Motherhood By Far- Breastfeeding

It's been two months since I gave birth to Kyler-Rose. So far so great. When people ask me how things are going I say, it gets easier each day. Being a new first time mother is filled with so many emotions. There is no process or procedure to it. Every mother and baby are different and so is the way things are done. You're really making it up as you go along. And now I understand what other mother's mean when they say "You will end up doing what works best for you and your baby". I am finding that to be super accurate. With all the resources and advice, I find myself caring for Kyler-Rose in my own special way. I do wish I would have read up on breastfeeding prior to giving birth. I knew I wanted to nurse my baby, but I never knew how hard and demanding it would really be for me.

After just one day in the hospital, we started to get the hang of it. At first though, I was quickly losing confidence because I didn't feel like my baby was interested in my breasts. One of the nurses told me to be patient and she would come around. She said most babies don't start eating for a while since they just experienced the same traumatic event. Sure enough my baby latched on and started feeding. I'd say we were doing pretty good being as though there weren't many lactation specialist on duty. I saw one maybe twice, the entire time I was in the hospital. They literally looked at her while I fed her, for one second and said "Make sure you feed her for 15 minutes on each breast. You're doing great!" This made me feel a way because doctor's encourage you to breastfeed, but fail to provide you with the proper and adequate amount of support that's really needed.

Kyler-Rose latched on to my breast fine for the most part. At least that's what I thought. After about a week in a half of doing it the same way (which was painful) I quickly became concerned. My daughter would scream cry and yell. She was exhibiting very fussy and colic-like behaviors. I figured she wasn't getting enough to eat, meaning I wasn't producing enough to satisfy her. I felt so horrible about myself, like I failed my daughter. Like I failed to properly take care of her. I immediately sought out for extra help. Her pediatrician suggested that I make an appointment with their lactation specialist. That was the best thing I could have done for us thus far.

I saw who I consider to be the most patient, knowledgable specialist in the DMV. She is literally heaven sent and one of the reasons why I didn't give up on breastfeeding all together. She helped me feel more confident and capable. Kyler-Rose is not the easiest baby to feed. At one point she was going through a growth spurt while cluster feeding at the same time. Talk about HELL. Anyway the lactation specialist helped me come up with a feeding plan that worked best for me and Kyler-Rose. After a lot of practice, observation and a couple of visits we decided that block feeding would be the best technique for us. Block feeding is a feeding pattern often suggested when a mother has under or oversupply issues. The suggestion would be to the mother to use one breast per session, and to keep baby to one side for a "block" of time. So I would feed Kyler-Rose on the same breast for three feedings in a row then switch. We also decided to incorporate Enfamil's ready to use Gentlease formula. It was my decision to pick Enfamil over Similac and it was my decision to incorporate formula into my daughter's diet. The reason for adding two ounces of formula to Kyler-Rose's diet was because I needed more sleep. I mean no harm, but my babygirl is greedy. Adding formula allowed for someone else to feed her while I caught up on some sleep. The formula is very filling and takes more time to digest. I also decided to add the formula because I wanted her to be familiar with bottle feeding as I do plan on going back to work.

Deciding to solely breastfeed Kyler-Rose, there are things I had to keep in mind:

Doctor's suggested not to pump until she was at least three weeks old. This means none of her family could partake in feeding her, having a drink was a no go and watching my diet was a must.

If you feel like you are going to struggle with any of these then its best to figure out how you can handle it, prior to committing yourself to breastfeeding. Also, if you have to go back to work soon, consider your options. Does your job have a lactation room? Will your job give you the time to pump throughout the day? Do you want to bottle-feed? Are you producing enough milk to make bottles?

So now, after sharing my experience, I want to finish off by stating that breastfeeding my daughter is an amazing experience and is worth every moment. Her eyes and my eyes meet each time and that brings me so much joy. I really love having her close because there's no going back once she is old.

Resource:

Be sure to like and follow Silver Lactation Services on Facebook. Ms. Silver has created a educational support group for mothers who breastfeed. The page includes helpful resources and interesting articles on breastfeeding.

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