All Hail the Human Cow

Nursing is not easy. Not all of us are gifted human cows. And the evil eye to those of you whose milk come in on the third day and whose milk supply exceeds demand. I had my son nurse on me moments after birth. I followed all the rules but I found breast feeding riddled with anxiety. I could write a 3 part essay on this but do not want to add more stuff that a mother must read through. In summary....
  1. Not everyone's milk comes in on day 3....mine around day 7-8.
  2. When you think there is no breast milk, check the poop. If it has seedy bits that look like cottage cheese. Its because baby is drinking breast milk. ( a wave of relief came over me when my pediatrician told me that. 3 Lactation consultants and 4 nurses and not one of told me that in the 3 days i was in hospital!...sad faces and a failed attempt with " Hospital grade breast pump" is all I got.
  3. Lactation consultants and well intention nurses can give you anxiety if you let them.
  4. Formula is fine for the kid...better then listening to wailing. Supplementary feeder might be the way to go. Ask the hospital lactation specialist about it and they might give you a few free day use supplementary feeder. Medela supplemental feed is maybe around $50? Its a tube attached to a formula bottle and you put the tube into the side of baby's mouth when it is suckling at your breast. So it suckles and stimulates breast milk and gets fed at same time. Win-win.
  5. Pump after baby has suckles.
  6. Use cotton breast pads. They are soft and comfortable and reusable. Buy about 6 pairs. They can be handwashed or machine washed but let me just say this....putting it on after it comes out of the dryer is a delight.
  7. Electrical pump - Lansinoh is cheaper the other electrical breast pump and works just fine.It has 2 controls.Speed and suction. Sometimes its the speed adn not the strength of the suction that brings in the milk.
  8. Manual pump - Avent Iris Breast pump got me more milk the Lansinoh breast pump but my hands got tired. Its the Iris part that massages the breast and gets more milk.
  9. Lansinoh breast pump with Avent Iris Attachment is wonderful. Best of both worlds! (see picture) and still cheaper then most electrical breastpump.



9. Fenugreek tablets or tea ( do your research) works for me. - Please read blog on being saved by Amazon.com
10. Green Papaya soup ( sudden jump in milk supply with this one...recipe below if I remember to include it..if I don't just, google it...thats how I found my recipe. Use the one with dried cuttle fish...yummm)
11. Red dates water. ( I think this one is just to encourage me to drink more water)
12. I am blessed, son takes breast milk at breast or bottle and takes formula willingly too. I didn't read about nipple confusion until things were settled and I am glad I didn't!
13. Continue breast feeding and try to use any glimmer of hope you can ..for me it was the seedy poop( made me very happy at diaper changes) and $125-$200 I was saving on formula( My
Hokkien side jumps for joy. Breast Milk - Cheap and good! and supposedly able to speed up weight loss )

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