This post is part of the 2010 API Principles of Parenting blog carnival, a series of monthly parenting blog carnivals, hosted by API Speaks. Learn more about attachment parenting by visiting the API website.
The old adage, “It’s like riding a bike,” doesn’t really apply to breastfeeding. At least not in my experience…
I had a lot of struggles breastfeeding Zoë. I talk a little bit about it here and here. Even with all of the struggles and frustration, we made it to 13 months because I took the time to work through the issues because it was important to me.
I’m happy I persisted through all of our issues, because it turned out that Zoë couldn’t tolerate more than a couple ounces of formula per day due to dairy and soy sensitivities.
When Kaylee was born, I expected breastfeeding would be a piece of cake. After all, I had experienced just about every problem possible with Zoë, and I had only weaned her when I was about 6 weeks pregnant with Kaylee.
To my surprise, breastfeeding was very far from being a piece of cake the second time. In fact, it was nearly as difficult of a struggle! The first day was no problem, other than having pain when she latched. The second day, however, was not so great. My nipples were scabbed, cracked and bleeding. And, Kaylee was having problems latching on.
It didn’t help that the hospital staff wasn’t that supportive. They tried to get me to give her a bottle because she was hungry! And this was supposed to be a “baby friendly” hospital.
Even though I wanted to cry every time Kaylee latched, and pretty much the entire time she was nursing, I kept with it. We got home from the hospital and I used my pump to extract some milk to feed her rather than supplementing with formula like I did with Zoë.
That filled her up just enough to calm her down so we could work on latching. We worked on it most of the night and by the next day we were doing great with the latch.
On a side note, the formula companies have their marketing strategies right. When I had Zoë, I left the hospital with 3 cans of powdered formula and a case of pre-made formula from the various formula manufacturers. I broke down and gave her some the first night home.
When I had Kaylee, I didn’t leave the hospital with any formula. If I had, I very easily could’ve broken down and given her some the first night home because I was just as tired and frustrated as the first night home with Zoë.
So, if you really want to exclusively breastfeed, don’t take the formula home they give you in the hospital.
But all of that work had left my nipples in bad shape. Luckily, I knew what did and didn’t work for healing me up after my experiences the first time around. I completely skipped lanolin because it kept me from healing when I was breastfeeding Zoë. Instead, I expressed some breast milk when she was done, spread it around my nipples and let them air dry.
Once they were dry, I would put a little Polysporin on them to keep the cracks from becoming infected. Then, I basically walked around the apartment topless for the first week so they would stay dry and heal. Within a week, the scabbing was gone. (For more tips on healing broken nipple skin, read this article on Kelly Mom.)
It still hurt a lot when she latched on (I think I was bruised as well) and for the first couple minutes of the nursing session. But she was latched on correctly and I had the same problem with Zoë, so that didn’t surprise me.
It took about eight weeks to be pain free when I was breastfeeding Zoë. At three weeks in with Kaylee, I only have pain on the initial latch, and then it subsides. Each day it gets a little less painful, and I expect within a week for the pain to be gone. That’s in half the time that it took with Zoë!
So, while it wasn’t necessarily easier to develop a breastfeeding relationship the second time around, I was able to use my experience to work through the issues faster (and with a little bit more patience).
I’ve also realized that breastfeeding each baby is different because they each have their own quirks. For the first two weeks, Kaylee thought if her eyes were open, it meant there was supposed to be a boob in her mouth. I obliged simply because I didn’t want to risk supply issues like I had with Zoë.
The longest nursing session we had was about 6 hours! I was in tears most of that night and was about ready to break down and have Brian pick up some formula. I never experienced anything like that with Zoë. But, Zoë was getting a couple ounces of formula a day from 3 days to 4 months so that probably is what the difference was.
While it was a mental, physical and emotional challenge to get through those first couple weeks of Kaylee being glued to me breastfeeding, I’m happy that I made it through. I have a sufficient supply, she is latching easier, the pain is subsiding and she is feeding less frequently. Each day gets easier.
Listening to my body and my baby’s feeding cues helped me develop a strong breastfeeding relationship with my daughter. It makes me feel good to know that I am capable of taking care of my baby’s needs and that I was able to persist through challenges that would have made some moms give up.
For those of you with more than one child, did you find differences between breastfeeding your first child and subsequent children?
Original article and pictures take happy-mothering-wu160izso06zk4amiyc.stackpathdns.com site
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