Tag: breastfeeding

Baby

How Do You Know Your Baby Is Getting Enough Milk?

Humble Mama

You just finished an intense few hours of labor. You’re looking down at your sweet little bundle of joy. You bond during skin to skin, and your little one attempts to latch on, and finally, the moment comes, and it’s feeding time! 

It didn’t quite work out this way with my first; we had a lot of trouble latching, and when she did latch on, I wasn’t producing enough. We opted to supplement with formula. Since she was born prematurely, her sugar was low, and was taken to the nursery, where they fed her formula to increase her blood sugar.

With my second, everything was different. He latched on and would spend about 10-15 minutes at each breast. I was concerned because there’s no telling how many ounces they’re taking in when you breastfeed, and I didn’t know if he was getting anything out. I mean, it seemed like it since his mouth was moist, I could feel him swallowing, but at his first doctor’s visit, I would surely find out he was not getting enough milk.

I felt like something was wrong, I tried to ignore it since the nurses, lactation consultant, and doctors all reassured me that my son was getting sufficient milk and to trust the process. There is no real way to know exactly how much they are drinking. The more my baby would latch on, the more milk I would be producing.

Day 3 comes around, and my baby is constantly crying. He would latch on every other hour for several minutes, 20-30 minutes at times on each breast every other hour (this is already not a good sign). I was exhausted, sleep-deprived, and on the verge of a mental breakdown. I didn’t know what to do. I was still waiting on a breast pump, provided by my insurance, but due to the Christmas holiday, doctors and other staff who help fulfill these orders faster were out of the office or on vacation.

Lucky for me, we had my son’s first doctor’s visit the very next day. Here is where I beat myself up for what they are about to tell me. “Your son was born at 8lb 6oz. He is now 7lb 4oz, he’s lost a significant amount of weight since delivery” (over a pound to be exact). His doctor explained that a newborn needing to feed every hour for that length of time is not getting enough milk. He was practically burning off more energy than anything else.

I felt guilty. Guilty for not going with my instinct. For not supplementing with formula from the beginning and for not doing the proper research. We started supplementing with formula shortly after. His doctor suggested that I meet with a lactation consultant that might be able to help provide me with more information and tips.

Back to the hospital, I go, and guess what? The whole time I could have borrowed a hospital grade breast pump to help pump out milk and increase my milk supply. Where was this information after delivery? The truth is, they do not tell you, but they provide you with a packet of information. It is up to you to go through this information and keep yourself informed even after having gone through hours of labor and recovery.

While I waited for my insurance to ship out my breast pump, I rented the hospital grade pump for about a month. Every 4 days, I would follow up with the pediatrician to make sure my son was on track with his weight gain, and before I knew it, he was 6 oz. over his birth weight. To ensure that his weight loss was not attributed to a health issue, his doctors monitored his weight for the first two months.

Eventually, I ended my breastfeeding journey at 4 months (my milk supply never reached more than 4-6-oz a day). I tried lactation cookies, teas, heating pads, pumping every 2-3 hours. It was exhausting, and by then, he was already drinking about 24 oz. a day; I supplemented with mostly formula.

Some general tips if you’re a new mama are if you don’t own or have access to a breast pump, you can always rent a hospital-grade breast pump for the hospital or a distributor. You can search them online, and you can rent them weekly if that works for you.

Another option is supplementing with formula. You can have them latch on for 10-15 minutes at each breast and then supplement with formula. No one is going to judge you for this so, don’t feel guilty. There are plenty of mamas out there who do this. In a perfect world, we would all be able to solely breastfeed our babies, but that’s not realistic. The journey is different for every mama.

If you are having or had a similar experience, do not be so hard on yourself. Trust your instincts and if you think something is wrong, call your doctor to seek some advice. You’ll be so glad you went with your instincts!

Sending you love, light, & positive vibes!

Postpartum

5 Things I Wish I Knew In Advance About Postpartum

Humble Mama

Having a baby is really such a beautiful thing. Bringing life to this earth is just such an inexplicable feeling to describe. You are overjoyed, relieved, excited, yet happy, scared, and anxious all at the same time. So many things going through your mind. The truth is so many powerful emotions can even result and be a part of depression.

Post-Partum Depression

It’s real. You hear about it, and you think it won’t be you but the reality is many women often experience postpartum depression after delivering their baby. Though I did not experience a severe form of postpartum depression, I certainly have dealt and currently still dealing with anxiety. If you are experiencing this, or know someone who is, I encourage you to seek help. There is support out there. If you don’t feel comfortable reaching out to your partner, a family member, or a friend to express how you’ve been feeling. Reach out and seek help at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration hotline. Before you can take care of anyone else, you need to ensure that you can take care of you. YOU matter Mama!

You will have an extremely heavy period

I have no idea if my first postpartum period was just 100 times heavier than after my first pregnancy however, I will tell you this, it was intense. I mean I expected it to be heavy but, I honestly felt like my body was angry for not having a period in over a year. Because I was caught off guard, I did not have adequate protection with me. I ended up picking up some of the post-partum disposable underwear, Frida MOM Disposable Postpartum Underwear – that I used postpartum. This was about 4 months post-partum around the time I stopped my breast feeding journey.

Pelvic pain

So, you finally gave birth to your sweet little bundle of joy, but… wait… why are you still feeling so much pain in your pelvis? If like me, you still experience some pelvic pain after labor and delivery I was told it is normal. If the problem persists then you might want to check with your doctor. According to the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, 20% of women experience PPGP/SI joint pain, 75% of the time, the pelvic pain is a result of having pelvic floor dysfunction, but this can only be diagnosed through a history of physical examination and tests.

Hair loss

SO MUCH HAIR LOSS! My goodness, if you are lucky, you will not experience it as bad as I did. However, all I remember is washing my hair and thinking I definitely have a bald spot. I kept asking my husband if I was bald because I was in disbelief of what had just occurred. When I say that I saw a ball of hair that could probably make up a wig; was about the amount of hair I would lose on a wash day, I am not kidding. As always, I went to my sister-in-law for help (she is a hair expert/Mama/ guru/ my go to for everything you name it! Love you! all 3 of you to be exact lol xo!) She suggested using a garlic shampoo and conditioning treatment. I could not believe I had forgotten all about this product, it is one of my favorites. I also used collagen hair vitamins to help with hair health and I have to say I have seen significant improvement (3 months in). If you are going through the same, don’t be hard on yourself! Postpartum hair loss is normal and temporary, our bodies are still going through changes. Eventually your hair growth cycle will go back to normal within 6-12 months postpartum. I am currently at 10 months postpartum and starting to see some normalcy.

Breastfeeding

Okay… I had a really hard time with this. As much as I wanted this to be a beautiful long journey, I intended it to be that way, it just did not work out for me in either pregnancy. With my first pregnancy, I delivered pre-term. I had my daughter at 35 weeks, I don’t know if this had anything to do with it, but my milk supply did not come in until day 3 when we were leaving the hospital and she would just not latch on. I didn’t have much support at the hospital to begin with (there wasn’t a lactation consultant in that weekend, and some of the nurses weren’t helpful at all, they made me feel like I was just doing everything wrong). My second experience was much better in the hospital, but despite the help I received from the lactation consultant, my milk supply just was not where it needed to be. My son was already at 3-4oz per bottle and I was pumping between 1-2oz every 4 hours. I tried so many different things; lactation cookies, teas, pumping more often, using a hospital grade pump (this really helped a lot) but it just wasn’t enough, and it was not working for me. Moral of the story is, breastfeeding is not for every mama.

I ended my journey at about the 4-month mark. Ultimately the lesson learned is, “fed is best!” Whether you can offer your baby breast milk or formula, if your baby is being fed and is healthy, that is all that matters! So, if you’re having a hard time, know that you’re not alone. This is all a part of being a mama, just know that you got this!