What did you enjoy most about breastfeeding?
It's been rough, but I think we're closer from it all. I am really missing that extra bonding time on the weekends now even though he beat me up, literally. It's so precious and so hard at the same time. It's difficult to see all of the good it does for a baby through all of the struggles sometimes but in the end I am happier for doing this for my son.
What was the hardest part of breastfeeding?
My son took 4 long weeks to latch on without a nipple shield. I was almost ready to give up when he finally latched out of nowhere. He was ripping off the shield and getting frustrated at every feed until then. After that, he was a lazy eater and always falling asleep without finishing a full feed so my supply went down the tubes. I started heavily pumping to make up the difference but between nursings and pumpings. I was a milk cow nearly every 20 minutes, 24 hrs a day. He nursed 15-17 times per day way over the average. He wouldn't sleep more than 20-30 minutes, he wouldn't let me put him down either and he constantly bit me when feeding. Once he got to about 12 weeks, he started eating better and staying awake for longer. But then he started flailing his arms and hitting me in the face...this was hard to stop. Then around 6-7 months he started pinching OUCH! At 8 months he got to a busy stage and was disinterested for a time. We went down to morning and night nursings only. He's still a handful when nursing but I can tell now that he misses his daytime feeds on the weekends. I feel a bit bad because I no longer have the supply to help hime at those times anymore and I had low supply to begin with because of his early latching issues.
Tips and Tricks
- Cherish the good times nursing, they pass so quickly and sometimes if you are having a hard time, it can seem like you have more struggles but it's all worth it in the end.
