This is what I experienced during the first 3 or so months of my son’s life; they are just my experiences and not necessarily true for every woman.
Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing in the beginning. My son started fussing and I assumed I needed to nurse him. It definitely did not hurt to nurse him when he was fussy, but it was beginning to stress me out because I felt like I constantly nursed him all day. This is called cluster feeding, which happens to increase milk supply, and the next thing you know your breasts can’t stay in your bra anymore. They feel like they weigh an extra 20 pounds...each. Don’t worry, this doesn’t last forever.
One thing important to remember throughout your breastfeeding journey is that nothing stays the same forever. For me, at least, it is easy to think that the way things are is how it’s always going to be, and it definitely is not true the first couple months. Things change a lot; they get better. Both you and your baby are learning how to do it efficiently and once you get it down, it is great.
One normal breastfeeding session includes both breasts. The first few days I only breastfed on my left side because my right nipple was sore and cracked. The lactation specialist asked me if I wanted to switch sides and I said, “I’ve been doing it on the left side and it’s working pretty well.” She didn’t explain that you need to use both sides, otherwise you become lopsided, get mastitis, or possibly the side you neglect stops producing. It wasn’t until I got home from the hospital that my mom explained it to me. This may seem obvious to most people, but keep in mind I had been awake for basically 60 hours. I did not get much, if any, sleep in the hospital. This seems to be a common experience.
While I was in the hospital, after my nipple was cracked, the nurse suggested I use the football hold to nurse him. I later found out that they tell women to do the football hold because it helps them not fall asleep while nursing. It is definitely not the most comfortable position. She also gave me nipple shields to protect me from my son damaging the one good nipple I had left. I asked her how long I would need to use them and she said a couple weeks. I found out later, they often hand out nipple shields because sometimes they just don’t know how to help women get their babies to latch properly. I have since learned that the best strategy is to put as much of the breast in the baby’s mouth as possible. You do not want them to actually have the nipple touching their lips, it should be entirely inside their mouth. They had a lactation specialist at the hospital, but she was rather busy and I felt like I didn’t get as much help as I needed.
Once supply has been established, which is after a week or so, during the night, if you aren’t wearing nursing pads, you might soak your bra, shirt, and sheets through. It is unbelievable how much I leaked. At that point, it felt more like spilling than leaking. Sometimes, I did not place the nursing pad just right or it moved during the night and I woke up to wet sheets. Full disclosure: I sleep on my stomach. Not sure what would have happened if I slept on my back.
I knew my lactating was established when milk came squirting out as I was nursing; it is very strange to watch. Sometimes it continued to leak after the baby unlatched. One time after I worked out, I was still wearing a sports bra and forgot to put nursing pads in my bra. I nursed my son on my left side and my right side started leaking onto my shirt.
When I talked to lactation specialists, they asked me about my letdown, if it was forceful or slow. I had no idea what that meant. Letdown just means when the milk comes out. Forceful letdown is when it comes out quickly, which sometimes can cause your baby to choke on the milk. Slow letdown is when the baby has to put in a lot of effort to get the milk to come out.
Green poop means too much fore milk and not enough hind milk, also known as oversupply. A few months ago I had an oversupply, which meant that nearly all the milk my son was consuming was mostly water and he wasn’t getting enough fat and protein-filled milk. The lactation specialist gave me a website that explained how to reduce my supply. It was basically to nurse on one side at a time for 3 hours and then switch to the other side for 3 hours. The website said it can take up to two weeks to happen and that’s exactly how long it took. I knew it was resolved when his poop was orange and no longer green.
As I learned when I took my son to the ER, sore and cracked nipples can bleed and your child might take in some blood. It’s important to let the nipples air dry. It is recommended to use lanolin cream, but it made it harder to keep my nipples dry, considering I don’t normally walk around topless. Fortunately, I live in a dry climate and it takes only a couple minutes or less for them to dry, and that is about all the patience my son and I have anyway.
How were your experiences nursing those first couple months?
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