Comments on: Pumping & bottle feeding. Guilt & pride. http://ideallyspeaking.ca/2014/05/pumping-bottle-feeding-guilt-pride/ Parenting and life in general from my point of view. Mildly naïve & wildly idealistic. Sat, 03 Jun 2017 06:18:24 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.38 By: Heidi U http://ideallyspeaking.ca/2014/05/pumping-bottle-feeding-guilt-pride/#comment-82165 Sat, 28 Jan 2017 03:21:27 +0000 http://ideallyspeaking.ca/?p=928#comment-82165 There are only one or two people that I know, who ever had an easy time nursing right away. Everyone else had issues. What ever method you use, the early days, weeks and months are not easy. Trying to gel together takes time. I believe if you can nurse, it is the best thing to do. But if it is at the expense of your sanity and or the health of you and your child, then do what works best for you. I had issues with both of my girls. My first one couldn’t nurse for the first 12 hours, so the nurse finally stuffed her mouth over my breast. She sucked on my breast and opened up a nice wound within minutes. Despite all the problems (see below) I had nursing, I nursing the first one 19.5 months and the second one 31.5 months.

I had ‘milk stones’ with my first child. Started with 19 days until she was 18 months. I couldn’t find any help with it until I went to a lactation consultant. I couldn’t lift my arms, because I was in so much pain. She told me that my nipple was plugged and I needed to remove the plug (kind of like popping a pimple). It took me one more month to figure out how to deal with it. None of the books I researched told me about it. This is a large part why people stop nursing. This is what effectively considered a blocked duct. I learnt to remove the nipple plug, push out the backed up fluid and then attach my child. I finally experienced relief, even though I had many blocked ducts. All the books tell you to put hot wash clothes on your breasts to unblock the ducts. Doing that is kind of like having a blocked sewer pipe and instead of turning off the water and removing the blockage, before turning on the water, you just turn on the water higher and hope it clears your blockage.

I had bleeding nipple ulcers for four months with my second child. I went to my doctor and he gave me some medicine that didn’t help. When I went to my lactation consultant, she gave me some creams that helped within days. I was in excruciating pain every time I nursed my daughter, but I was determined to nurse her.

]]> By: Melissa http://ideallyspeaking.ca/2014/05/pumping-bottle-feeding-guilt-pride/#comment-82164 Fri, 27 Jan 2017 17:41:36 +0000 http://ideallyspeaking.ca/?p=928#comment-82164 I had challenges with my daughter due to a severe lip tie and the end result was that she was only able to nurse from one breast. I spent many hours hooked up to a pump also, trying to get the other breast going again after it split the nipple. There’s a few things that I learned through this journey: it doesn’t matter *how* the breastmilk gets into your baby, it only matters that it gets there! Every drop is precious! Also, there’s some really good information out there now which can help you maximize production so that you can take those day trips without needing to pump while you’re out. This video (or one like it, my daughter is now almost 7 yrs old) helped me a lot: https://med.stanford.edu/newborns/professional-education/breastfeeding/maximizing-milk-production.html If you can arrange things, holding your baby, especially skin to skin, while you’re pumping (if you get really talented, give him a bottle while holding him and pumping all at the same time) will not only offer comfort to him but maximize the good hormones which aid in milk production and release. If you can’t coordinate all this, don’t stress.
There’s a harness system called Nurse Me Tender that you or dad could use to simulate nursing, but using a bottle. I’m going to get a little “out there” now…. have you considered having dad actually breastfeed? Or using an SNS (supplemental nursing system) on dad’s breast? The skin to skin contact and having baby’s face snuggled close enough to hear and feel the heartbeat can make a tremendous difference. I’ll leave you link on that: http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com/milkmen-fathers-who-breastfeed/

The most important thing I want you to remember is that you are doing an *amazing* job. You’re giving your baby the most perfect food, even if the delivery method isn’t what you’d planned. You’re also teaching your older child (and ultimately your youngest too) about the importance of breastfeeding/breast milk and they will carry that forward when they have children. Don’t let yourself feel guilty about anything that you’re doing!!! Be PROUD of the gift you are giving to both of your children, including lessons on perseverance and determination and on finding solutions to challenges.
*hugs*

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