BREASTFEEDING TIDBITS
Before I had Payson everybody warned me that breastfeeding was going to be this extremely painful yet rewarding experience. I was told my nipples would be cracked and bleed and it’d be so hard so to be honest I was terrified. I am very fortunate that our experience has been positive so far so I wanted to share some tips from a new mama— clearly I am NOT an expert by any means because we’ve only been doing this for like 4.5 months but I wanted to offer a positive review so far because I know so many mamas are like me and they are told the absolute worst and it scares them when it comes to breastfeeding.
Here are some random tidbits I’ve learned so far. I want to write these out now because I know I’ll forget these details as time goes on & maybe it will help a new mama to read. This is what has worked for us but of course every baby will be different. Some people might not agree with what we've done and that's okay! Take what you want and leave the rest. 😀 I knew NOTHING about breastfeeding before having Payson so if you’re a new mom you will learn like I did but maybe this info might help.
When my milk came in it hurt SO bad. I don’t really know what I thought was going to happen. I think I thought that one day Payson would be nursing and it would just magically be milk instead of colostrum (LOL) I didn’t know that when people said your milk would come in that it would mean quite literally you’d be minding your own business and them BAM engorged breasts full of milk and leaking! One thing I read a lot while pregnant was that if you want to breastfeed then you should absolutely not pump at all before the baby is two weeks old or you will mess up your supply so that’s what was ingrained in my mind so when my milk came in and I was VERY engorged I just suffered through the pain at first. I did all the things like nursing on demand (which I still do), compresses, hand expressing, showers, yada yada… and I kept thinking- gosh if I could only pump a little to get some relief then I’d be so much better but at the same time It thought oh no- I can’t pump before two weeks or I’m doomed! Finally my mom convinced me to pump and little and wow- PRAISE JESUS for that relief! It had no negative effect on my supply and it gave me so much relief. So all of that is to say— don’t get stuck on the details of what you read. Pumping before two weeks was totally fine for me and it helped relieve me so much.
You might leak a lot… the first few weeks I basically was just soaked all the time. I thought it would be that way forever but rest assured it won’t be like that all the time! Eventually you will regulate and it will go away.
A gassy baby most often is thought to be because of something mom is eating so elimination diets are common. This can be the case but in our situation, Payson was a little gassy but it was because he had a tongue tie & was gulping in too much air while nursing. After we got that fixed that problem went away. Diet can play a role but tongue/lip ties can definitely cause issues too so I highly suggest getting checked out if you have issues.
Your boobs will hurt when your baby cries.. it’s weird.. I can’t explain it! Ha It’s like they know the baby is crying for them.
You don’t have to be doomed to pain. At first it hurt really bad when Payson would latch for the first 30 seconds or so because I mean- I had never fed a baby before so it was all new but that will go away and it won’t hurt forever.
Maybe I just got lucky but I have yet to have cracked/bleeding nipples. I haven’t used any creams or anything. The only time I’ve bled is when Payson decided to use his fingernail to literally rip my nipple one time and it drew blood. I don’t want to jinx myself because I know it can still happen but luckily I haven’t had any of those issues so maybe you won’t either.
I refuse to wear a bra. Free People sells these half camis for like $20 and I wear them every single day instead of a bra. I only wear a bra when I go out in public. These are SO comfy. I actually wore them pre-pregnancy under sheer tops for work and they are the perfect bra alternative for right now. I’ll be very sad when I have to go back to work and wear one.
The Spectra S1 pump is amazing! While pregnant I thought I would want one of those fancy hands free pumps so I could do things because I thought I’d be wasting time pumping (I had no clue how long pumping took) but now I can see that’s not necessary. It takes less than 20 mins to pump so it's not like I'm wasting a bunch of time. I only pump once a day (or less if we don't do a bottle every day) when we give Payson a bottle to get him used to one so if my feelings change as time goes on I’ll give an update. I do plan on using this pump at work and I’ve heard nothing but positives with that as well.
The ComoTomo bottles are nice & easy to clean! I love that they are silicone and not plastic. When we first introduced the bottle Payson would only drink from the bottles that came with the pump of course. I think he liked that they were smaller for his mouth but I didn’t like that he was drinking from plastic. Now that he’s a bit bigger we use the ComoTomo ones and they seem to work well. He still hates bottles because he wants his mama only but I like how these have minimal parts & wash easily.
I nurse on demand so Payson sometimes wants to eat after two hours and sometimes he’ll go for 11 hours. We never know! For the times when he goes for longer periods I will sometimes pump after he eats to get the last little bit out. My lactation consultant said this was totally fine to do. It has allowed me to build up a stash already & helps make sure everything is out and not clogged.
I’m sure there is more I’m forgetting but that’s what I can think of for now. Breastfeeding has been so rewarding! I look at Payson and see how he’s grown so much and I love that I’ve been able to provide nourishment for him.