When Hazel was born she was a natural latcher and breast feeding was so so much easier than it was with Olivia. I was so happy. But we ran into a few problems. She was having a problem gaining back to her birth weight. The doctor didn't seemed concerned but I was. Then I went to a breastfeeding support group at the hospital and that is when I realized that even though Hazel was a good latcher she was a lazy nurser. She just didn't suck hard enough to get all the milk. Plus I didn't have the patience to spend 1-1.5 hours nursing and burping. She was a spit-uppy baby.
Then I started to worry about her weight gain and my milk supply. So I started pumping between week 3-4. I was worried because I wasn't producing much milk yet. I started taking fenugreek and blessed thistle to increase my supply. It worked really well with Olivia. Bad news was Hazel was super sensitive and it made her gassy and super fussy. I got a prescription for Reglan but I started drinking Mother's Milk tea because my doula said the amount of fenugreek and blessed thistle were a lot less. I tried the tea with Olivia but I hated the taste. It has a black licorice flavor but since I feel so strongly about breastmilk the first few weeks/months I started drinking it and it helped a ton.
Since I exclusively pumped with Olivia, I knew what I was getting in to and I had a lot of mixed feelings. I wanted to give Hazel the benefits of BM but I didn't want to be tied down to the breast pump like I was before. I was pumping 8-10 times to build my supply. Luckily with technology and the iPhone I found the "What to Expect When Expecting" Ap and there was a group of ladies who were exclusively pumping and I learned a lot of new tips that has made it bearable. Almost everyday since I started pumping I considered quitting atleast once and it was probably because of my dumb pregnancy rash but things are going much better.
Things I learned from the Exclusively Pumping forum are: Pumping Pals are flanges that curve so it isn't painful to pump especially when I have to do it multiple times a day. And it has a hands free sling that I use every time I pump. I don't have to pump 8 times a day for the rest of the year. I have actually cut it down to 4 times a day. I have to spend a little bit more time pumping but atleast I have more freedom from the house and engorgement.
The bad things I have experienced this time is mastitis and I think I might have thrush. I don't have the classic signs but I am going to ask the doctor about it tomorrow.
Overall I have learned that the first six weeks of BF are rough. There are a lot of problems that moms can run into. Even though Hazel was a good latcher and I never had sore nipples, I didn't expect her to be a weak nurser. I do realize I could have nursed and pumped and supplemented and she could have outgrown the problem. She won't nurse now. The bottle is way to convenient for her. Burping a newborn can be a long process and based on Hazel and Olivia I have babies that spit up quite a bit. There are awesome lactation consultant services in Boise and BF support groups here and honestly if I wasn't coming back to work and planning to pump anyway I probably would have stuck with it. On a side note we did buy a new upright freezer to store my milk supply which is so nice because our freezer was packed so full it was a pain in the butt to get anything out.
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I was also best friends with my Medela. FB was a lifesaver and I would just play games and scroll around during those 20 minutes LOL
I got mastisis twice! It was horrible :-(
I took and still do take for granted how easy both of my kids were to breastfeed. So easy that they refused a bottle or binki hence, making me their comfort item of choice. That made it hard because I felt like I could never, ever leave them because they'd starve. And the pregnancy brain you mentioned in a different post is multiplied by 50 when you pump and breastfeed! Those kids suck the life out of you!
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