like he was saying no to it, he would just start and then happily fall asleep. I remember trying so hard one night (it had been hours since he'd last eaten) that I was drenched in sweat, it didn't help that our hospital room was like 90 degrees either. This continued when I brought him home, I was told to wake him every 2 hours to eat, but it took a good hour to get him to stay awake and eat. We'd try all the old tricks and then we'd always end up taking off all his clothes and sometimes using a wet cloth on his face to wake him up-sounds down right mean, doesn't it? Well, it was recommended to us and most of the time it worked. The cold air kept him up. It's so nice to look back on those moments and not be in the midst of them. Once Reed would start eating he'd eat for almost an entire hour or more.

We finally got the hang of it and had a good routine going between the two of us. Reed luckily took a bottle of breast milk right off the bat, I had to practice this because I was returning to work. Which brings me to pumping....while I'm at work I pump 3 times a day, and sometimes I'll pump at night after work, and sometimes in the morning before work too. My pump has become a pretty valuable item to me these days. If you have to work full time it is so important to buy a really good pump, especially a double pump. Another really important thing about pumping-either buy a hands free pump or make sure you have a hands free bra, I invented my own. Took an old sports bra and cut two holes in it. Voila! Hands free to keep up with my work! I have recently found out that you need to replace certain parts of your pump to make it effective all the time. You'll have to replace the membranes sooner than later and then (at least for me) the valves. Oh-and if you've never pumped before, you will freak out and laugh the first time you do it, its so weird-but you get used to it!

Issues that come up-I get clogged ducts all the time. Essentially its when the milk doesn't properly drain from a duct and it gets stuck. Its very painful and extremely annoying. I don't wish them on anyone. Best advice-don't wear underwire or tight bras, and if you do get one, heat, massage and nurse (or pump).

My hunger-is incredible. I've never been so hungry in my life! They say you burn 500-600 extra calories while breastfeeding a day. I could/can easily eat more than Bryan these days. Its a constant hunger too, I'm always thinking about my next snack. Oddly enough I have particular cravings too. Last week it was a Turkey burger and this week it is Shrimp tempura sushi-very specific!

Thirst! Oh my-in those first weeks I was SO thirsty. Everytime I sat down to feed Reed I would ask Bryan to bring some water, and it was never enough! I needed like 3 huge glasses of water while feeding him. I'd always forget until he'd latch on and then the thirst would hit really hard. I am still super thirsty all the time, but not like I was in the first weeks.

Breast milk is like gold. You don't ever want to see it going down your drain or going bad-the thought alone makes me cringe.

Breastfeeding becomes comfort for the baby too, sometimes its hard to determine whether they're hungry or just want a snuggle and to be close to you.

Reed and I have it down and we're on a good schedule. :-) He knows what and when he wants it and I know how to give it to him.  So many months ago It was hard to imagine that I would be in this happy breastfeeding place but I am and I'm so glad I stuck with it.