Right after my little guy was born I was anxious to try and nurse. Within an hour or so I asked the nurse to help me and try it out for the first time. It is not an automatic thing. It felt awkward and unsuccessful. I just thought, okay I'll try again a little later. The nurse in the hospital offered me a nipple shield for help. It sure helped him latch on so I started using it every time. For the first day I thought I was doing great. We would "nurse" for about 30 minutes. Little Anson would suckle almost the whole time so I thought all was well. Then... The lactation specialist stopped by my hospital room for pointers. When we got talking and she took a look she brought to my attention that basically no colostrum was coming out. I was sadened at this. We then had to supplement. That was really hard, time consuming, and not ideal for me. So.. When I got home I immediately began power pumping in hopes that my colostrum would come in. GUESS WHAT?! The very next morning I was engorged and it had come in. I was really excited!! But the down side was little Ans wouldn't latch on without the nipple shield that I was still using. I would get frustrated without it. It became a crutch but I didn't want to use it forever!! Then of course my nipples cracked, bleed, I got a horrible sore on one, and it just wasn't too fun. Then my wonderful mother introduced me to the nipple SHELL. A lot of people get these confused. The shell is a hard plastic, half circle type of thing that goes around the nipple to help draw it out so baby can latch better. I saw them and couldn't imagine wearing them under my bra. But I did it. Within a couple hours it had worked. My nipples were more drawn out and Anson started latching on. I wore them for about a week. I was so relieved.
I then had another problem. One breast seemed to do great when the milk came in. The other, not so much. I would pump and one was white like milk with a couple ounces. The other was less than an ounce and still golden like colostrum. (The one breast was always bigger than the other!) Anson acted hungry ALL the time until we would give him a little formula. I was so frustrated and discouraged. Some days I wanted to just call it quits and do formula instead. But... I kept trying every day. It was a struggle so many times and so annoying honestly. With patience, and constant prayer to be truthful, it ended up working out and now my little guy would rather nurse over anything else. He loves it!
My mom recently asked me what advice I would give a first time nursing mom. I replied in saying, have patience!! It can suck at first and be really frustrating. But it's supply and demand. If you stop, or supplement often your own supply will decrease. If you keep trying and give it 100% it will get easier! It took me about 2 months before we both had in down and didn't need any assistance from any equipment. I stressed all the time over if he was getting enough too. But trust me when I say... Keep trying and it will happen! It will become natural and routine.
My number one tips:
1. Don't use a nipple SHIELD for latching purposes.
2. If you have latching issues use a nipple SHELL
3. PUMP, PUMP, PUMP if your colostrum/milk hasn't come in
4. Use nipple creams for the cracking and tenderness
5. It's supply and demand, keep at it!
5. Keep trying, give 100%, and have patience! It will get better!!
6. Don't be embarrassed of breast feeding, or asking for help, its dang hard!
I have attached some pictures of the things I used. Hopefully this post will help some with their struggles too!!
Until next time! -Becca
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