Our Breastfeeding Adventure Has Come To An End
After 18 months and 21 days we are done. Our adventure had started out rocky, but him being my third I knew that it probably would. I knew what to expect. I had given up very early with my first two at six weeks. It hurt, it was VERY time consuming, I hated pumping, and my biggest excuse I had to go back to work. I didn’t even try to work around that.
Five and half years later I was a different kind of mama. A more Crunchy one and I was determined to make it work. He latched on right away in the hospital and I instantly shouted wahoo! This was going to be much easier this time around. Wrong.
The pain, except for the initial latch-on which lasted a bit longer, was gone after ten days. Things were looking good except for the fact that he never seemed happy. I figured I had a more difficult child, he was a growing baby, and he needed to eat all the time. All of those were true, but we also learned he wasn’t gaining any weight. When I pumped, hardly anything came out. Well hardly anything compared to all the girls online who seemed to be pumping out buckets in my research. I later learned that everyone’s milk supply is different when pumping and I just didn’t have much.
To make a long story short we finally got to the place of misery and I broke into the free formula sample I had sitting on the counter. LifeSaver. I wish my ego would have let me open it days or weeks before. We supplemented with a bottle or two of formula a day for about a month until everything got back on track and his weight started to go up.
I hated every minute for the first four months. It took me that long to get into the groove. I had a fantastic La Leche leader that chatted with me through meetings and emails to help with ideas. Her checking in on me is what made me keep going. I didn’t want to let her down. Or baby. Or my Hubby who was counting on me to do the right thing. Or myself, right? I was determined.
My LLL leader would ask me weeks and months later if I now loved breastfeeding and I will admit to you that I never loved it. I did come to enjoy it a lot, the closeness, and more importantly I was so proud that I had gotten over the obstacles and was doing soooo much good for my baby. Look at me! I got past 18 months!
I wanted to share my story because even if you think you can’t do it because you’ve tried before, or heard the horror stories, or whatever…you can!! Be determined, GET HELP if you need it, do your research to understand why your struggles will be so worth it! If I can do it then you can do it too!
Did you have troubles in the beginning? How long did your breastfeeding adventure last?
No Sleep, Caffeine & Breastfeeding
I’m a sleeper. In a perfect world I could sleep ten hours at night and nap everyday. I also pride myself on having children who sleep good. My older two always napped well, were maybe up once in the night to eat, but slept through by their first birthday. My six year old will still take a nap on his own if he’s tired and admits he’s kind of nervous about first grade where there is no rest period. But baby P’Diddy? He doesn’t like to sleep. The reasons that always go through my head are:
1) He’s still little and hasn’t figured things out yet
2) He’s breastfeeding (my other two weren’t by this point) and on no schedule
2) He does not want to miss out on anything
3) He has to much energy and doesn’t need as much sleep
4) He got 6 teeth in his first 5 1/2 months
But being up for hours in the middle of the night? WHY? Not taking a good nap the whole day? GEEZ!
This does not happen everyday, but often enough that I complain and whine and wonder what I’m doing wrong. Then one evening Hubby said, “maybe you are drinking to much caffeine” Hmmmm….
My research began. I start with Google but it instantly takes me to Kellymom.com – one of the top websites for breastfeeding support. I should have known. It’s a great resource and I’ve spent a lot of time there already.
The first line that jumps out at me “Caffeine is approved by the American Academy of Pediatrics for use in breastfeeding mothers. Most breastfeeding mothers can drink caffeine in moderation” Phew! But I keep reading because I am not one who believes everything medical societies have to say.
“Babies whose mothers avoided caffeine completely during pregnancy seem to react more to caffeine in mom’s diet.” Well I AM drinking more. I would drink a few soda pops a week during pregnancy and now I was drinking one or two a day. “A baby who is being overstimulated by caffeine is a wide-eyed, active, alert baby who doesn’t sleep for long. He may also be unusually fussy.” BINGO!
I’m happy that I may have found my answer! Maybe I can get some sleep again! I decide that maybe I should read the whole page word by word instead of sentences that jump out at me.
I find the article goes against my idea that it is probably caffeine affecting him. Not that caffeine may not effect a baby, but probably not in my case because I don’t drink enough of it. They have a great chart that shows how many ml of caffeine a drink has in it. A can of soda pop or two is not enough to matter. Plus, after consumption it would affect a baby most after about an hour and dwindle down in the next couple hours. We were staying up for hours at night so this couldn’t be it could it? Another fact I learned is that caffeine will affect a newborn more and by the time they are six months old it shouldn’t be much of an issue. We are right at that point.
I stopped drinking my soda pop past the lunch hour. I began bragging to Hubby that P’Diddy got up at the same time each night to nurse and then woke up each morning the same. Three nights in a row! It’s a miracle! He’s finally getting it! I got cocky and had a Dr.Pepper last night. Guess what? We were up for two miserable hours last night from 3-5am. A coincidence? I don’t think so. What do you think?
Resources: http://www.kellymom.com/health/lifestyle/caffeine.html
http://www.breastfeeding.com/all_about/smith_answers2.html#coffee
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