Breastfeeding was such an amazing experience for me as a new mother but it did not come without the struggles! I breastfed for roughly almost 16 months until I had to get Wisdom teeth surgery and the nurse told me I wouldn’t be able to breastfeed for 72 hours. I was slightly heartbroken because I didn’t know and was not prepared to just stop cold turkey after breastfeeding for over a year.
My child did not just breastfeed, she cluster fed meaning she was always on the boob. As exhausting as that was I enjoyed being her comfort and lord did it make nap time easier.
My breast milk came in a day or so after giving birth and it was like I had received a free boob job. They looked awesome until of course one side was emptied and then all of the breastfeeding memes that I had giggled at came back to haunt me.
About a month after I had my daughter I lost weight pretty quickly. I actually lost weight a little too fast because I had no appetite and breastfeeding made me nauseous. I ended up having many drops in my supply and tried many things to get it where it needed to be even though my breast milk had a low fat content.
This was about four months post party compared to 36 weeks pregnant.
There’s three things that REALLY boosted my milk supply despite my weight loss fluctuations.
1. Oatmeal PB lactation bites
So these cookies are no bake, super simple to make and as delicious as they are effective.
My tweaked recipe is: Take a cup of peanut butter, flax seeds, a cup of oatmeal, a lot of honey, sugar and white chocolate chips and mix them together in a bowl.
Then roll them into little bite sized balls and plop them in the fridge for about an hour.
I lived off of these for a few months because they were so good and really did the trick.
2. Increasing water intake and eating small frequent meals. I call it the bird diet. Fruit, veggies, granola, etc. just eat every other hour or so something small and healthy.
3. Pumping in between sessions. Pumping wasn’t pleasant but by pumping in between sessions I was able to boost my supply and have a lot of milk stored in the freezer!
The main things I struggled with while breastfeeding was the leaking milk, Booby bites and clogged ducts.
Breast pads were a life saver! My boobs did not just leak, they would spray in nine different directions at once, one time at a photo shoot I had to go without my breast pads for an hour and well I missed my child. Long story short, the photographer got sprayed and my lingerie was SOAKED.
My child was a booby biter. She would also pinch my under boob and twist my other nipple while she fed. Some days I cried, exhaustion didn’t help. Other days, I just firmly said no mam and removed her from the boob for a few minutes. Mittens helped a lot! That is until she could take them off. It is something that is bound to happen, I tried googling how to make it stop but google articles said to try pushing her face into my boob which I was NOT okay with. Please don’t do that.
Now, clogged ducts. Yippee! These hurt like a *****.
Warm shower while massaging the duct, warm compresses and pumping helped relieve the pain and the clog itself. Watch out for infections and a fever.
So why breastfeed if it can be painful and irritating? Well. To put it simply it gives your child one hell of an immune system. Our bodies are so amazing and our breast milk actually produces special antibodies that the baby needs for example if the child is sick. My milk would change colors which indicated that my body was producing extra healing nutrients.
Also, it is FREEEEEEEEEEEEE. Besides the breast pads and other breastfeeding necessities.
Breastfeeding also releases the hormone Oxytocin which is amazing for bonding and is also known as the “love drug” or “cuddle hormone”. It can be super beneficial to moms struggling with post part in depression and it can help to bond the mother and child. I’m sure Mother’s bond just fine with formula but breastfeeding is a completely different experience.
When it comes to breastfeeding and sleep I personally coslept. Breast milk is digested faster than formula so in my case my child literally fed almost every other hour until she was almost one. As rough as it was, it was worth it.
If you are cosleeping and you don’t want your child to roll off of the bed (it happened to me and I felt like the worst mother in the entire world) then I recommend you take one side off of the crib and push it against your bed. We don’t have a bed frame and made sure that a body pillow was tightly in between the crack to prevent baby from falling in between. That way when the baby is asleep and you want your body back, you can lay him or her on their side of the bed safely in the crib. 
Yes. I removed ALL pillows and blankets and stuffed animals before my child was placed in it.
Another tip is if you are a mommy on a budget and need some good nursing bras check local goodwills!!
If you breastfeed I totally recommend a Boppy pillow. It will help your arms to be less tired and it’s also great for tummy time.
When it comes to breastfeeding in public whip that boob out and use it the way nature intended you too. If anyone has a problem with you using your boobs to feed your child then place a blanket over their head.
If you are a new mommy or a mommy to be I hope that this article helps you. If you have any questions or need advice on breastfeeding message me directly.
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article sponsered by Northern Michigan certified lactation consulting and Mother Hubbards Country Cupboard
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