August is National Breastfeeding Awareness Month. I had the idea to write this post a long time ago but I just never got around to it. Now I decided to share it during this month because it couldn’t be anymore perfect.
I nursed my daughter for 6 months before I decided to quit. I needed to have testing done and I couldn’t be nursing for it, so I said if I was still nursing at 6 months I would stop. Luckily, I was able to freeze enough to still be feeding her at least some of my milk at 8 months.
Nursing is one of the hardest things I ever done. That is why I wanted to share some of the things I learned during my journey. It is so challenging and it seems like there is never enough information and support.
Go into this with zero expectations. Nursing a baby is kind of like Russian Roulette with your own sanity. Do not go into it expecting everything to go great and perfect all the time. Sometimes things just done work out for various reasons. You know what? That’s ok, don’t beat yourself up over it. If it just isn’t your cup of tea, don’t fret. If you have zero expectations then you can handle whatever is thrown at you, whether it is a baby that likes to eat every 2 hours or one that has a tongue tie so they can’t nurse.
Join a Nursing and/or Pumping Group on Facebook. I joined these groups early on in my pregnancy and I learned so much. Especially the exclusively pumping groups I have never seen such a knowledgeable group of women about lactation. They’re perfect to ask all kinds of questions in and someone is almost always up. That means middle of the night entertainment while you are nursing or pumping.
Don’t stress, stress makes milk let down harder. I know, easier said than done. We have so many outside pressures. All of these people telling us we have to nurse, it’s the best thing for our baby, it’s natural, blah, blah, blah. Well ignore it. They’re all full of crap. With Calli it took me a long time before nursing felt natural. I realized after a while that me stressing about it wasn’t going to make things better. Once I let everything go, it got so much easier.
Don’t compare yourself to others out there. Every woman is different and sometimes nursing doesn’t work out. Some of us just aren’t genetically inclined to nurse, some had to exclusively pump and don’t respond well to a pump, others don’t have a job that allow us to pump for our little ones. Whatever the reason is, don’t compare your production or length of nursing to anyone else’s. We have what we have and we are all doing the best for our babies.
Pumpe often during the first 12 weeks. I know, you’re so exhuasted already. I was too. Try to pump as much as you can stand early on in addition to nursing. I didn’t do that and wish I would have. Pumping early can help to increase your production and then you can start a freezer stash early on. The earlier you start that the easier later on. That means you can leave over night and not worry about whether there’s enough milk. That means you don’t have as much pressure on you at work to pump. That means you could wean earlier and still make it to one year or longer on breastmilk.
Start feeding a bottle early. One of the best things we did for our sanity and for Calli was giving her a bottle early and often. That meant she wasn’t a stranger to the bottle and when I weaned her onto it full time it was easy. Not all babies are the same, but in Calli’s case it worked great and I encourage all parents to do this.
Breastfeeding isn’t free. All of these places tell you breastfeeding is free. Ahem, no it’s not. I do think it was cheaper than formula but it’s not free. I spent money on freezer bags, a nursing cover, pump accessories, creams, electrolytes, breast pads. The list could go on. I just want you to know and understand this.
If you pump, clean your hoses out with rubbing alcohol. Water takes forever to dry in hoses, use rubbing alcohol. It’s a game changer.
Even if you can’t nurse or pump, feeding your baby is the most important thing–regardless of how it happens. Remember that having a fed baby is most important.
What at is any advice you wour give to a breastfeeding mom?
