Breastfeeding Update

Many people ask me how long I've breastfed, so I decided to update everyone on how breastfeeding is going. Now before I start, let me say that I do not judge people who do not breastfeed...it is a personal choice. I am still breastfeeding and it is going great. Before I even got pregnant, I knew that this was something that I wanted to do. We did have a rough start though with Isaac in the NICU and it was extremely hard to learn how to breastfeed while he was connected to all of those wires. I was very lucky because ideally you don't want to introduce a bottle until a baby is 4-6 weeks old. The reason for that time is because it is a lot easier for a baby to suck from a bottle than from a breast. For most babies, once a bottle is introduced so young, he or she will not take the breast. If you wait too long, many babies will not take a bottle because they're too used to the breast. Isaac had one when he was 3 days old because he was having a hard time latching on. As he started getting better in the NICU, we weaned him off the bottle and onto the breast. It was a little tough...but I was not giving up.

Many people have trouble breastfeeding because a baby may have a strong suck. If the baby is not latched on correctly (or sometimes even if he or she is) it can be very painful and cause bleeding and blisters. I am lucky enough to not have that happen.

I have to say that sometimes breastfeeding may get difficult because I don't want him to have bottles all the time. This means I can't be away from him for more than 3 hours. Breastfeeding is all about supply and demand. A pump does not get out as much milk as Isaac would when he nurses so everytime I pump instead of feed, I don't get as much milk out...which (if done too much) will cause my supply to go down. Now, I'll have to do this when I start my internship but I don't have to yet so I won't. My hopes are to breastfeed exclusively for 6 months and then continue on for a year once Isaac starts solids. I just have to continue to keep my supply up.

I hope people that think about breastfeeding will read this and know they can do it if they want. I've always been an advocate for breastfeeding, but like I said before, it's a personal decision and in no way do I judge people who don't breastfeed. But if you do want to do it, it's so worth it. I can't think of a closer way that I can bond with Isaac. It's special to me that I'm the only one that can feed him (except every now and again when he gets a bottle). But even then, he gets breastmilk. Hope everyone enjoyed my breastfeeding 101. hehe