On Giving Thanks in the Thick of It
8 years ago
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4 comments:
I saw your comment about your frustration with nursing Zoe over at Jenni's blog and I felt like I needed to give you some nursing mommy support!
I have had a very difficult time nursing my daughter Kara....she is 8.5 months old now. My son was a piece of cake compared to Kara. From the start she was a lazy nurser...not opening her mouth wide enough, falling sleep, clamping down on my nip because the milk was coming down too fast for her. I could go on and on...but I had nursed Ryan for 13 months so I was determined to do the same with Kara.
Some advice would be to maybe get a nipple shield if you are having problems with soreness or difficulty with her latching on. Definitely keep up with the lansinah for soreness and cracking. Lilypads work great too.
Pump and get her used to a bottle so it gives you a break. It will help you mentally. I didn't do this early on and my nipples got sooo sore that I couldn't pump because it hurt so bad.
Follow your heart, you will know when it is time to stop. If you are determined to go for a certain amount of time, you will find a way to make it work. I am just starting to wean her after almost 9 months of constant soreness, bleeding and at times pure pain. I never knew it could be sooo difficult the second time around. But I am happy I sucked it up and gave her the best nutrition possibly for this long. I plan to still nurse her for morning and night feedings until she turns a year this June. Hopefully with cutting out the feeding times during the day, I can finally start to heal.
All that vent was to let you know that you are not alone and if you need some support...there are mommies out there for you to talk to! Feel free to contact me anytime!
Good Luck and I hope things start to get better! Just remember that if you decide you need to stop, please don't feel like you failed. Doing what is best for you and Zoe is what's most important.
HUGS,
~ Bobbi
PS- call your local La Leche group for support also. They may be able to come over and give you some advice that might help too! I was stubborn and didn't call until Kara was 6 months old and by that time she had already learned too many bad habits to break her from them! :(
Bobbi, I added this comment to your blog as well:
Thanks for the comments about nursing. I appreciate the encouragement and tips. Thankfully (or not???), we've done most of what you suggested. The lactation consultant we've worked with said it just takes some babies a little longer to get with the program. Zoe falls into that category. We had a great nursing session this evening, so I hope things are looking up.
Thanks again! I really appreciate it!!
I like what Bobbi said, and I know she has had a rough time (she is a good friend of mine).
I have friends who also had difficult times getting their newborns to nurse well - but I think it is more about the mom if whether or not she has the patience to keep at it or give up - that makes the difference. So if you are determined to breastfeed your baby, don't give up. It might takea while, but she will get it.
Preston would fall asleep a lot as well and we would do a lot of different things to keep him awake to eat. Things like stripping him down to just his diaper (because babies hate to be naked), tickling his back. I have a friend who actually would take an ice cube and rub it on her baby's skin to wake her up. I never went to that extreme...but then again Preston was not as bad as her baby. Her's would seriously sleep ALL day and never eat unless she woke her up.
To give you some hope though, my nipples were only sore for about a month or so and then they just all of a sudden adjusted. Also, well, I forgot to mention that part of the reason they were so sore is because Preston had thrush (a yeast infection that passes back and forth from baby to mom and vice versa). I had the thrush because I had a uterine infection after the Csection and they put me on antibiotics, which killed a lot of the good bacteria and caused a yeast infection both down "there" and also on my breasts. Who knew you could get a yeast infection there? I certainly didn't. Sorry this is all TMI by the way,...hopefully no lurking men are reading this. LOL
Anyway, so I was perscribed some super duper nipple ointment that had a bunch of stuff in it from steriods (to get rid of the thrush) to lanolin, everything. It was mega expensive but it was a lifesaver.
During that first month I would wince and cry anytime Preston latched on...it hurt so bad. I would use those "soothies" gel pads. Will would keep them in the freezer and then after nursing I would put them on...they were heaven.
Now it has been 8 months and I only thought I would breastfeed for 6. But I plan to go to a year with him if he wants to (not as much, because I have already started weaning him down to fewer feedings during the day).
I know moms who's babies would not breastfeed but they pumped for an entire year just so the baby could get that nutrition. So even if she has a hard time at the breast, like Bobbi said you can always pump and do the bottle thing.
That is good that Zoe still snuggles you and hasn't forgotten what the breast is.
Anyway hang in there. BF'ing is hard, and I don't think we as moms are ever really well informed about how time-consuming and hard it can be. But at the same time it is the best bonding experience and after being pregnant for almost 10 months it is like you are still able to provide that nutrience for your baby. I think it's emotional, but you still feel like it's something you just need to do for your baby.
Anyway sorry that was so long. :)
Oh, I think I wrote a post about breastfeeding when Preston was only 5 days old. I beleive it's on the sidebar of my blog under "Being a Milk Machine" or something. If it's not there, go under the June blogs and you'll find it.
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