PeasandHappiness

I’m jealous of you mamas that can do other things (i.e. walk around your yard) while nursing. My babies (and my breasts) are always too big, my little arms are too short, and my babies are WAY to ADD to do anything but sit on a couch. My kids have not even let me read books at the same time… they always pull of and try to knock them away… ALL my kids have done it. The best I can get away with is looking at my phone. Of course, I love to sit and look at them too… it’s just, it always amazes me how people can do something else other than just sit.

All my friends here in Hillsboro have pretty much been breastfeeders. In Seattle too. I would say 90% of the people I’ve hung around with babies the same age have been, so there’s always a nice support system.

I truly enjoy nursing more than I thought I would. I was frustrated at first because my milk took a while to come in. But the babe was great at latching on and sucking even though mommy had very little milk to offer her. Even now, I still have low production. My body make just enough to feed, so stocking up by pumping is rather a challenge. We opted to supplement with formula as well to make sure she gets enough to eat. It’s a great joy whenever I get to nurse, because beside the health benefits, I can see how much of a comfort breast milk is to my baby. It is a truly bonding experience.

On the size issue — Before giving birth and starting to nurse, My left one had always been slightly larger than my right (make sense to me since I’m left-handed). Since I began nursing, it seems that there is more milk on the right one, and this tends to make the right one usually bigger than the left one when they are fully engorged. However, the size difference isn’t that significant, so it never bother me much. I, too, try to nurse both side evenly, hoping that they will eventually even each other out. But I think once I stop nursing, things will probably go back the way they were :p

PS – Love to hear from working moms and their breastfeeding experience. I’m about to go back to work soon, but still want to continue breastfeeding. I know that pumping is the key. But is there any suggestion on how to increase production. I try herbal supplement, but only have limited success.

I have never had an abundance of milk for any of my three….and my back has always killed me. But after reading your entry…I am going to try to appreciate nursing more

I have a love/hate relationship with nursing. I am one of those mommies who STRUGGLED like crazy! With Macartney, it was horrible. We had bad advice from the start and I could not get her to latch nicely. The only problem I didn’t have was milk production, which was a problem in itself. I produce enough to feed small villages! Send me to Africa and I’ll make a dent in the world hunger problem! Because of that, my newborn babies have a hard time latching on (too firm), they choke and sputter when I letdown (which upsets them a lot), I’ve had mastitis with 3 of my 4 babies (and several times with 2 of them), I can’t do anything while I nurse except sit down and try and contain the spray! With number 1, I saw so many lactation consultants and finally a doctor who ran a breastfeeding clinic, but I still had problems until she was about 7 months old. Then we hit a groove. It still wasn’t easy, but I was no longer suffering. We made it to at least a year with each baby (and longer with each one) and that was enough, considering what I’d been through. I have permanent damage from the bad latch and it’s always my baby’s least favorite side. I think that women need to know that it can be HARD WORK and it’s not always convenient!! I feel like it has been one of the most selfless things I’ve ever done, because it was so hard for me. I feel really good about what I’ve sacrificed to do it. But I totally understand why some women give up after really trying. It is such a tough thing emotionally when it isn’t working. It doesn’t feel like a bonding experience when you’re baby is screaming from hunger and frustration and you’re crying because it’s painful. But I feel the bonding now. Once we got past those first few months with each baby, I do enjoy it more. With number 4, it’s great. She loves it and I love to just sit and enjoy the quiet time with her. The other kids know that I won’t do anything for them when I’m feeding the baby.
On a side note, breastfeeding also makes me keep weight on. As soon as they are weaned, I start losing weight quicker, but until then, it’s hopeless. I guess it just makes me comfier to cuddle with!
I’d say up here in Alberta where I live, most women breastfeed at least for a little while. I’m surprised though, by how many women stop by 6 months. Most of my friends who have stopped had problems with milk production.

Wow! I really appreciate what Adrienne had to say…for me it has been extremely physically demanding, although I haven’t had any problems with any latching on. One thing that really gets me is how many people doubt my milk production….IF the baby is upset…it’s because he/she is hungry, right? Wrong…there are so many other reasons as to a fussy baby…gas, tired, attention. Here in Peru, the higher socio-economic class you are, the less likely you are to nurse…although this is changing and more and more moms are nursing at least three months. I feel self conscience nursing in public here.

Lopsided, oh yes! It does bother me sometimes. I have always been flat chested so the opportunity to gain some boobs with babies was exciting! I wasn’t expecting the lopsided, sagginess though. I honestly thought sagginess came with age, or as my mom always told me in high school, from not wearing a bra. I didn’t know it came with nursing. So now that I have boobs, they are much more interesting than I had expected
I am now nursing my 3rd child as well and I find it interesting how different each of my children have nursed. Frequency, duration, the way they latch on and the way my milk has, in turn, responded to each of them.

Lopsidedness – OMG – hilariously and ridiculously so! I suffered a clogged and then abscessed milk duct on the right side in the first month of nursing, and that side never really got going very well. While lefty got way bigger to try to compensate, I still couldn’t keep up with Naomi’s demand, which seems constant! After weeks of struggling and suffering, we finally got a prescription for Domperidone to help with production, supplemented with breast milk from friends (I call it “guest milk”), and lastly with some initial reluctance, organic formula. Anyone who has seen Naomi knows that she isn’t missing any meals, and this girl LOVES to nurse. I love it, too. It is worth all of the many struggles, pain, and tears in the first few weeks.

About pumping: keep trying it! I used to get almost nothing, an ounce or less when I first started. But, if you pump every day (and try around the same time), your body WILL start to respond. I pump every day at work and get 5-6 ounces combined. For me, that’s great, but I think most mamas would get more (righty still hardly produces). I use an electric double pump most of the time with one of those awesome bustier things to hold the bottles in place while I work (lovely visual, eh?). I use a manual pump when I only want to do one side. Try both if you can because some women respond better to one or the other. Also, my insurance covered 80% of the electric pump – check with your provider!

This has been a most interesting discussion. I am loving hearing how nursing is going from all over the country and world. Thank you all for sharing and to Kara for starting the conversation.

I haven’t noticed much lopsidedness but definitely a change in overall appearance…not something I gave much thought too until we started waterbabies last week and I had to get into a swimsuit for the first time. Yikes. It’s definitely safe to say my days of swimsuits with plunging necklines are over!

I am SO thankful nursing came “easy” for me. I say “easy” because of course there were the days at the beginning where it was pretty painful (but those days were few). There were lots of moments as a new mother when I worried endlessly that I wasn’t producing enough, and that wasn’t fun either. My little guy has a mouth FULL of teeth (and got them pretty early on) so I have dealt with my fair share of painful biting, but that too seems to be over with. Overall, though, I’d say it came easy. We are almost through our first year of nursing now and we’re looking forward to continuing!

I feel mostly comfortable nursing in Corvallis (and Oregon in general). Not the case in Nashville where my BFF lives. We visited there when our little guy was 3 months old and at one point I had to nurse him in a HOT car because I got the impression that it would be inappropriate for me to nurse him anywhere in public. My BFF also told me that besides me she knew ONE other mother who was nursing…WHAT!!?? My BFF has a TON of friends who are mamas so this was just mind boggling for me! I’d be interested to know what the statistics are for other states (and if this is common all over the South or just in Tennessee).

Oh and I guess I should have said how much I get from pumping… I generally get 12 ounces, with 16 on a really good day and 10 on a bad day. I currently pump twice a day, though in the beginning I was sure to do it every 3 hours. But now that my son is eating increasing amounts of solids I don’t worry as much about losing a bit of my supply so I’ve pushed out to 5 hours or so between feedings.

What a great discussion! I wish nursing had gone easily for me, but I am proud that I was able to endure nursing either of my children as long as I did. (3 & 4 months) I had supply and pain issues the whole time. I was able to breastfeed my second child exclusively for three months before I broke down and started giving him formula, while my first child I supplemented with formula from day 5, since she had lost too much weight and my milk was not in.
And yes when I started giving formula, my milk supply definitely went down. My son just caught on quickly that he was getting more milk more quickly from the bottle and soon preferred it. So then he was at the breast less and my supply went down. And it was such a relief to not breastfeed him, that it was just too tempting to give him just one more bottle.
It is hard to not breastfeed in Corvallis. I remember taking Kara’s baby class with my daughter and seeing every mom but me breastfeeding. I just wanted to cry as I mixed up my formula in the corner. No one has ever said anything negative to me, but I put a lot of guilt on myself. But now I proudly shake that bottle up! Both of my babies have thrived on formula and not had any of the negative side effects that I was so worried about. I know I did everything I could to make it work and I just focus on how easy I have it now that I’m not struggling every hour to feed my baby.

Major lopsided sisters here! My little nursling decided she vastly prefered one side over the other and slowly stopped nursing from the blighted breast altogether after she turned 16 months or so. I recently went bra shopping and had to work hard to find a style that evened the girls out! Nursing was not easy for me during the first couple of months, after that it was a lot easier. I was living on the East Coast at the time and never saw anyone nursing out in public, save for my breastfeeding group. Imagine my relief after moving to Corvallis–people nursing everywhere!

It’s the lefty for me too! haha! Sagginess just runs in the fam:) This has been a fun post! I LOVE nursing my babies. The hardest part about nursing was to stop nursing Pax right before I had Aila. Pax just yesterday asked me if he could have some milk after Aila was done, he’s always trying to barter with me and says, ” can I have the other one?”

I know for many people it is not so easy breezy, but I wonder how much of that has to do with not enough confidence about nursing in the first place. I am grateful to you Kara when you let me full on watch you nurse Sofia, because I had really never seen it before and I was so curious. Seeing you nurse and Kelsey too, and than knowing my mom nursed all of us past a year gave me the confidence and helped me feel really comfortable about nursing.

Unfortunately I am the only person I have seen nursing a baby in public here in good ol’ San Antonio. But I don’t let it bother me anymore, and I found a natural parenting group where the women let it all hang out when we are together:) haha. I do have a good amount of friends now who are passionate about nursing and it is great to have that support system. I always get looks if people notice I am nursing when in public, but for the most part now I have become such a sneeky nurser that people don’t really notice anymore.

Boob job? I’d rather buy a good bra and and take a vacation to france But like was said before , to each his own.

RE: supplementing with formula. If you ordinarily make enough breastmilk to feed your babe and you introduce formula as a supplement, yes, your supply will go down as your body adjusts to having to produce less. In my case, even at full steam ahead I could not produce enough to feed my baby. This is very rare. Normally a woman could pump in between feedings and get her supply up. I nearly drove myself insane trying to pump in between her constant nursing (because she was hungry), to no avail. My midwife and Ped. were both at a loss as to why. The Domperidone helped me boost my production, but with one lazy boob I just can’t make enough. Like I said, it is rare but it does happen. I would love to eliminate the formula if I could, and it will be the first thing to go when she starts eating more solids. For now, I nurse her as much as I can and I don’t worry about the rest.

Re: Getting judged
I never got comfortable nursing in public, even here in Corvallis and my little one was always too distracted to focus with other people around so I chose to feed pumped milk in a bottle when out and about. I got more than a few looks and several comments about how much better breast milk is than formula either too my face or loudly near me. I responded with “yes, that’s why I go through so much trouble to pump milk for my little one” but it was horrible to feel so judged. Besides, why is it someone else’s business if my choice/need was to give my little one formula? Let’s just be good to each other as mothering is hard enough without beating up on each other too!