My Breastfeeding Experience

During my pregnancy, I had heard stories about how hard it was to breastfeed, but I never imagined it would be that hard.  I thought the labor was going to be the most difficult part of it all, but it turned out that breastfeeding was just as difficult.  I had a tough time with it. It was so painful and stressful! If you're reading this and you are planning on breastfeeding, do not get scared.  It might go smooth for you. Everyone is different and some women do not have a problem with the baby latching or their milk supply. My personal experience was not easy or smooth, but I was so adamant about breastfeeding that I did not give up.
 

My problem was not with the baby latching, it was with my milk supply.  The first night in the hospital was a long night. My baby, Caitlyn, latched on fine but she was not getting enough milk out. She would cry so much.  I told the nurse at the hospital and she even checked to see if I even had colostrum and I did. We went home with the baby and the second night was worse.  Not only was it painful to try to feed her, but I felt like I did not have enough milk for her because she would keep crying. My nipples were so cracked and sore that it would hurt to put her on, but I kept trying. It hurt so much that I remember crying one day when I was going to feed her. That day my nipples were so cracked they were bleeding. This was getting me so stressed and stress does not help your milk supply. 

On the third day we went to the first doctor visit and we told the doctor everything. She told us that she had lost a lot of weight already and that she wanted to see her again the next day. She told us not to introduce any kind of pacifiers or bottle nipples to avoid nipple confusion if I wanted to breastfeed. The next day the doctor weighed her again and she lost more weight again.  This time the doctor gave us formula and told us to feed her 5 ounces with a dropper at every other feeding. The doctor said this would help with her calorie intake since she wasn't getting enough from me. At the next visit she had still lost weight, but not as much as the last visits.  The doctor was still concerned so she told us to do an ounce of formula this time after every feeding

I was so stressed and upset that I felt like I wasn't doing a good job feeding my baby.  I would google everything about breastfeeding. I even had a home nurse come to my house and help me out.  She said everything was fine and that I should try pumping to help stimulate my body into producing more milk. I had a single electrical breast pump that my sister had given me so I tried that but it got me so disappointed because I pumped less that 0.5 ounces!!! If you breastfeed, you know what that feels like and that is so upsetting!  My nurse also recommended to eat oatmeal, apricots, almonds, lactation cookies and drink a lot of water.  So I tried all of it!! I was willing to do it all.  I had already gone through all that pain that it made no sense to stop trying.  I also had a friend who is a breastfeeding specialist come over to see if she had any other recommendations or advice. I thought I was doing something wrong so I just wanted someone else to let me know if I was doing a good job. When she came she said everything was fine and I started to feel better about breastfeeding after that day.  

Finally, at the next visit she gained more weight. By this visit I already felt my milk supply come down.  My breast would feel engorged and I started to see the milk.  It was not easy and it was a process to get to this point, but I'm glad I did not stop trying because I enjoy it so much now.  It's such a beautiful bond that I did not miss out on. I think it took me about two weeks to see some milk flow and almost three weeks to really see a lot of milk.  If you are trying to breastfeed or plan on breastfeeding just do not give up.  It is a process and takes a while for both the mom and the baby to get the hang of things, but it's so worth it!