jeski
20-07-2007, 01:48
I'm aware that a few things I have to say here might be controversial, and apologies in advance, but I hope my candour concerning this topic will be appreciated. I thought I'd write down my first time experiences with breastfeeding to maybe be of some help/interest to other new mums.
Before the birth of my daughter Pandora 7 weeks ago, I was absolutely determined to breastfeed and I truly believed that I wouldn't have that much trouble with it. My own mother breastfed me until I was 2 years old and never told of any difficulties with it, so I thought I'd have the same experience and it would be easy. About a week ago my mum found a heap of notes she'd made about her pregnancy with me, my birth, and breastfeeding me. I discovered that she'd actually had a really hard time establishing breastfeeding, feeding me a lot of glucose water in the first couple of weeks after I was born, and making much use of a breast pump and nipple shields. In my own experience with breastfeeding, I've discovered that I was very naiive! :p
While in hospital after Pandora was born I saw about 4 or 5 different midwives, who all gave me conflicting advice on breastfeeding. From the start I just wanted them all to go away and let me do my own thing. Although Pandora had a bad latch and my nipples got quite damaged, I managed to convince the midwives that I was okay enough with breastfeeding for them to allow me to leave hospital two days after she was born. On the third day at home my milk came in, and the breastfeeding seemed to be going ok.. albeit a bit painfully. However, Pandora had been diagnosed with hip displasia ("clicky hips") at hospital, and during her first week at home my partner David and I had to take her out frequently to various appointments (ultrasound, paediatrician, and harness fitting). On these trips I delayed breastfeeding until we got back home and due to this I developed mastitis. When we came back home from one appointment (at which Pandora had cried constantly because she was hungry) I collapsed into bed with a bad fever and slept, unable to be woken - David frantically called my mum to ask her what to do. I eventually woke up later that night and expressed milk with a handheld pump for the first time, because I felt so sick and unable to muster the energy to breastfeed directly. It was instant relief to be able to feed my baby this way. I felt it took a lot of the pressure off, when my nipples were so sore. The pump still hurt a little (I was occasionally expressing some blood along with the milk) but it didn't hurt nearly as much as Pandora feeding directly. However, I didn't want to exclusively express milk. I started using nipple shields to feed Pandora in the daytime, and while I slept through the night David would feed her expressed milk - he took 4 weeks off work after Pandora was born, so I had the "day shift" while he was able to take the "night shift".
Feeding Pandora directly gradually became easier, even though I didn't really seek any advice on helping her to latch properly. She just seemed to get the hang of it by herself, and I think it has been due to the nipple shields - they give her a teat to latch onto well. For the first 3 or 4 weeks I was only feeding her directly from the left breast, and only expressing milk from the right breast, because my right nipple became quite painfully damaged, and also because the mastitis had developed in the left breast and I'd heard that feeding from that side would help the condition to clear up quicker. I don't know how much this practice or the mastitis had to do with it, but now I produce a lot more milk in the right breast than the left.
For the last few weeks I have been directly feeding Pandora from both sides. Still with nipple shields - although my nipples have "toughened up" enough now to tolerate her feeding without them, it is a lot easier to feed with them on because she spends a lot less time fussing for a good latch. Meanwhile over the last couple of weeks I have built up a bit of a stash of frozen breast milk. I am now feeding Pandora directly all of the time except for one feed of 125mL of expressed milk before bed, and I feed her expressed milk if we go out anywhere during the day (it's just easier and quicker than finding a comfortable spot to breastfeed her directly). I feed her the expressed milk before bed because then I know for sure she is getting a good feed before going to sleep, and it seems to settle her better. This practice has apparently paid off because at 5 weeks she started sleeping through the night (from 10 - 11pm to 4 - 5am).
I hope this has been a somewhat helpful insight into establishing breastfeeding for new mums.. any thoughts on things I've done are most welcome. I really didn't do that much research into breastfeeding so everything I've done has been pretty much play-by-ear. I do have a question for more experienced breastfeeding mums.. though it might be a bit controversial. Since I started breastfeeding, I've spent a few evenings having several drinks with friends, causing me to get pretty tipsy (of course Pandora was only fed expressed milk on these occasions) and waking up the next morning somewhat worse for wear. I've noticed that the milk I expressed in this hangoverish state was much more yellow in colour than usual. My question is - is this milk ok to feed my baby? I've been assured by several people that it's fine, as I'm not expressing it while drunk, rather the day after drinking.. but I'm still curious about its safety, and what exactly causes it to be so yellow. :confused:
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Before the birth of my daughter Pandora 7 weeks ago, I was absolutely determined to breastfeed and I truly believed that I wouldn't have that much trouble with it. My own mother breastfed me until I was 2 years old and never told of any difficulties with it, so I thought I'd have the same experience and it would be easy. About a week ago my mum found a heap of notes she'd made about her pregnancy with me, my birth, and breastfeeding me. I discovered that she'd actually had a really hard time establishing breastfeeding, feeding me a lot of glucose water in the first couple of weeks after I was born, and making much use of a breast pump and nipple shields. In my own experience with breastfeeding, I've discovered that I was very naiive! :p
While in hospital after Pandora was born I saw about 4 or 5 different midwives, who all gave me conflicting advice on breastfeeding. From the start I just wanted them all to go away and let me do my own thing. Although Pandora had a bad latch and my nipples got quite damaged, I managed to convince the midwives that I was okay enough with breastfeeding for them to allow me to leave hospital two days after she was born. On the third day at home my milk came in, and the breastfeeding seemed to be going ok.. albeit a bit painfully. However, Pandora had been diagnosed with hip displasia ("clicky hips") at hospital, and during her first week at home my partner David and I had to take her out frequently to various appointments (ultrasound, paediatrician, and harness fitting). On these trips I delayed breastfeeding until we got back home and due to this I developed mastitis. When we came back home from one appointment (at which Pandora had cried constantly because she was hungry) I collapsed into bed with a bad fever and slept, unable to be woken - David frantically called my mum to ask her what to do. I eventually woke up later that night and expressed milk with a handheld pump for the first time, because I felt so sick and unable to muster the energy to breastfeed directly. It was instant relief to be able to feed my baby this way. I felt it took a lot of the pressure off, when my nipples were so sore. The pump still hurt a little (I was occasionally expressing some blood along with the milk) but it didn't hurt nearly as much as Pandora feeding directly. However, I didn't want to exclusively express milk. I started using nipple shields to feed Pandora in the daytime, and while I slept through the night David would feed her expressed milk - he took 4 weeks off work after Pandora was born, so I had the "day shift" while he was able to take the "night shift".
Feeding Pandora directly gradually became easier, even though I didn't really seek any advice on helping her to latch properly. She just seemed to get the hang of it by herself, and I think it has been due to the nipple shields - they give her a teat to latch onto well. For the first 3 or 4 weeks I was only feeding her directly from the left breast, and only expressing milk from the right breast, because my right nipple became quite painfully damaged, and also because the mastitis had developed in the left breast and I'd heard that feeding from that side would help the condition to clear up quicker. I don't know how much this practice or the mastitis had to do with it, but now I produce a lot more milk in the right breast than the left.
For the last few weeks I have been directly feeding Pandora from both sides. Still with nipple shields - although my nipples have "toughened up" enough now to tolerate her feeding without them, it is a lot easier to feed with them on because she spends a lot less time fussing for a good latch. Meanwhile over the last couple of weeks I have built up a bit of a stash of frozen breast milk. I am now feeding Pandora directly all of the time except for one feed of 125mL of expressed milk before bed, and I feed her expressed milk if we go out anywhere during the day (it's just easier and quicker than finding a comfortable spot to breastfeed her directly). I feed her the expressed milk before bed because then I know for sure she is getting a good feed before going to sleep, and it seems to settle her better. This practice has apparently paid off because at 5 weeks she started sleeping through the night (from 10 - 11pm to 4 - 5am).
I hope this has been a somewhat helpful insight into establishing breastfeeding for new mums.. any thoughts on things I've done are most welcome. I really didn't do that much research into breastfeeding so everything I've done has been pretty much play-by-ear. I do have a question for more experienced breastfeeding mums.. though it might be a bit controversial. Since I started breastfeeding, I've spent a few evenings having several drinks with friends, causing me to get pretty tipsy (of course Pandora was only fed expressed milk on these occasions) and waking up the next morning somewhat worse for wear. I've noticed that the milk I expressed in this hangoverish state was much more yellow in colour than usual. My question is - is this milk ok to feed my baby? I've been assured by several people that it's fine, as I'm not expressing it while drunk, rather the day after drinking.. but I'm still curious about its safety, and what exactly causes it to be so yellow. :confused:
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.