Adventures in Breastfeeding

There are so many things in life that end up being so much harder than anticipated, and I really don’t think that I’ve faced anything as challenging as breastfeeding. Though swimming {drowning} in the dating pool is a close second. Although the majority of my friends that have kids did breastfeed at some point, and some have even shared their struggles, until I was in it…I did not get it. I knew it might be a little tricky, but if women out on the prairie figured it out while also gathering the eggs and milking the cows, surely I could, right? Well, eventually yes but not without A LOT of struggles along the way. Even though at this point I’m making breastfeeding sound absolutely awful, it’s not! It’s the best thing now that I have it figured out, and I’m so glad that I stuck out the hard times to get to where we are today. Of course, I’m sure there are women who it does just naturally work for, but if you’re not one of those people I’m here to tell you that you’re doing great and you’re not alone!

Several things I didn’t realize about breastfeeding before actually breastfeeding:

• Where’s the milk? – I had read about women starting to leak colostrum in the last few weeks of pregnancy and how that’s the first “milk” that the baby gets after they are born, however, somehow I missed that the actual milk can take several days to “come in”. I guess I just figured, the baby comes out which triggers the body to turn on the milk faucets. This is inaccurate. My milk didn’t arrive until after we had left the hospital which is what started my issues.
• Supplemental Nursing System (SNS) – I had never heard of this contraption prior to my lack of milk and Vivian’s difficulty latching. An SNS is as it says, a way to supplement nursing. It’s a tiny tube hooked up to a bottle that delivers donor breast milk or formula to the nipple area. That way the baby practices nursing on you but is getting milk from the SNS. This worked for us for a bit but it’s a huge pain in the behind trying to get it to stay in the right spot, especially because I was also having to use a nipple shield…
• The Nipple Shield – Another ridiculous thing I thought was that as a woman with nipples, the baby would just attach and off we’d go. Turns out, for various reasons some babies can have a difficult time latching onto the nipple. Cue, the nipple shield. Again, I did not know that there was such a thing as a nipple shield. Turns out maybe I should have read a book about breastfeeding. Anyway, nipple shields are just as they sound, a silicone shield for your nipple. Though a bit of a pain to keep on at times, they helped Vivian be able to nurse and by around two months I was able to transition her off of the nipple shields.
• Mastitis – In the beginning, I was feeding Vivian and pumping each time because I was making so much milk. At one point, I made the grave error of skipping one of my pumping sessions and several hours later I had the worst chills of my life (full body shakes for about a half hour) followed by spiking a fever. Luckily my mom was with us and as a former nurse, she reacted calmly and called the emergency OB number for help. My husband said if he had been the only one home, he definitely would have called the ambulance! Eventually I did get put on antibiotics, but it was still an awful week fighting that infection while still recovering from childbirth. Mastitis comes in varying levels of intensity, and I think my case was a bit more intense than some, but in any case, mastitis is extremely painful and frustrating. My advice? Don’t skip any pumping sessions no matter how tedious they seem in the beginning.
• Something I was really worried about was feeling awkward while breastfeeding. This could just be because I’m awkward in general, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that once I got past all of the initial struggles, it was more natural feeling than I thought. Though it has been one of the hardest things in my life thus far, I am so glad that I kept trying until we were able to be successful.

So if you’re struggling or preparing yourself for breastfeeding, just know that it’s okay if it’s not immediately coming naturally, and everyone’s experience is different, so you get to decide what the best choice is for you and baby! ❤