Nobody Told Me I Wouldn't Be Able to Drink Milk!

**Disclaimer** This is the long-awaited breastfeeding blog so if words like breast, nipple etc. will give you the willies, this will not be a comfortable read for you.

Shortly after Cody was born, David and I found ourselves all alone with him in the Labor and Delivery room. I was holding Cody and David had been making phone calls about our glorious news. Then Cody began rubbing his fist accross his lips...I knew what that meant. I've always told David that I wanted another shot at breastfeeding. It was very upsetting to me when Emma and I weren't able to and it's something I wanted to be able to experience- not to mention the amazing health benefits for Mom and Baby!

David and I had had conversations about breastfeeding many times and not only was he totally on board with the idea, he was glad that I was willing to try again. I prepared David for the "nazi nurses" as a popular breastfeeding blog calls them. If Cody needed to gain weight quickly, or if he had jaundice etc. and we were slow to start breastfeeding well, it had been my experience (and that of many others) that the nurses would encourage us to supplement with formula right away. Emma had jaundice fairly severely and breastfeeding was not going well at all right out of the gate, so of course I approved of the supplementing. I don't blame our issues on that at all, it was simply her mouth or latch, for whatever reason. David was prepared to stand our ground with nurses if need be and be my support system. Now, getting back to Cody.

So it was just the three of us in the room and Cody was hungry! I thought, and probably verbalized aloud, "Well, here goes nothing." Cody made up for my lack of confidence- he knew just what to do! Cody nursed on one side for 25 minutes! I was amazed and thrilled- I bet I hardly took my eyes off of him; what a beautiful sight. From this point on I was committed to figuring this whole breastfeeding thing out. For instance, it did not occur to me that breastfed babies spit up- I assumed that was from the formula for bottle-fed babies.

Over the next few feedings we worked on switching sides, figuring out frequency of burping etc. While we were at the hospital Cody nursed on each side for 15-20minutes at a time. The second evening in the hospital I asked the nurse about speaking to a lactation consultant. There was one working that night so late that evening she came in and it just so happened to be feeding time. We were doing 'okay' but I knew the latch could use some adjusting to be more comfortable for me- I had heard that there should be no pain. But all I remembered from my attempts with Emma was PAIN. Anyway, the LC was WONDERFUL and we worked on a modified 'football hold' position. Cody has always liked to be upright anyway, so this works great for us! By the second day of birth my milk was totally in- the LC could tell by how it looked. I didn't know, it looked all the same to me. :) She was telling Cody how lucky he was. Comments like this really made me feel good since I pretty much felt like there was something wrong with me since it didn't work out so well the first time.

This new latch was AWESOME, no discomfort what-so-ever and I really could barely feel anything. At first I was using a nipple shield (there's one of those words, sorry) because I remembered it taking some of the 'edge' off when Emma and I were attempting to breastfeed. Now I don't use it because I really don't feel it. After a week or so I was ready to start pumping. The lactation consultants and everything I was reading and hearing was encouraging you to wait at least three weeks or until a "good" latch habit had been established. David had his first week back at work before Cody was two weeks old and I only lasted two days before I absolutely lost it. It was superbowl Sunday and I had barely slept that Friday and Saturday. Cody happened to be going through his 10-day growth spurt and was nursing every two hours or so! And so the pumping commenced. Before he went back to work David would get up with Cody and have him changed and ready-to-go when it was time for him to eat. David always made sure I had plenty of water with a straw and got me set up with pillows so I was comfortable :) It was quite the change to have David away and be on my own...

Thanks to some very kind friends/co-worker of David, we were given an awesome Medela pump to use! I had used this kind when Emma was born so I was thrilled because I knew it would work for me! David had to call in sick that Sunday and was able to stay home and help with feedings via bottle. My little champ does great with the boob and the bottle and has had no problems going back and forth between the two. I think it's thanks to that plastic nipple shield since it feels similar and is shaped like a bottle nipple. Whatever the reason- I'm thankful! It as definitely a relief to know I could have a break! This way I was also able to leave Cody at home with Daddy and take big sister to school, go into the office etc. Wahoo! As the days went by we decided to introduce some formula at night in hopes that Cody would be able to sleep longer.

In a way I was kind of dreading this. Emma was intolerant of all the 'regular' formulas and ended up taking Alimentum which cost us almost $200/month. Sure enough Cody was extremely gassy with the regular similac, had aweful diarrhea with the soy and became TERRIBLY constipated with one of the 'sensitive' versions. The pedi. was ready to switch to Alimentum but I asked what she thought about trying an Enfamil version since we'd only tried Similac thus far. She said exactly what I was hoping for- to try the Gentlease. We had just gotten and buy-one-get-one-free coupon for it from Walgreens and it was the same price as the other 'regular' formulas. While Cody was consitpated this week he was so uncomfortable and it broke our hearts and definitely interrupted our sleep, not to mention his sleep. I should add that we were giving him Mylicon with every bottle of formula and he was still gassy throughout all of these trials. I wish I could breastfeed exclusively but I've been going in to work since he was 6 days old and it just isn't always possible for me to be available (and have privacy) every three hours. It's not really my personality to just pull out my boob at a restaurant, shopping etc. so it was important to me that we have options.

I forgot to mention that in the beginning, and we still do this, that we would mix the formula and distilled water with breast milk that I had pumped. We are making him 4oz bottles and he pretty much takes the whole thing and burps after every ounce. When Cody was just a few days old we had my parents over for dinner and made pancakes, sausage and eggs. I had a big glass of milk not realizing that Cody would have trouble when it came time to nurse. Duh- that's why babies can't have cow's milk because they can't break it down. Cody had a rough time that night- lesson learned! Disappointing though because I was totally in the habit of drinking a lot of milk and having cereal while I was pregnant.

This has surely been a learning experience for me. No nuts, beans, chocolate, milk, spicy foods, caffiene etc. Luckily, like during my pregnancy, heavy, spicy, greasy foods don't sound good to me. But it's hard finding things to eat! The first few days I had a lot of salads, but all that lettuce wasn't so great either. One thing I missed during my pregnancy was having a glass of wine every once in a while. I had a half a glass on New Years' Eve but that's it. I might have to allow myself some after I pump sometime. Speaking of which, pumping is going great. It's hard for me to sit still that long though. When Cody nurses he goes for almost an hour!! Then it takes a little time to get him to rest or settled in to playing happily. By the time that is done, I'm exhausted and usually need to eat, shower or rest. But I'm trying to stay on top of pumping to keep my supply up as well as freeze milk for later.

To sum this up, I feel so honored to be able to breastfeed. It's so special and I cherish the time I share with Cody. I'm not sure how long we will breastfeed, but I didn't think I'd make it past week one, then week two, then the first month and yet here we are! My next goal is 2 months, then six months, then who knows. I'm just thankful my little man is healthy and happy!