My Breastfeeding Journey - Introduction

Some women seem to have it so easy. They do it in restaurants, shopping malls, buses, trains, wherever.

I had a hard-ish time. I say hard-ish because Bean could latch well but she was a sleepy newborn. She’d feed for about 10 mins then doze off and I’d have to tickle her, brush her hair and blow air on her face to wake her up to continue feeding.

And she’d of course wake up every 2 hours wanting to feed because she didn’t get her fill. The first week we brought her home, I was a wreck. We didn’t get a confinement nanny (big mistake) and I was in pain from the stitches / tired from all the sleepless nights. Plus the fact that we didn’t really know what to do except change her diapers and breastfeed. Not to mention I was not even sure if she was drinking enough (though her wet diapers proved that she was in fact drinking enough) and it hurt whenever I latched her on my right side. Not sure why, maybe the shape is different?

These past 6.5 months I’ve done a fair bit of research and spent some unnecessary money haha but it’s all part of the learning journey I guess.

I didn’t buy a pump before I delivered because I didn’t know how long I’d be on this breastfeeding journey and I didn’t want to spend $400 on something that I might only use for 2 weeks if I didn’t have supply? So I exclusively latched for about 2 weeks before I actually started pumping.

I was lucky that Bean didn’t really have nipple confusion – I was latching and pumping in the 3rd week after she was born, I realised latching on was the best way to clear any blocked ducts better than any massage plus no pain! So I made it a point to latch her once every day to clear any blocked ducts that might happen.

All in all, I think I’ve tried (almost) everything – lactation massage, lactation consultant, lactation cookies, supplements, pumping techniques etc.

Just want to write this all down before my mom brain forgets everything.

 

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