Alright mamas, if you’ve found this blog post then it probably means you are curious about breastfeeding your future child or you are newly postpartum and just recently started breastfeeding for the first time. Either way, I’m so glad you’re here. It’s a privilege to be able to write about my own breastfeeding journey in hopes that it can help you in some way, shape, or form. For starters, EBF stands for exclusive breastfeeding, but we’ll get to that later on.
Similarly to my experience with choosing the natural childbirth route–read more on that in this blog post where I compare having a natural hospital birth and a homebirth–I wasn’t exactly sure that I was going to breastfeed my baby when I found out I was pregnant. But shortly after doing some research and chatting with some family members, I realized that breastfeeding was the choice for me. This post isn’t to sway you to breastfeed or not. However, if you are on the fence about it, or struggling with breastfeeding right now and thinking about giving up after a couple days or weeks, then I encourage you to read on.
Here’s a couple “six-word stories” I wrote about breastfeeding that I’ll add in as we get started…
It’s tough; get ready for tears.
Give it time. Sacrifice then reward.
Looking back: easiest choice to make.
When it comes to breastfeeding for the first time, I highly recommend taking a breastfeeding class–and that’s exactly what I did (I did a combined birth and baby course with Mama Natural). I had no clue where to start. I had a Pinterest board full of things related to it and a ‘note’ written in my phone to jot things down if someone told me something about breastfeeding that I thought would be important to remember when the time came. At the end of the day, none of those things really mattered until I had my baby to my boob, to be frank. Yes, the breastfeeding class did teach me some very important things, but it isn’t until you are actually doing it where you begin to understand it better.
Day 1 when our first child, Eva, was born, I was able to get her to latch and to start feeding. It felt funny. Not totally what I expected, but I thought to myself, “Alright, Vanessa, you’re doing it! You can do it! This isn’t that bad at all.” However, once night fell and then the next morning came, I knew I needed to speak to the lactation consultant at the hospital again. I realized she was latched on, but she wasn’t latched in the proper way to make it comfortable for me. The baby needs to have fish lips. If you know, you know. First time mamas, just remember that. I didn’t bring a pump or a haakaa with me to the hospital (I wasn’t even sure how to fully use those things initially!) I didn’t start the haakaa until day 6 or 7 I think. Spoiler alert: I’m currently breastfeeding my second baby this time around too, and I would go back and tell my younger self to not touch either of those things! (if you don’t have to)
Day 3ish is when my milk came in. Before that, you have colostrum in your breasts that the baby is getting. This stuff is ‘liquid gold’ as the saying goes. One of the best things you can do for baby is to get that into their system in their first days of life. Even if you plan to use formula, you should try and pump out your colostrum and get that into your baby because it helps set the road map for their gut microbiome. Now that the milk was there, I began to get pretty engorged. Everybody’s breasts and experience with producing milk is different, so please remember, I’m just sharing my experience.
I felt like I was going to explode. My breasts were beyond full and I needed a way to get some release. Warm compresses worked and also gently massaging to get a little milk out is the key. As another saying goes, ‘less is more.’ Keep that in mind mamas–because what I started to do was release too much milk. Little did I know that the more milk you release (whether when you’re feeding baby, adding in a pump session, or massaging milk out from engorged breasts) the more milk your body is going to produce. Another struggle I was having was a fast let down.
When my milk would let down, it would be too much for Eva at one time. She would try gulping it down and end up choking here and there, and then because of that it made her mad–which totally makes sense if you’re a hungry girl! I remember putting burp cloths over and under me to catch all the milk until the let down stopped so she would be able to nurse adequately. Also, I could only be in the lean-back nursing position for about the first four to six weeks because it helped slow the flow. Another little tip for you, mama, if you have any of the same struggles!
Now another thing to note is that in those first six-ish weeks, your body is learning to regulate itself based on how much baby is eating, so things may fluctuate here and there. My mistake was adding in the hakaa and trying to pump out milk in between feeds because my breasts felt too full. I also thought that I needed to have a ‘milk stash’ in the freezer. Another spoiler alert: If you’re a stay-at-home mama or have the availability to keep your baby with you to feed whenever and wherever, then you do not have to pump or keep any ‘extra’ milk lying around! Well Vanessa, what if I want to get out of the house for a couple hours or go on a date night without bringing my newborn with me? Well mama, that won’t really be an option for you in the beginning until you can ‘time’ your baby’s feeding and know that you have X amount of time until their next feed. Ultimately, you will be exclusively breastfeeding (EBF) your baby–which is what I ended up choosing to do with Eva by around month three.
Also at about four or six weeks was when we tried giving Eva a bottle. I had used the haakaa to catch the let down on my other breast when nursing to have some milk saved in the freezer. I also tried to start pumping after the morning feed. I read that that’s a good time to pump since your body has more milk in the morning. I was still under the impression that I needed to have a milk stash in the freezer. Again, looking back, I wish I wouldn’t have worried about that! So we tried introducing the bottle since I had some milk accumulated. Sure, it was nice to sit down and watch my husband feed her with a bottle instead of me being the sole provider of her nutritional needs, but at the same time it was also creating a headache for me. If you want to use bottles and feed your baby breastmilk from them, then that means you have to take the time to pump the milk out some other time in your day. Then on top of that, if all your milk is frozen, you have to wait for the milk to warm up. Then, when your baby is getting fed by someone else, you’re going to have to pump out more milk again to keep up your supply. Then, you will have to wash your pump parts along with the bottles afterward. Are you starting to catch on…? Mamas! Cut out the middleman! Pop your baby on your breast and just exclusively breastfeed! It seriously makes so much more sense.
I understand that some mothers are not able to do this due to lifestyle differences or other circumstances. Please note, this is just my testimony and what I want to share about my personal experiences to encourage others.
So at about month three is when I finally decided to cut out any pumping I was doing and only let my baby be fed by exclusive breastfeeding (EBF). Remember that six word story I typed at the beginning: Give it time. Sacrifice then reward. Well, I was beginning to experience that at this point. I gave it time in the beginning to figure it out. Of course I was struggling here and there. I was frustrated with engorgement, having a fast let down, and a baby that couldn’t keep up with it at the start. Everything I dealt with increased my awareness as a mother. It taught me patience. It taught me that sticking with it even when it can be hard is so worthwhile.
By month seven, feeding had been a breeze. Then I got pregnant again! Read Our Story here. In my case, my milk never went away. My baby kept nursing. Nothing changed for me during my second pregnancy and breastfeeding journey with Eva. All by the grace of God I could keep nourishing Eva with breastmilk until she turned fifteen months and my second child was born. Eva was slowly becoming less interested in nursing by the last month or two. I just kind of ended it on her pace. However, I was able to tandem nurse both my babies just one time! Now that was an experience!! Wherever you may be in your breastfeeding journey, I just encourage you to keep at it. It’s a gift from the Lord how he made women and our bodies to produce the exact nutritional needs our children need in their first years of life. Breastmilk is the answer if you’re able to do it. And exclusively breastfeeding is another awesome gift! Comment below if you’ve shared a similar journey or any questions I might can answer.
Be blessed, mamas–and keep making motherhood.
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