Okay... I finally get it... I understand why so many women give up on breastfeeding. To be honest, the thought has crossed my mind on several occasions. Fortunately for Connor, his complete distaste for formula has prevented this from becoming a possibility.
The first week was horrifically hard... my milk wouldn't come in. Connor kept nursing to the point that I had bleeding, scabby nipples... fortunately I was still in the hospital while this was happening so I was given Domperidone to help bring my milk in. Unfortunately Domperidone is actually a drug to help move a sluggish bowel and one of it's side effects is that it increases milk production. I did not have a sluggish bowel so this was a whole new thrill for me...
Once we got home, Connor's demand was far greater than my supply. He would cluster feed for hours on end and never seem like he was getting satisfied. For the first few weeks, we were topping him up with sugar water to have him feel full enough to sleep but this also had a side effect on his bowels so it was a last resort.
Our next line of defence was pumping milk during the early hours of the day when he wasn't clustering and using that milk when the clustering started. This was extremely effective. The only problems was that as a young baby, he wasn't into a routine and it was hard to judge when it was safe to pump. Doesn't help if you pump and then have to feed that pumping to him immediately.
Now, my supply generally meets his demand. He is starting to fall into a routine. My problem is now my diet and the impact it has on his digestion system. The donair I ate the other night gave Connor gas and tummy upset... no more spices for me. He has a tendency to spit up ALOT... I'm considering doing an elimination diet on myself to see if we can figure out what upsets him... I'm just working myself up to a rice-only diet for a few days. As a bonus, it will help to remove the excess weight on me...
Total weight gained during pregnancy 49 lbs... total lost so far... 27 lbs
2 comments:
Breastfeeding IS hard. It's one of the things they don't teach enough of in prenatal classes. My first advice to a new mom is buckle down for the long haul if you're committing to BFing because it takes awhile to figure it out.
The spit up may be reflux and not related to your diet. A little zantac might fix him right up.
Both of my boys were barfers! Nearly every time they fed, I would get a projectile puke out of them. Found out I just make a heck of a lot of milk and they were returning what they didn't need! :)
Keep at it!
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