Breastfeeding Adventures and Such
It seems that things have started to settle down at least a bit. What I mean by that I suppose is that I am getting accustomed to the all night feedings. I actually consider it a good night's sleep now if the little guy doesn't wake up earlier that every three hours. Somehow I am able to rest in those little spurts. And this from the girl who felt deprived and pissed if I got less than 9 hours of sleep in a row. Don't really understand how that happened.
I'm having a hard time thinking about or watching anything related to children in trouble, or children in abusive situations...I just think about my little guy in that situation and I want to cry. My Mom was saying the other day how wonderful it is that Jonah was born into a family who care for him, and love him, wrap him in a blanket and keep him warm and fed. The thought of him being unhappy makes me miserable.
In other news, I made my first attempt at publicly breastfeeding at a crappy Jack in the Box in a crappy area of town.. and man, was it a miserable failure. Ended up having to retreat to the car mid meal. Here's pretty much how it went; I hiked up my t-shirt, exposed the boob, got the kid latched on, put a blanket over him (so far so good), and then I realized that my entire left side was exposed from the t-shirt being hiked up and I got really self-concious. And if you are nervous breastfeeding, your body won't release milk, so then I got worried that I wasn't going to release any milk and then I just gave up. Pulled my shirt back down (without rehooking my bra), grabbed the kid, and high tailed it to the car, milk leaking through my t-shirt as Jonah had already started his meal. He was none too happy, I'll tell you that. We continued in the car with much more success. Geez. How am I going to do this? If anyone has any pointers, let me know now. I just assumed wearing a t-shirt would make it easy. Not true. I hope weeks from now I'm reading this and laughing at myself.
Anything else today...Jonah continues to grow on me as I am able more and more to relax and enjoy him. As Mom and Dad pointed out, all you have to do for a young baby is make sure he is warm, dry, fed, gets enough sleep, and gets some time with you. Other than that, you are just worrying yourself for no reason. This seems to be so true. Jonah is such a good boy. Only really cries if he is bored or if he is hungry. Other than that he is just hanging out being content. I hope that all all that yoga I did during my pregnancy has paid off in a kid with such a great temperment. But who knows. At least it relaxed the mama.
One more crazy thing...three weeks after delivery and I can fit into all the pre-pregnancy clothes AND I am having to drink milkshakes with protein powder in them to stop loosing weight. All the books said to give it a year to get back to your regular weight. Can't complain about that at all.
Anyway-not sure if anyone if reading this, but sorry to babble on. This parenthood thing is just such a trip-I really could go on and on.
I'm having a hard time thinking about or watching anything related to children in trouble, or children in abusive situations...I just think about my little guy in that situation and I want to cry. My Mom was saying the other day how wonderful it is that Jonah was born into a family who care for him, and love him, wrap him in a blanket and keep him warm and fed. The thought of him being unhappy makes me miserable.
In other news, I made my first attempt at publicly breastfeeding at a crappy Jack in the Box in a crappy area of town.. and man, was it a miserable failure. Ended up having to retreat to the car mid meal. Here's pretty much how it went; I hiked up my t-shirt, exposed the boob, got the kid latched on, put a blanket over him (so far so good), and then I realized that my entire left side was exposed from the t-shirt being hiked up and I got really self-concious. And if you are nervous breastfeeding, your body won't release milk, so then I got worried that I wasn't going to release any milk and then I just gave up. Pulled my shirt back down (without rehooking my bra), grabbed the kid, and high tailed it to the car, milk leaking through my t-shirt as Jonah had already started his meal. He was none too happy, I'll tell you that. We continued in the car with much more success. Geez. How am I going to do this? If anyone has any pointers, let me know now. I just assumed wearing a t-shirt would make it easy. Not true. I hope weeks from now I'm reading this and laughing at myself.
Anything else today...Jonah continues to grow on me as I am able more and more to relax and enjoy him. As Mom and Dad pointed out, all you have to do for a young baby is make sure he is warm, dry, fed, gets enough sleep, and gets some time with you. Other than that, you are just worrying yourself for no reason. This seems to be so true. Jonah is such a good boy. Only really cries if he is bored or if he is hungry. Other than that he is just hanging out being content. I hope that all all that yoga I did during my pregnancy has paid off in a kid with such a great temperment. But who knows. At least it relaxed the mama.
One more crazy thing...three weeks after delivery and I can fit into all the pre-pregnancy clothes AND I am having to drink milkshakes with protein powder in them to stop loosing weight. All the books said to give it a year to get back to your regular weight. Can't complain about that at all.
Anyway-not sure if anyone if reading this, but sorry to babble on. This parenthood thing is just such a trip-I really could go on and on.
Comments
Your story was hilarious, I hear shirts that have a cross-over element to them or V-necks are good to wear when breastfeeding. Glad to hear your are surving.
Take care,
Holly Hunke
I'm totally jealous about the pre-baby weight. Two years I'm still carrying extra padding around!
And about that t-shirt, breastfeeding adventure....LMAO because I've so been there.
Here are some solutions that worked for me [here comes the advice]....If you are not comfortable exposing yourself it's worth the investment into some cute breastfeeding tops my favs come from here; www.expressiva.com. They are good quality and will last through many washings. Plus they have some fun styles that are figure flattering.
Next, public nursing advice; Practice public nursing in "friendly" places like a cozy nook at a coffee shop or a quiet cafe where there are other moms and kids. Really, no one is watching what you are doing. Also I would recommend trading the blanket for a sling for the most discreet public nursing. Nothing screams, "I'm nursing a baby over here." louder than a baby hidden under a blanket. My kids refused to be under them anyway. The sling allows for ample coverage of you and the baby. Then people only think you have a sleeping baby in the sling. (I've nursed my baby's countless times while grocery shopping and no-one was the wiser. Picture this; Baby in sling latched to breast, mama pushing cart with BOTH hands.) It's important to get a sling with generous amounts of fabric. There are many styles to choose from. Look under "baby wearing" or "baby slings" or "maya wrap" or "baby sling wrap" to find many options. Another resource is your local Le Leche League. They usually have sling samples, some groups have "lending slings" that you can try before you buy.
[Purchase one for yourself and one for the proud papa. Slings are available in different sizes, styles and fabrics. I bought one for Eric and he loved nothing better than carrying his beloved progeny in the pouch at a party.]
Pretty soon you won't care any longer what other people are thinking when you are nursing.
Another wonderful support network you can find is your local Attachment Parenting Group.
www.attachmentparenting.org/index.html
Info about the Portland Oregon Group here; http://www.orgsites.com/or/pdxapi/index.html
The API website also has a ton of good parenting resources and they are continually updating information.
We are in a different time zone but feel free to call anytime when you are feeling alone, because you aren't.
Many Hugs from the Sandhusen Family,
Lisa, Eric, Izabella & Garrick