Greer is right--breastfeeding is hard, painful and frustrating! My little one is a night owl and I am a morning person, which is not making things any easier. She sleeps all morning and then wants to eat constantly from about 3 in the afternoon until midnight, which is really hard on my poor breasts. To top it off, she gets so excited at the sight of my breast that the first few seconds after she latches on are pure agony. She is so tired from fighting sleep by the time we get to the 11pm feeding that she falls asleep within 5 minutes of latching on. So she doesn't end up eating much and 5 minutes after I get my bra and shirt situated again, she wants to eat again. Last night I finally decided I was tired of being treated like a snack bar and went against the pediatrician's advice to wait 4 weeks before introducing a bottle. Since she is so tired by the 11pm feeding, I gave her a bottle of pumped breast milk at that feeding thinking that since a bottle does not take as much effort for the baby as nursing, she might be able to stay awake long enough to get a good meal so that she would go to sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time overnight. So far, so good...she slept much better last night. In fact, the two overnight feedings were only 15 minutes each and she slept like a lamb in between. She was a little offended at the introduction of the bottle and gave me the most horrible look at first, but then she took it fine and has not had trouble nursing today during the day. So...for the two of you that have not had your babies yet, don't be too worried if you have to give a bottle before the recommended 4 weeks (if you are planning to breastfeed), and don't be afraid to go against the pediatrician's advice every once in a while. You know better than they do what is best for your baby!
--Amanda
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I had no choice but to give Laine a bottle when my milk came in... it was either that or she didn't get to eat! She didn't have any problem with it or with breastfeeding afterwards... actually, the lactation consultant said that they can't really get "nipple confusion" until about 6 weeks. Amanda: Are you trying to get her on a schedule with her feedings? I found it helped my sanity (and her sleep schedule) if I tried to get her to wait at least 2 hours between feedings. Now she is almost sleeping through the night and has herself on a relatively consistent 2 and a half or 3 hour schedule during the day. It helped us a lot, but I know it doesn't work for every baby.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you did an awesome job of trusting your maternal instincts!! You know your baby better than the pediatrician, so I say go with your gut. I don't know if it would help or not, but a lot of my clients have sworn by the book Baby Wise. They even gave me a copy so I can get my little guy on a schedule soon after he arrives. I read it through, and I'm planning on using the techniques in it to help me get him on a schedule since I'll be returning to work only 2 months after he's born. Good luck with everything!
ReplyDeleteYes, we are trying to get on some sort of regular schedule that is also somewhat normal for us too. I'm not working for a while, but I still feel like I need to get things done during the day and I just generally have trouble sleeping during the day. So the "sleep when the baby sleeps" theory my mom used is not working for us. Thanks for the suggestions!
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