This week's topic Breastfeeding!
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When I had Noah I knew hardly anything about breastfeeding but I planned to do it. I didn't do as much research as I should have and had no ideas that the more you needed to nurse your baby as often as possible during those first few weeks to establish a good milk supply. The very first night home from the hospital my milk wasn't in and we had a screaming hungry baby so we gave him formula. From then on I breastfed some, pumped some, and supplemented some. By 4 months I barely had enough milk and ended up giving up.
When I was pregnant with Isaac I was determined to give breastfeeding another shot. I wanted so bad to exclusively breastfeed and make it past just 4 months. So I did a lot of research and asked my breastfeeding mama friends a lot of questions and even took a breastfeeding class at the hospital I delivered at! So when Isaac was born I breastfed him right away! He latched perfectly and nursed for nearly an hour! He will be 6 months old this Friday and we are still going strong!! I am very proud of myself for sticking to it!
I LOVE breastfeeding so much! This time around it has been great! I did struggle with some pain the first few weeks but it has been smooth sailing since! I hope to breastfeed Isaac past one year if he doesn't self-wean. I think it is perfectly fine to nurse in public! I don't think moms should have to go to a bathroom to feed their baby. I think it's a personal preference to use a cover or not. I personally like to use a cover because I still don't feel pro enough to not show something I'd rather not show to the whole world. But that's going to change soon because we are going to the beach in two weeks and a cover seems kind of pointless on the beach. So I'll probably go coverless at the beach.
My tips for new moms or expectant moms is to do your research and don't just give up right away! I know not all moms can breastfeed but it's ok to ask questions and try to find a way to make it work without quitting! Oh, and the pain does stop! Unless your baby is latching wrong, your nipples will eventually adjust and the pain will go away! So hang in there!
When I was pregnant with Isaac I was determined to give breastfeeding another shot. I wanted so bad to exclusively breastfeed and make it past just 4 months. So I did a lot of research and asked my breastfeeding mama friends a lot of questions and even took a breastfeeding class at the hospital I delivered at! So when Isaac was born I breastfed him right away! He latched perfectly and nursed for nearly an hour! He will be 6 months old this Friday and we are still going strong!! I am very proud of myself for sticking to it!
I LOVE breastfeeding so much! This time around it has been great! I did struggle with some pain the first few weeks but it has been smooth sailing since! I hope to breastfeed Isaac past one year if he doesn't self-wean. I think it is perfectly fine to nurse in public! I don't think moms should have to go to a bathroom to feed their baby. I think it's a personal preference to use a cover or not. I personally like to use a cover because I still don't feel pro enough to not show something I'd rather not show to the whole world. But that's going to change soon because we are going to the beach in two weeks and a cover seems kind of pointless on the beach. So I'll probably go coverless at the beach.
My tips for new moms or expectant moms is to do your research and don't just give up right away! I know not all moms can breastfeed but it's ok to ask questions and try to find a way to make it work without quitting! Oh, and the pain does stop! Unless your baby is latching wrong, your nipples will eventually adjust and the pain will go away! So hang in there!
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We'd love to hear your thoughts on Breastfeeding so please comment below or write up a blog post and link up!
**This is not just a blog hop! Please do not link up unless you have posted on the specific topic!**
Next week's topic is : Letter's To Your Child/Children
Write a letter to your child or children telling them anything you want to tell them and post it as a blog post and then come back here and link up!
Before I had kids, I never knew breastfeeding could be so hard. I tried and tried with my first, but had an extremely low milk supply. I hung in there for 9 weeks with a lactation specialist, taking herbs, pumping at every feeding, and still having to give a bottle after nursing every time. It was exhausting and disappointing, but I loved the bonding time I could have with my daughter. With my second child, I expected to have supply issues, so the experience wasn't so emotional. She had a hard time latching so I pumped around the clock to give her as much as I could. With my twins (and a 12 month old), I just nursed a couple times when I was able. I felt free to just bottle feed since I knew I had to go to such extremes to give any milk. Through it all, I learned everyone can't always do it and we have to give grace to each other in all our different experiences.
ReplyDeleteStacey
www.gettingthrougtheday.com
I nursed my kids for 3.5 years each, for a total of 7 years. It was a wonderful experience. It's so cool that my kids remember nursing, and they both talk about the day that their kids will nurse too.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the reasons it was possible for me to do extended nursing in a time and area where few people were doing that, was because I went to Montessori school in 5th grade, where my Spanish teacher nursed her 2.5 year old during class time.
I had never seen nursing, so I was curious, and the teacher answered my questions very matter-of-factly, and it didn't cause a stir. It was just normal there.
Later, when my son turned one year old, and my pediatrician told me to start introducing cows milk (why exactly? I can't say.), the poor baby got a face full of hives from just a drop of cow milk!
I did my research :(http://www.kathydettwyler.org/detwean.html
and discovered that there wasn't anything wrong with my children nursing for a much longer time. In fact there seemed to be a lot right with it!
When my son was 3, he contracted a bad virus that had been going around, putting many kids in the hospital with dehydration. The nurse told me not to give him water, because it would just keep the cycle of vomiting up, but when I asked if he could nurse, she was delighted and said" YES!"
She told me that breast milk is more easily digestible than water, and that it would benefit him, and he would digest some of it, even if he did throw it up later.
He kept it down and got well right away. No hospital visit! Also, I let him lay skin to skin on my chest, and I could feel my body absorbing the fever off his little body, and regulating his temperature. We were designed to do this!
Also, when he started school, he was able to fend off all the illnesses from his classmates, very quickly. I. Q. scores are very high, and the same has held true for my daughter, when she came along.
We did not do a lot of nursing in public, especially after they were older, because it just wasn't done in this area. But after that Time cover fiasco, I'm sure normal nursing would seem modest compared to what they portrayed.
That's what Time does, though. They are infamous for stirring controversy. But I think it's a good thing. At least it has people talking. There are a lot more truly educated people responding , and Moms who say they refuse to "take the bait" and bash other Moms for their choices. I'm pleasantly surprised!
I accidentally included a wrong link about kid's books, so that's why I linked up again.
ReplyDeleteI apologize :-(
That's ok Amanda! Thanks for letting me know! :)
ReplyDeleteWow... so much to share! Thanks
ReplyDeleteCJR @ The Mami Blog