27th December 2008

Breastfeeding Is Like Running a Marathon 2 replies

In case you’re wondering, for those who read my blog who are not moms, or forgot what it was like, or fed their babies formula (I was formula fed Similac 40 years ago, and have learned many were formula fed back then) - how much time does it take to feed your baby, and whether or not your baby can go all night:

Breastfed babies eat every 2 hours or so - and in fact, they will eat more often than formula-fed babies.  Don’t take my word for it, the popular “What to Expect in the First Year” book that many new moms have - I got it from a client of mine - tells you that formula fed babies eat every 3-4 hours, around the clock, less so than breastfed babies.  You will also have more diaper changes if you have breastfed babies.  So if you breastfeed, you feed for an hour, you break for an hour, and then it may be time to feed her again.  An hour on, an hour off - that’s your new life.  Since my Dad was nice enough to ask my sister-in-law lots of breastfeeding questions during his recent visit to Massachussetts, perhaps I can direct him to this book for additional information.  ;-)  Thanks Dad for your concern.  The first two chapters talk about this routine.

Breastfeeding is really tough - but “best for baby”.  I’m not unlike most breastfeeding moms - they are going through the exact same thing I am.  You’ll have 8-12 feedings a day, if you breastfeed.  That’s a lot of time on the boob. 

Lactation consultants suggest 20 minutes per breast for each feeding, or one hour if you’re lucky, and she feeds consistently without cat naps or breaks.  After that or before as I prefer, you need to change their diaper, which wakes them up, and then begin to console them with food, then have time for burping.  You can not put them right back down after you feed, or that sweet milk will come right back up.  Imagine if you have eight feedings, that’s about 5-6 hours of a child being attached to your breast.  Add diaper changes, burping time - you can easily escalate to eight hours of time just related to feedings, and that’s if you’re only doing breastfeeding and not pumping.  Add eight hours to your day if you plan to have a child.  That takes away from your feeding time, cooking, cleaning, etc.  If you add in being a business woman, there’s probably a few other things fit into your day too.  And you wonder why I can’t drop off that Christmas present to you this year, return a phone call, grimace at the concept of visitors who just want to “visit”, return your fifth phone call, write you a thank you  note, ….. ;-)  In the event you’ve forgotten how all-encompassing this is - when you have a child, and remember, I’m doing this solo by choice.

Other breastfeeding challenges?  Leaky boobs - worse yet, while you’re feeding.  One breast is being fed upon while the other is leaking if they’re on the “clock”.  So, you end up wasting potentially a good amount while you’re feeding with the other.  That’s annoying -downright annoying.  Why?  To leak all over your dry baby you just changed takes you into another level of Mommy frustration that only breastfeeding moms can understand.  That’s where “liquid gold” comes in - and Mother’s patience to the nth degree.  Which leads me to why I like to pump.  Why waste any of that precious hard-earned milk? Maddening, just maddening.

So why not just pump?  They tell you (they being lactation consultants and Moms that know) that pumping will not get you as much as the baby can herself from the breast.  Many women pump to keep their milk coming in - and to not offset the schedule, even if they’re at work.  At night, though, if you haven’t produced ahead of time - trying to pump when your baby has woken up and is “crazy” for food - good luck with that.  No stress there.  And you are “stupid tired” or “wasted tired” and so you stumble into this aura of exhaustion to feed your child or produce for her.

It’s actually a bit humorous - could make a great sitcom episode for those of us who are breastfeeding Moms and know what I’m talking about here.  Often you might end up pumping just enough for her to take the edge off, or formula in some cases, because you are too sore to breastfeed for every feeding or too damn tired.  If only I could produce ahead of time - all the time.  I prefer to pump at night because the prolactin levels are highest, you produce the greatest amount of milk at night, and you might even get a kick out of how much more you produce at night.

The next challenge is getting her to go right back to sleep - sometimes that happens - sometimes it doesn’t.  I often glance at the clock only to realize an hour has passed and can’t believe it’s been an hour since we’ve been up.  She is just now back in her crib - she’s fed, she’s had her diaper changed, and she’s had her sweet little outfit changed - which she really appreciated in the middle of the  night.  Of course, the dog has woken up, the cat has petitioned for food, so we’ve let them out to use the bathroom and fed them afterwards.  They’ve gone back to sleep in most cases pretty quickly -

Now, if only Mommy could go right back to sleep.  I’m wide awake.  Don’t ask me why as I’ve only had two hours of sleep. I am beyond exhausted on the first feeding I’ve got to wake up for - and most Moms I know admit the same.  In fact, I know a Mom about to deliver her second child and she’s put the word out for the 2 a.m. feeding call - who wants to help?  Few, I imagine, unless you are a recent, recent Mommy who knows how hard this is.  I know many Moms who are 100% in charge of overnight feedings - but there are also men who absolutely get up for the 2 a.m. feeding.  One of them will be up again for a 4:30 or 5:30 feeding, and if they’re lucky they can catch up on their sleep sometime. 

But in the event you’re wondering about “well, isn’t this what you wanted?”- while it’s harder than hell to do these overnight feedings, especially if you are breastfeeding because that takes so much more out of you, it’s worth it, truly worth it when you hold her tiny little hands, when you look over and see a “child” of yours in the crib - and you’ve waited all these years for such a miracle to occur - and she entrusts you with all she’s got - of course, there is no second guessing here, none. 

God love breastfeeding Moms - for going the extra mile, or in some cases, what seems like running a Marathon.  Breastfeeding night after night, all day long, is like running a 26.2 mile marathon.  Occasionally, for those of us who’ve run marathons, you feel like you’ve hit the wall.  It’s the 19th mile, which sucks big time, on an overnight feeding.  But when you get into those last couple of miles, you’re in the home stretch.  You see the finish gate, the guy standing there handing out medals, and you forget how tired you feel, or for how long you’ve trained, or how much your body hurts.  In the hours that follow, where everyone congratulates you for finishing the marathon or coos about your finish time, you forget all the hard work that went into training for the marathon, or what it was like being “out there” for 26.2 miles.  You tell yourself like an idiot, I’m doing this again next year, only to forget how hard it is to train and run a marathon. 

But somehow you persevere - as all Moms do - who choose to go the extra mile and breastfeed, or are lucky enough to be able to do this.  I’ve talked to so many moms who were unable to breastfeed, that when I’m asked if I’m going to continue breastfeeding, I wearily answer of course I am going to continue going through this madness.  Because I’m one of the lucky ones - that got to be able to have a child despite infertility issues and being single - and on top of it all - I was able to produce milk - not everyone is able to do so.  On top of it all, Melina has finally learned to feed from both breasts, and when I’m capable of handling the discomfort, I let her feed throughout the day without pumping.  This will change when I go back into the office, although I will take her with me absolutely - that is the point of having your own business - I can call the shots here.  So, because I’m lucky enough to have a child, because I’m lucky enough to breastfeed, I choose to continue running this marathon, as hard as it is, as painful as it can be, because I can.

2 Responses to “Breastfeeding Is Like Running a Marathon”

  1. Kristi says:
    December 28th, 2008 at 1:18 am

    aww man, don’t worry because it DOES get better. It will just take awhile until your little peanut is a bit bigger. Then it is every 3 hours, or every 4.

    Right now I feed G at 7, 10 (nap), when he gets up from his nap, just because, then when he naps again around 2, again after nap, then at night going to bed.

  2. breast feeding information says:
    July 6th, 2009 at 9:54 pm

    breast feeding information…

    Once you\’ve given birth, breast feeding is the single most important thing you can do to protect your baby and help to promote good health. Best of all, breast feeding is free. Along with saving you money on HMR (Human Milk Replacement), breast feed…

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