The choice to breastfeed is completely up to the mother and father so this discussion is not to pressure or make anyone feel less than adequate for not breastfeeding their children. My goal is to share my experiences in hope of providing support for anyone thinking about it or having trouble. I was lucky enough to have a very supportive mother who breastfed all of us kids. I have since realized that my mother's generation didn't understand or promote the enormous benefits of breastfeeding like they do today so there are women out there having babies right now who don't have mothers to guide them and support them like I did. I can't be your mother in the hospital but I can share what worked for me, what didn't work, what I liked and what I didn't like. I will skip the details on specific health benefits because you can find that all over the internet by searching "breastfeeding". There are long lists of benefits so I hope if you are a new mom or expecting to be one you give it a shot.
I will create a series of posts to talk about my experiences, what happens at the hospital with a term baby compared to a preemie, what to do at home, what to expect when returning to work, keeping yourself healthy and anything else I can think of that has helped me through the first few months nursing my babies. Nope, not posting any pics so I hope the conversation is enough
First thing first - Slow down and enjoy the moment. Allow yourself to embrace the time you have with your new family. At our hospital they had a one hour baby bonding time where the mom and dad were the only people allowed in the room after delivery. Perfect idea. It gives mom and dad the chance to celebrate (in the most gentle and loving way). This is a great idea for the first few times you try nursing. Ask everyone to leave the room, it's not a rude request, this is your time with your baby and whether it's your first time or fifth time nursing you want to make sure you and your baby are able to focus on the task. It's not easy for everyone, sometimes Momma has a hard time and sometimes baby has a hard time so create a quiet environment to learn together. My son is four months old now and he still gets irritated sometimes if there is too much going on around him while he is nursing. It doesn't have to be perfectly quiet but I can tell he enjoys a calm environment.
Slowing down and enjoying the moment carries on through all six months, it always ends up when I get myself started on a task at home it is time to nurse. I remember having trouble with this with my daughter because I am a busy bee around the house and it's hard to stop. When it's time to nurse, just stop, get comfortable, and relax. Sometimes she would nurse for 15 minutes and sometimes we would sit there for 45 minutes. I tried to leave it up to her.
- STAY HEALTHY MOMMA
Let's talk about keeping yourself healthy. This is hard because you are overcome with a tidlewave of new things to think about and the realization of having a little human in your arms that was just moments ago in your belly is quite surreal. Any selfish thoughts have been catapulted out the window but try to do a few things for yourself because you can't keep that tiny person healthy if you aren't healthy!!
- FILL UP THE TANK
After each feeding eat a little snack and drink plenty of water, especially in the beginning. You just provided nourishment to your baby and depleted your own so give yourself a little boost. I kept graham crackers and a big bottle of water next to me all through the night and throughout the day. Just a couple pieces of graham cracker was enough. I kept this up for the first 4-6 weeks.
Also, make sure you are getting a good breakfast, lunch and dinner with healthy snacks in between. I know, everyone knows it is important to get three meals plus snacks but we aren't talking about weight management, we are talking about nourishing yourself in order to keep that milk supply up. Plan meals ahead so they are easy to make in case it was a tough day and have a variety of snacks available both sweet and savory. For me, hunger sets in very quickly and I have found if I don't have healthy snacks ready I tend to grab whatever is available which might not be very healthy. Accept ALL help that is offered by family and friends for meals because in the first couple months there isn't a lot of sleep and sometimes the last decision you want to have to make is what to eat for dinner. They are usually more than happy to be able to help. I froze portions of soups and casseroles that were brought to us for easy meals we could warm up in minutes without lots of dishes to clean up.
While I was on maternity leave I wanted to stay in bed as long as possible because I was so tired from being up through the night. My husband got on a routine where he would bring me some hot chocolate or juice and a breakfast bar before he left for work so I could enjoy something other than water and graham crackers and didn't have to get out of bed for it.
- LIGHTWEIGHT
After I was released by my doctor I decided to get back into a gym routine and found out very quickly I needed to have snacks available before and after I got done. It kind of feels counterproductive to be eating so much while going to the gym but my only goals are different right now. I try to do different lifts and muscle movements and a light cardio activity. After I am done nursing I will focus more on a regular more intense gym routine to get back into shape but I don't need to risk overworking myself at this point.
- WAKE UP BLEND
I love coffee but in the first couple months I kept it at a minimum, it was pretty easy to do because I wasn't drinking coffee through my pregnancy. Caffeine dehydrates so until you have a good milk supply and a healthy routine for hydrating yourself try to minimize caffeine. This is hard because you won't be getting much sleep so take advantage of any and every available nap time. Besides, if I have a nap planned I don't want to load up on caffeine and miss the opportunity.
- ME
Make time for yourself. Put Daddy or Grandma in charge and do a little pampering. A few things that I like to do are cook, take a bath, do my nails, or go to the grocery store. Go get an ice cream sundae if it makes you feel happy. When I was a baby, my mom invented the three hour bath to get a little alone time, I wasn't the easiest baby according to my parents. On Friday night or Saturday morning my husband and I always ask each other what we want to get done over the weekend and try to make sure we both get to do the things on our wish list.
- BIG YAWN
If you choose to breastfeed, accept the fact that you are not going to get a lot of sleep in the first 6 months. I wish I had a magical formula for getting more sleep at night but if you choose to breastfeed you are choosing to be the main supplier of food for your baby which means whether you want to or not, you are getting up in the middle of the night. I have had people offer to feed him in the middle of the night so I can get more sleep but the truth is these milk makers aren't going to let me go through the night without some form of relief. It gets pretty painful to go much longer than five hours without expressing my milk.
One thing I try to do is feed him at the same time every night. Right now I make sure to feed him between 9:30/10, right before we are going to bed. I feed him between 3/4am. Then he is usually up at about 6/6:30. If he wakes up in between those hours I give him his soothie to try to get him to sleep a little longer. If nothing suppresses his hunger I go ahead and feed him in hopes we will get back on our routine the next night. I have found that having some sort of a routine helps me not feel as tired because my body gets used to it.
Six months is what your precious little baby needs, longer is always good but six months is the minimum recommendation. I think it's worth a try. It's not easy but in the end, it's just six months and that's what I keep telling myself. If I make it through six months I have reached my goal, anything beyond that is bonus. With my daughter I was able to go five months and right now with my son we are coming up on five months and still going strong so I think we will make it to the mark.
Embrace food, family and everything else that makes you happy
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