OMG.
Strike my last post. I STILL haven't gotten a hang of this breastfeeding thing. If it's not one thing, then its another. Here's documentation of my last 10 days of my breastfeeding adventures. Every day has its own theme/problem. LOL.
April 28th (day 11): GETTING A HANG OF THIS, FINALLY?
Today's pretty good, I must admit. We've gotten pretty good at this routine of getting up in the middle of the night to feed. Now, the only thing is, still need to get a hang of this nipple pain issue. I think it's getting better, but not all gone yet.
Day 12: NEWBORN PHOTOS!
First day using a bottle today, cause I'm a big boy who goes to take naked baby pictures :) So proud of myself - I was able to pump out 4 ounces of milk for him! We'll see how this goes. I hope he likes these bottles. We got the Como Tomo bottles which are supposed to be awesome cause they're "shaped like mom." He's gotten a couple of pacifiers so far, but hasn't seemed to exhibit any signs of nipple confusion.
Day 13: UNEVEN BOOBS
My fault for thinking I knew what I was doing. So yesterday, when we went on our outing to Salem, I pumped out 4 ounces of fresh milk (over a whole day) to facilitate easier feeds. As a result, AJ went about 6 hours without eating from the left boob, and about 9 hours without eating from the right one. Ummmmm... BIG mistake. What was I thinking? It's a simple rule of supply and demand that I should have remembered from ECON 101. No even simpler, PHYSICS 101 - for every action there's an equal but opposite consequence. If he doesn't eat, the milk doesn't disappear, it BUILDS --> ENGORGEMENT :( I should have known that I needed to pump out that extra milk if he wasn't going to eat it. Now I have one boob that's huge and one that's normal :(
Day 14: MY FIRST WORLD PROBLEM: OVERSUPPLY?
I'm pretty sure I'm making too much milk. It sometimes sprays out at him when he pulls off of my boob. My mom says she had the same problem when she was breastfeeding me. She often had to "catch" the extra milk with a bowl since it'd come out too fast! I've been doing some research, and I wanna try block feeding to reduce my supply. Does sound uncomfortable going several hours without feeding on one breast - but who knows, maybe this will work?
Day 15: COULD THIS BE MASTITIS?
There's a huge red spot on my right boob, it's tender, and warm. Oh no. I called my doc today and they issued some clindamycin to have on hand. She's pretty sure this will just pass with frequent feeding though (I haven't experienced any fever or flu-like symptoms, so it's suspicious whether or not this is truly mastitis). Wish me luck.
Day 16: OUCH OUCH OUCH
Not exactly sure if this is mastitis or not, but damn those nips hurt like they're on fire! The engorgement is very real now. Lanolin no longer helps the nips - in fact, I'm pretty sure it's making it worse by keeping it moist. Also finished my box of Lansinoh pads so switching to the Medela ones. So far, I'm not a fan. There's a very papery feel at the edges that just cuts into the nipples. Not exactly what I need right now.
Day 17: RUNNING ON E...SO SCREW THE SCHEDULE!
So mentally frustrated by this nursing business. Boobs are still on fire (wait...boobs or nips? Not sure anymore). In laws are coming over for a BBQ today, which is a nice change of scenery. There'll be lots of people hold and playing with AJ. I've also decided to throw out this ludicrous schedule of feeding him every 2-3 hours (even though out loud I say it's on demand). If he wants to eat, I'll feed him...even if its only been 30 minutes. This should also help my boob pain!
Day 18: THE CALM (BEFORE THE STORM)
It worked! The on-demand feeding relieved A LOT. Hmmm... even the nips hurt less when the boobs are less full. Didn't see that coming. I didn't pump this morning, my boobs are finally feeling less like rocks! Though I am eating ibuprofens like candy (not getting rid of that until this all blows over). He seemed pretty content this morning. He ate then napped on me for an hour, ate again, then we went to Providence mom's group (our first time!). It was awesome - I love the format- Q&A around the circle. Met lots of new moms. AJ was by far the youngest, but it was good to get advice from experienced moms. I'll have to pay it forward when he gets older. Also, need to tell my pregnant neighbor, Amy about this awesome resource. Was also told the good news that I don't have to set an alarm anymore at night to feed AJ. WOOHOO! But let's see how often he DOES wake me up....hope today goes just as well as mom's group...though I must say, he's getting kind of fussy during nursing...
Day 19: MOM! I'M SO HUNGRY! AND ANGRY! AND GASSY!
This child has an appetite of 4 grown men. I kid you not, he WILL NOT STOP NURSING. And the worse part is, he's now SCREAMING as soon as he latches on. He's also extremely gassy and needs to burp ALL THE TIME. He pulled off one time long enough for me to see that there's milk spraying at him and tons of residual milk left in his mouth even after he pulls away. Could I really be making too much milk? Or is it just an overactive letdown issue? I called our lactation nurse who gave me some helpful hints - try nursing with him sitting up (babies handle heavy milk flow better when they're upright...you would too!) and try expressing some milk right before you give him the boob (bypass the most forceful part of letdown). On a side note, even though he's super hungry during the day, his nighttime patterns remain about the same even though I don't wake him (wakes up on his own about every 2.5 hours).
Day 20: READY SET, RE-SET!
Today, I've had it! After 2.5 days of blood curdling screams while nursing, chomping down on my nipples, trying to master hard up-right nursing positions, and just general desperate seeking of advice, I'd decided to retry block nursing. I'm convinced that this overactive let-down is related to oversupply. So I'm refocusing efforts at reducing my supply. At 10 AM, I completely drained both boobs and have just fed him (he's asleep now, and didn't cry during his session!) We'll see where this takes us. I'm leery of all the pitfalls we've come across already and will make sure not to fall prey to those again. CROSS MY FINGERS! On a side note, I ordered some Bamboozies. Maybe those will feel better than these nursing pads!
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