1st December 2008

A Learning Process for Both of Us: Breastfeeding 1 reply

When I told colleagues of mine that I planned to breastfeed, every single one of them said it would be hard, and simultaneously shared a unique experience.  I had heard many things including, women who have c-sections have problems breast feeding, if you don’t have a latch-on within one hour of delivery you might have problems later, to a variance of the old saying “size matters”. 

All I cared about this past week while at the hospital, and hopefully the second day of life, was getting Melina to experience a latch-on, as well as ensuring the health of the two of us.  When you do not deliver by regular, natural delivery, the body has not yet been signaled to produce milk (for most people).  So, you have to tell the body to catch up, produce the right hormones and thus, colostrum, in order for milk production to begin.  It takes most women 3-5 days to produce the “right stuff” in order to feed their babies.  The question is, how long can your baby wait for the right stuff? 

It turns out that babies have stomachs the size of peanuts a day after delivery, perhaps a slightly larger peanut the next day.  They really need very little the first couple of days after the big entrance.  Getting a baby to latch on is one thing - getting a brand new baby to feed is an entirely different set of challenges.  The baby can first feed off just a little colostrum, but will soon need breast milk.  As each hour passes, it becomes more critical to get the baby the nutrients she or he requires. 

Melina was latching on early, but would not sustain the latch, as there wasn’t yet enough product.  Each side can even be different, sometimes causing other challenges.  However, depending on the nurse you have at the hospital, as well as if you’ve chosen to get a lactation consultant at the hospital to visit you for one-on-one time, your chances of succeeding at breast feeding could be 100 to 1.  Further challenges?  Consistent training between nurses and lactation consultants - they all have something different to offer, but at times, this can be overwhelming.  Breastfeeding should not be like walking down the Kroger cereal aisle for the first time.  Newbies like myself are overwhelmed, not to mention stressed much like you would be if you had to memorize the cereal aisle (on pain killer drugs), and get your first-born to latch-on within the first few seconds that she is carried in the door. 

I was in tears Wednesday evening, when one of the hospital-provided lactation consultants basically told me everything I was doing was wrong (in my mind), or in her words “not working”.  There was no positive reinforcement.  The day before?  I felt like I was heading in the right direction on the right timeline with a different set of nurses and lactation consultant.  However, this time?  No right direction, and worse yet, an immediate request for me to switch to formula.  I began to cry - a lot.  Granted hormones, severe lack of sleep, pain meds, but all you want to do is “provide” for your new family, and you want a chance to get it right.

Here we are, just a few short days later:  Good news.  Melina has latched on and sustained.  I have produced.  Milkman delivery truck arrived on Friday.  It’l take another week for all product to arrive, slowly but surely.  To see your daughter, react to all of this information is wonderful. 

For those of you who are thinking this post is way TMI, move on to another site, ’cause I have a feeling I’m going to be writing about this for the first six months of her life, or until she is able to eat baby food. 

For those of you interested in this topic, or want to post some personal experiences, please do so. 

I’ll post another section on breastfeeding journey -  you can comment here, on individual posts, or in the section that I’ll be building which will be pages on the topic, not posts which are posted for everyone to see on the main page.

One Response to “A Learning Process for Both of Us: Breastfeeding”

  1. Kristi says:
    December 1st, 2008 at 11:41 am

    SO GLAD you got the chance to try breastfeeding. It’s a wonderful experience if it all works ok but the first 2 weeks (2 months for me) was just terrible terrible. Lots of lanisol (?) and other things and just try to stick it out! Once you get it, you get it and you are on a roll!

    I hate those jerky nurses though. GOD! That sucks you got one.

Leave a Reply

To reply to this article, please enter your name and write your comment in the textbox below. Some HTML tags are allowed, but others will be stripped if you enter them in your comments.

You must be logged in to post a comment.

More from Laura Thieme: