I'm not really sure when I decided that I would breastfeed (maybe I always knew), but once I knew, I knew I was dedicated 1 million percent.
I'll be the first to admit, it hurts... at first!
For the first few weeks to a month it really sucked for me. Let's just say I don't have the most favorable latching devices for a little one. Kinley really had a hard time figuring out how to latch properly. While we were still in the hospital we saw a lactation consultant, but didn't have much success. Then an angel came into our life! I can not remember her name, but her face is clear as day to me. An overnight nursery nurse sat with us for probably an hour and helped Kinley latch on over and over again. Practice makes perfect, right!? Much of the 'training' was for me too! The other thing she did was called 'suck training.' She would put a little sugar water on her finger then have Kinley suck her finger. This helped tremendously! Kinley began to associate sucking with nourishment and voila she was a great sucker! ha!
After my milk came in, which only took a couple of days, I had a huge oversupply and hind/foremilk imbalance. Poor Kinley would get all choked up when breastfeeding, it was just too much volume for her. We struggled for almost a month until finally I read online somewhere to try block feedings. Finally we had a solution.
What is a block feeding schedule? Well, regardless of how often she was nursing, only offer one breast every two hours. If that means she nurses on one side 3 times during that two hour block, great. If it's only once, that's great too. After two hours passes switch to the other breast. This dramatically helped reduce my oversupply. It also regulated my hindmilk/foremilk imbalance, and it ensured that Kinley was getting enough of the hindmilk which is the good fatty milk! If you have too much foremilk the baby is likely to have green and foamy poops and will just generally be unsatisfied. Foremilk is the equivalent of drinking a bottle of water, whereas hindmilk is more like a filling meal.
After we got our supply issues worked out breastfeeding became a breeze for us! Seriously I can't imagine toting around formula, bottles, and all the other junk that goes along with it! Not to mention having milk on demand and ready to go at a moments notice equals the ultimate convenience for me! This is just what has worked best for me.
Eventually I did start back to work, and then the pumping began. I was lucky enough that my insurance covered a double pump at 100%! Talk about amazing! I had to go pick it up from a medical supply company around a 30 minute drive away, but it was a super easy process! I chose the Medela Pump Instyle Advanced. It has worked out to be a great pump! The only thing I've been frustrated with is just getting it all set up so that I can pump. This would be the case with any pump though. Recently during a pumping sesh my pump went on the fritz. It was sucking but not like it should. I need to contact Medela to see about getting a replacement or something. I will keep y'all posted on that!
In the mean time though, I ran over to WalMart by my work and purchased a Medela Harmony hand pump. I'm almost tempted to say I like the hand pump better than the double electric! Crazy, I know, but the hand pump is so easy! No cords or tubing to fuss with, super quiet, and just generally awesome! I'm definitely glad I bought the little one for quick uses.
I am so thankful everyday that I am able to breastfeed my little one! The bond it has created between us is absolutely incredible. The only thing I can say is that if you are breastfeeding and struggling, keep going! Someone gave me some great advice one time, "just give breasfeeding one more day and don't quit on a bad day." If I'm ever struggling I just think, just one more day, and it hasn't failed that the next day was infinitely better.
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