I'm pretty sure that most of my readers are female so this post shouldn't offend anyone.
I have a love/hate relationship with breastfeeding. I've always had trouble with it. Mastitis twice and almost a 3rd time but I felt it coming and got my prescription in time to stop it before it got out of hand. I always have cracked and bleeding nipples at the beginning. I know this is the best and healthiest for baby but why is something so natural, so unnatural for me? Spencer seems to have a smaller mouth and I can't get him to latch properly. I found a nice pump and bought it for a good price and so I'm pumping around the clock to let myself heal before we call in some help from a nurse to re-establish the nursing relationship. The other thing that I find frustrating is that I get advice from friends who have similar problems and they recommend what has worked for them. Then I talk to a public health nurse and they strongly discourage the same tactic that has helped my friends. Particularly I'm talking about nipple shields. Does anyone know what is wrong with them and why they are highly discouraged my some health professionals, but lifesavers for breastfeeding mothers who want to continue to breastfeed without bleeding at every feeding? Anyone have any advice about the subject?
Even with the little challenges that come with a newborn, this is a time in life like no other. Newborn babies are so sweet and I feel so blessed to have this new little guy in our family. What a long journey it has been for us for him to finally arrive. The Lord knows what He's doing and what I need. It is always interesting how it plays out.
4 comments:
I hear ya! Breastfeeding has been completely different with each of my 4 babies, and with my last one it was by far the absolute worst. I was so close to just quitting and bottlefeeding her, but after about 1 month or about 5 weeks, things improved drastically. I always try to hang on for at least 2 months, and see if it gets better, which it always seemed to. I had the same problem as you with my last one with the cracked and bleeding nipples....so horrible! I would use this product called Lanolin and it helped things so much. The nurse recommended to me, and it is natural and ok for the baby to ingest a little. You just rub it on after nursing; it seems to help the healing process speed up. I have never tried nipple shields but if they seem to work for everyone else, I'd give them a try too! Anyway, good luck and hope it gets better. And, congrats again!
Do whatever works for you. Try everything, cause everyone has an opinion. I agree with the whole natural practice should be natural idea. Good luck! Truly.
I hear you, Sh'nell, I hear you. Breastfeeding is so hard! I've had everything go wrong that can go wrong and I think I've tried pretty much everything and I"ve had varying amounts of success with each baby. I have used nipple shields with some of my babies and I found them somewhat helpful. Where they really helped was when I was in that place where my nipples were cracked and bleeding so bad that it felt like torture whenever the baby tried to latch on. Wearing one does protect your nipple when they latch on so it doesn't hurt nearly as much and gives you the chance to heal.
I think the problem is that it can also make it harder for the baby to latch on. But if they make it possible for you to keep nursing then they can be a good thing.
Personally, the thing that helped me the most was ignoring what all the lactation consultants, my mother-in-law, and the nurses were saying because honestly, not one of them agrees with the other, they all have different opinions. So, by the time I had baby 4, I had the confidence and experience to look back at what had helped me before and what hadn't and made my decisions based on that and only that.
So, for me, the best solution was, as soon as the latching on part was getting sore, I would stop breastfeeding and I would pump and bottle feed my pumped milk to my baby for a few feedings until latching on didn't hurt anymore. Then, I'd keep nursing until I'd get sore again, then switch back to pumping and bottle feeding. And each time, the amount of time I had to wait between breastfeeding without pumping got shorter and shorter, until I could even do 2 or 3 feedings in a row without soreness. And after about 2 or 3 weeks, it was all breastfeeding, no pumping. There was no nipple confusion that the nurses were always warning about, my babies did just fine switching back and forth, and most importantly, it prevented my nipples from getting so sore that they got cracked. With baby #2, my nipples got so cracked that when I pumped, my milk was pink from all the blood mixed in with the milk, and I ended up with really really bad mastitis that I couldn't get rid of, no matter which antibiotics I tried. So, I learned from that that it's really important to prevent cracks at all cost because they're an entry point for bacteria to infect your breast. So after that, I was much quicker to look at alternative feeding methods instead of just enduring and hoping it would get better on its own.
Good luck! You'll do great, no matter what you decide.
Oh, Sh'Nell, I can completely relate to the difficulty of breastfeeding. It has been such a challenge for me with both of my girls! I made it till about 3 months with both, and decided to formula feed at that point when I felt like it was affecting my happiness as a mom and adding a ton to post-partem depression. I kind of regretted quitting shortly after, but it just wasn't working.
I agree with the advice to listen to all the lactation consultants, nurses, etc, but not take anything they say as total truth. Every mom and baby has to do what works for them. I wish you all the best - but know that there are lots of women out there who understand what you are going through!
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