The arrival of The Baby Brother's first tooth hasn't affected our feeding yet but we'll see how it goes, gums are one thing but teeth are much sharper!
When he was born I was given a leaflet about breastfeeding which seemed, to my hormonally charged brain, to say that if it hurt it was because I was doing it wrong. Breastfeeding is hard work and we shouldn't be made to feel inadequate if we give up after 3 days, 3 weeks or 3 months. You must remember that your baby is learning too, just because it is a natural process doesn't mean it's easy. You need to be quite stubborn to get it established I think.
Day 3 was a real low point, hormones crashing, milk coming in, tired and weepy I was sure we'd never get the hang of it. Poor love was trying to latch onto a boob the size of a barrage balloon!
I tried to gather my thoughts and think of what I knew from the other two. If he is crying he can't latch on as his toungue curls back in his mouth. Be realistic, set mini targets - today is Monday, I'll keep trying till Wednesday - so that gradually the first few difficult weeks pass, broken down into smaller stages.
When feeding make sure you are comfy, even a little 6 or 7llb bundle gets heavy after a while, more so if you've had a section. Drink lots, lots and lots. You are making milk which uses a lot of fluid and you don't want to add constipation to your list of woes!
Do your pelvic floor exercises while feeding, you'll be sitting around feeding for ages so get in the habit early on. Yes even when you are tired!
Get Lansinoh for your nipples, expensive but worth it till they toughen up. And muslin squares. Especially if you've got a posseter!
A soggy, messy, leaky body that doesn't feel like yours will settle down to be wonderous, life giving, milk making , baby nourishing. Twee as it sounds try to focus on the positive, how wonderful it is to sit in the still and peaceful night feeding your darling baby. Night feeds will pass, it doesn't help to count how many times you have been up, try to accept being awake even when your body is screaming for sleep. Likewise sleep during the day, you must get some rest and the baby sets the pattern, so sleep when you can.
For the first few weeks the only place The Baby Brother would sleep was lying on my chest, quite right too, having spent months listening to the sound of my heartbeat why would he want to sleep in a lonely cradle.
The Baby Brother was not great at latching on for quite some time, so we stayed at home where we could both be relaxed and take it at our own pace. I ordered shopping online and spent my time focussing on him....till the big two came home from school. Then it was a case of feeding while learning spellings, times tables and hearing reading.All good but hard in the first few weeks.
We moved to mixed feeding, a few bottles helped my physical recovery from the section and enabled me to get some much needed sleep. It meant I carried on feeding at a point where I felt like giving up and to my mind a half breastfed baby is fine.
I found some nights incredibly hard, him crying himself into a frenzy, me weeping at my inability to comfort and feed him. Mr FK lying beside me snoring, till I kicked him hard enough to wake him up! Which made me feel a bit better if nothing else!
