Hello! If you are of the male gender, consider this a fair warning--this entire post is about breastfeeding. Due to the very subject matter, if you have not previously had a child or had a wife who breastfed, you may feel awkward reading this. As my husband recommended....check the weather forecast instead and check here again in a couple weeks for my next post! :)
Breastfeeding. Obviously, God designed women to feed their babies - we were made to breastfeed our children. How hard could it be, right? That was my primary thought about nursing Isaiah in my pre-nursing days.
Well, it can be hard--very hard--but also so very rewarding! As time goes on, I wanted to document the ups and downs of my experience with breastfeeding, so that I can remember. Otherwise, I'm sure in another five years you might hear me say, "Oh yeah, it was a little tough in the beginning, but other than that, I think it was pretty easy!" My, how our memories fade...
First of all, it is amazing at how God created women and their milk. A baby is miraculously formed within us, and as soon as he is born, the mom's body produces colostrum, thick, sweet, and packed full of the nutrients the tiny infant needs. Then, the milk comes in. Complete nutrition, at the perfect temperature,and over time, produced in the quantity that the baby demands. We, as women, do basically NOTHING for all of this to happen, but it does, and it's beautiful.
Now, I also know that there are complications. We are imperfect humans, and our bodies are imperfect too. It doesn't always work for every woman to breastfeed their baby, for many and varied reasons. I want to acknowledge that - because it certainly doesn't mean a mother loves her baby any less if she doesn't breastfeed!!!!
I've mentioned in past posts a little bit about the difficulties I had at the beginning. My milk came in fine, but nursing was extremely painful for the first 3 weeks, and then just plain painful for another 2 weeks, and then uncomfortable-painful until week 8. The other day (and 7 months of nursing under my belt later), I was thinking about those first three weeks. Three weeks usually goes by in a flash - hardly any time at all - but in the midst of those three weeks it seems like an incredibly long time, and I wondered how I could ever survive it. But God is so faithful, and I definitely felt Him strengthen me during that time.
After the initial (and steep) learning curve was over, it got lots better. I mean, I did wonder if I would ever be able to nap, sleep, or get a massage laying on my stomach again, or if I could ever exercise comfortably again, or if I would ever be able to sleep in comfort through the night when my son did. Thankfully, those things have all come with time. And in the midst of it all, nursing Isaiah became a pretty easy part of our routine.
Our Logistics:
Birth-3 months: Isaiah nursed about 30 minutes total - 40 minutes was a long session . There were several weeks of fussing in there, after week 8...which I think were really helped by the chiropractic work he received. He nursed 7-9x a day in his first 3 months of life, on average.
3 months- 4 months. He was nursing about 7x a day consistently, for 15-20 minutes each feeding. As far as I remember things were going ok. All was good throughout with my milk production and such.
THEN....it was the middle/end of April, and I was really thrown for a loop. All of a sudden, he would start crying/screaming after just a few minutes of nursing. I would try again and again to get him--who was squirming and crying--to latch on again...and again...and again. Then we would walk around, I would try to calm him, and we would try some more. Sometimes it would take 45 minutes-1 hr just to get him to drink for 10 minutes. It was very frustrating because I couldn't figure out what was the matter, and also exhausting. Not fun. After a week (or two??) of this happening fairly regularly, I decided to try a new approach - let him nurse however long while he happy, and then if he fussed, try to put him back on once, but no more. (Ok, yes, this took me a little while to figure out that this approach might be a better idea!)
It worked! And suddenly he was nursing for 4-6 minutes total (6 if I was lucky!), still content to eat every 3 hours, as normal, and happy as a clam. Finally in all my reading on-line I read some accounts that many babies get much faster and more efficient nursing around 3-4 months.Oooooh. Finally it made sense! I still worried that he wasn't getting enough ( I mean, 4 minutes, really?!?!), but he seemed totally fine, so I just let it go.
5 months - Present. He lengthened out his nursing time to a whole whopping 8-10 minutes a feeding, where it has remained for the past 2 1/2 or 3 months. I'm quite content with that- it's short enough that it's nice if we're in a hurry, but long enough that I feel like he's actually getting enough to eat. We are *just* in the middle of going to a 4-hour feeding schedule during the day, which will bring it down to nursing 5x in a 24hr day. I am also slowly decreasing how much I let him eat in the early AM (4 or 5am) feed, in hopes of dropping it altogether soon.
Isaiah also got his first two teeth at 5 1/2 months. His upper left tooth came in last week, and the second upper one is right at the surface. Thankfully, he has never even tried to bite me. I do remain on alert though!
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| Reading books...and his new cheesy grin! We call this his 'cheeseball' smile! |
Things I've enjoyed about breastfeeding:
-The time to sit. In the first couple weeks I figured out I was nursing about 6 hours a day. That's a looong time, but I didn't exactly feel up for much, so it was rather nice. Throughout the months, it's usually a nice break to stop and rest, especially on busy days, even though now it's just for 10 minutes at a time.
-The time to stare at my beautiful baby. I know some moms read, watch TV, or talk on the phone. Before giving birth, I was reading through a book on breastfeeding, and it encouraged the mom to take that time nursing and just be with her baby. So I did. I talked to him, prayed for him, examined his fingers and toes and kissed them, and spent many hours staring at his beautiful features and long feathery eyelashes. After about 4 weeks, I did start to get a little bit bored with all that time in his room, by myself, so there was a week where I started calling my mom or friends to talk, and I watched a couple movies while I nursed. It didn't take long before I felt bad at how little attention I paid to him then, and I realized I actually really missed the quiet time with him. So I stopped doing those things.
Around 4 months or so, he started to get so distracted by everything, and I had to become a much more active participant in his feeding. I couldn't speak, cough, or move too much. To this day, Andrew also can't make noise in the house, come into the room, or talk to me at all - otherwise, it's game over. Feeding session is usually DONE...even if Isaiah just started! There have been some days where he rips (yes, rips) on and off with great fervor--to look at a shadow, the curtain, a stuffed animal, when there's a noise outside, at my earring...pretty much anything and everything. Of course, then with just as much fervor he will turn back towards me, pull himself close by clutching my shirt with both hands, and chow down. Those days I can't help but laugh--he is so funny!
-The convenience. Well, haha, it actually can be quite inconvenient at times, especially because he hasn't taken a bottle since the 3rd month of his life. But, aside from those times, it is nice to be able to grab him and go, without worrying about packing bottles and formula and the like.
-The ability to comfort: For his whole life we've worked hard to get him to sleep well in his crib, so we've very rarely held him while he slept. There are definite pros and cons to this. The great thing is he loves to sleep in his crib.We are able to place him in his crib fully awake, and he goes down for naps and bed usually without a peep. The cons is that he has a very hard time falling asleep on us. That means when we're out and about all day, or taking a plane trip, he can get quite cranky because he doesn't know how to fall alseep with all the distractions around him. He also refuses a pacifier now, so whereas before that helped calm him down if he was upset, it doesn't anymore.
ENTER IN: MOMMY. :)
So if we need too, I can let him comfort suck to help fall asleep or calm down. I haven't let him use me as a pacifier very often, but it is a place he finds great comfort when upset, and for that I'm very thankful.
-Aiding in post-pregnancy weight loss: I mostly add this because it's really supposed to help the weight 'come right off' for women after birth, and in my head I thought it would make it super easy to return to my pre-pregnancy weight. However, in reality, I think it's actually made it harder for me, because I've read multiple times that a too-reduced calorie diet can really affect how much milk is produced. Therefore, since I've worried about if he's getting enough multiple times, it's hindered my mental ability to cut back on how much I eat. Of course, it also doesn't help that I really enjoy food and eating. :) *sigh* Still, if I wasn't nursing, I know for myself that I could tough out cutting more calories much easier.
-Watching him develop. Can we say, "Anticipation"?! I still remember the first time Isaiah started squealing when he got near me when it was eating time (around 3 months old, maybe?). I couldn't figure out why the sudden fussiness. After a couple days of this, I realized that all of a sudden he knew it was time to eat, and that Mommy = Milk. I feel like it was a big step in his cognitive development. That progressed to whining/squealing in between changing sides while nursing. Like, "Hey! I'm not done, I'm still hungry!" And that progressed to my favorite thing - he often smacks his lips together a bit right when I sit down in the rocking chair I nurse him in, or when I pull the Boppy on my lap. It's almost like he's starting to drool, and then he licks his lips to keep the saliva in. The anticipation of his coming meal is very entertaining to watch!
-The time to observe him: I know I said almost the same thing early, but this is different. Over the months, I have come to love watching him nurse. When he was a couple months old, he would put his open hand on his face--palm flat against his cheek, fingers spread wide open--the whole time he was nursing. It was adorable. Then he took to grabbing my shirt and holding on for dear life. Also very cute.
As he's gotten older, he's gotten more active and acrobatic. On those distracted days, it seems very hard for him to lay still while he eats. So he often grabs his top leg with his hands and pulls his foot up by his chin, basically doing a split while lying on his side. One day he kept scratching under his chin with his big toe, and I couldn't stop giggling. Or, he'll push against the side of the rocker with his feet, kick it every so often, and simultaneously be trying to grab my hair if it's down, or my necklace, or just waving his arm in the air.
My favorite thing to watch he usually only does at night before bed, or if he's very calm, because he usually does it with his eyes closed. With an open hand he'll rub his head and hair, up on top, down by his neck, and then sometimes momentarily hold onto his ear.....and then keep rubbing. Back and forth, up and down, softly stroking his head. It's so peaceful, and so precious.
For as difficult as breastfeeding was at the beginning, and with the challenges and frustrations it's caused along the way--I'm so thankful I've been able to do it. It's taught me so much about my wee little child in the process, and given me precious time every day to observe him, comfort him, and be close to him. That's made it all worth it!
A picture of my two best men this week:
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| Daddy's hat is still a little too big! |
Love.Love.Love. That's how I feel when I look at my son. :)
