So - Dad - you might wanna stop reading now...
Nursing my three Doughkids has been an interesting experience for me. I can honestly say that I love breastfeeding. I'm a breastfeeding fanatic. I think breastfeeding rocks. I hate formula (gasp!!).
Now - get your panties all untwisted and come back here... take a deep breath. Whew. Feel better?
Let me make this clear - I could care less what you feed your younglings - or how. If you feed your baby formula - that's splendid. I'm not even judging you from over here... REALLY! Quite frankly I don't understand why so many people care about how others feed their babies, read any expecting club board and over time you will see 1-3 fights about breastfeeding vs. formula feeding. My concerns come in when moms put soda in a bottle and feed it to their kids, oh - and whiskey... but other than that - I just don't care what you feed that babe of yours.
Back to me here... the reasons I hate formula are personal and have nothing to do with you feeding your kid, I'm not on a moral high horse mocking thee. Not even a soap box. I just can't stand the smell of formula. It has always made me gag - all the way back to my babysitting days. Just the smell in the can is enough to make me sick - and the premixed formula - forgeddaboutit. Then when you factor in formula spit up and then formula poop. UGH. I'm done for.
When I started nursing my own baby I couldn't figure out why her poop didn't stink (it didn't smell like roses - but it didn't make me want to throw myself in front of a car either). I thought for sure it was some biological factor that allows moms to take care of their young. Then I realized I had never taken care of a child that was 100% breastfed.
So - I digress. Breastfeeding (bout me, not you). Ok. Nursing Julia was a dream. I had no pain. She latched on and was great. She gained fine. I didn't spend time worrying about my supply. Other than the one time she bit me - HARD - I thought about stopping. My first goal was to nurse her for 3 weeks. Then 2 months. Then 6 months. Then a year. At a year she was really bothered by cows milk so I continued to nurse her. At that point I only nursed on demand (or so I thought). I nursed her until 20 months. I planned 2 months to wean her. Gradually stopping. After 3 days of telling her "nee nee went night night" she didn't ask anymore. And like that - nursing was over.
With Anna - it was a different story. She latched on within minutes of being born. After her 3rd feeding I suspected she wasn't latched well - but she was still eating nicely. The Lactaction consultant at the hospital was off for the weekend - so I had a regular old nurse help me. She looked at me from across the room and told me she was latched fine. "You've done this before right? So it's fine". After 3 days I would cry every time she winced - for fear it would be time to nurse. My nipples cracked, they bled, pieces of my boob just plain old fell off. There was a significant amount of ibuprophen being sucked down - and a lot of crying. I seriously contemplated formula... I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I didn't want to lose that idyllic nursing relationship I had with Julia. I wanted it with Anna too. after 3 weeks of pain - it went away and Anna and I found that nursing happy place. We didn't gaze lovingly at each other over my boob like Julia and I had - since Anna was a no nonsense nurser, but it was a good relationship. Other than one little introduction to plugged ducts (that pointing the nose in the direction of the plugged duct thing was a lifesaver - awkward as hell for positioning - but a lifesaver nonetheless), and a fun case of thrush... for 15 months things went along swimmingly.
I was ready with Emma Leigh. I wasn't going to suffer like I did with Anna. I planned on nursing for that 3 week period, but if things were bad after that - I was just going to have to do formula. Surprise ... it went well! Then she had jaundice and the doctor told us to supplement the hell out of her with formula (which I might add I have learned is an old wives' tale in terms of jaundice treatment. The thought is - the more they eat - the more bilirubin they pass. BUT - as long as you have normal milk supply - breastmilk is actually better at getting the bili to pass since babies traditionally can digest breast milk faster, therefore drink more, and pass more bili - there are other more "scientifical" reasons - but I'm not a medical doctor. :) ). She took about 3 oz of formula total - and she hated every single ounce of it. Not as much as I did - but I sucked it up for my baby. She refused to eat it although she'd take breastmilk out of a bottle without a problem.
Then the reflux diagnosis. Breastmilk is believed to be easier on the baby to digest and so better for a refluxer (although much, harder on mom - since they like to comfort nurse 24/7). So - sore boobs galore. Then after my boobs toughened up and were used to the constant onslaught of aggressive baby feeding - evil thrush reared it's ugly head. Twice. OUCH. Once the thrush cleared up everything was hunky dory.
Now - not so much. The last three weeks have been fraught with burning nipples. OH NO!! Not thrush again! Since I hadn't lit my nipples on fire - I figured the burning was symptomatic of them healing from the thrush. Em never showed sign of thrush again.. but yet the burning continued. I finally talked myself into stopping nursing... I couldn't handle white burning nipples any longer.
Then I looked on the internet. VOILA. There is a problem! I called the doctor and verified that indeed I have BLANCHED NIPPLES. WTF???? They aren't sure whether it's just blanched nipples or I have vasospasms - but regardless it's pretty much the same effect and same treatment. I need to work with her latch, keep things dry, apply dry heat several times a day and take some ibuprophen.
My point? Oh - I didn't have a point. Just that I'm going to continue nursing. Em is one of those look longingly over the boob at each other kind of baby. Since she's the last - I'm going to hold on to that for a little while longer.
1 comment:
As usual, having a cry!!!
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