My Breastfeeding Journey so far

I am a second-time mom and with my oldest, I did breastfeed him but that was 11 years ago. From what I could remember it was pretty easy.I didn’t remember all the early days of feeding but my milk had come in before I even left the hospital with him and everything was going great.Fast forward to baby number 2, Emilia, I knew I wanted to breastfeed her. There are so many benefits to breastfeeding and a lower cost then bottle feeding. I was able to have contact as soon as she was born which was an amazing experience. The first time I tried feeding her she latched on immediately and I thought
see this is as easy as I remember. Afterwards we were moved into our room,with Noah I was lucky enough to not have to room with someone else. This time I was also really lucky, no roommate. Emilia spent most of her stay in the hospital sleeping, which is completely normal for a newborn baby.

Emila was born on Christmas Eve and a lot of the hospital staff were off for the holidays. The lactation specialist was one of those people. There were a few times that Emilia latched on and there was a pinch, I didn’t think much of it but I asked a nurse if she could come in and see what I was doing wrong. She said she couldn’t see any problems but maybe prop a pillow underneath her.

A few days later, I was so sore, nipples were cracked and dry. I had to go back to the hospital for my discharge appointment, because the discharge nurse was also away on holidays during our stay. The baby had lost some weight, the nurse wasn’t to concerned as it was less than 10% but she made me an appointment to come back in a few days. She also sent me over to the breastfeeding clinic, where I got to see a nurse who watched me feed her. She was amazing!! She showed me better ways to position Emilia so she could get a better latch. That night my milk came in.

At the end of the week I had my follow up appointment at the breastfeeding clinic. Emilia had gained some weight back !! It felt great, I was getting the hang of this feeding thing. The nurse again watched me feed,because now Emilia preferred the right side to the left side. Turned out I need to use different positioning for each side for Emilia to get a proper latch.

A few days later, the cracks healed and she was now latching on, . We did it !! We figured out a way to work together and got it done. It’s amazing everything our bodies go through and everything we can accomplish.At her 2 week check up she had gained the weight back and she was back up to her birth weight. YAY!!! My goal is to breastfeed I go back to work at 11 months,but I am planning on pumping while working. I want to give this little girl all the benefits breast milk can give her.

So if your having a hard time in the first week, don’t give up seek help, there are a lot of resources out there for breastfeeding mamma’s.