Left Coast Mama » breastfeeding

Helping Nature Along: Breastfeeding

Gwen — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:11:45 +0000

While breastfeeding is a natural thing it sometimes needs a little help. I have written about my breastfeeding journey so far and I touched on some of the difficulties I had. I have a few more issues than some like trying to find a breast pump that had a range of available breastsheild sizes, or finding nursing bras that fit, or trying to feed a sleepy jaundiced baby. All of these experiences have helped me find some resources to help, and some I have still to find. I thought I would share what I have.

When I was nursing Aidan I was unable to find a nursing bra that fit properly, and while I still haven’t found one that fits me properly I have a ton of resources for almost anyone else of a larger size. The first is Honeymilk Designs, by a local Vancouver bra designer Brandee Anderson. I haven’t got one myself as I am still too large, but I have heard nothing but fabulous reviews. If you are of a normal size range a nursing tank can be your best friend and keep you stomach covered.

In Vancouver at least, most of the Shopper’s Drug Marts rent hospital grade breast pumps. In the beginning this may be the best idea so you can find a style of pump that you like. Call the drugstore and ask about the models that they rent. I found that the hospital grade Medela was the pump that gave me the most relief from engorgement pain when Quinlan wasn’t latching the first couple of weeks. With all rental pumps you need to buy a package that has the tubing and breastsheilds. With the Medela they actually have different sizes, because the breastsheild isn’t supposed to rub against your nipple. For me that meant I needed a larger size than the average size, and the only place we found it was the Shopper’s Home Health Care store on Oak, though I think there are several places in Vancouver that rent the actual pumps.

The other thing that was a godsend in both my pregnancy and even now is the nursing pillow I bought at a local baby fair. The YOU Pillow was one of the best decisions I ever made. I used it every night during the rest of my pregnancy and it really helped to make the sleep less painful as I got bigger. Since Quinlan was born I have been using this pillow for nursing, even now, as well as for all kinds of things. In fact I have the laptop on my pillow now while I am writing this post.

Do you have some breastfeeding staples that have made your journey easier?

© 2009 Left Coast Mama | Permalink | 2 comments
Related: Bras, breastfeeding, Healthy Choices, Healthy Eating, lactavism, Moms.

My Breastfeeding Journey

Gwen — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:32:48 +0000

With my firstborn I wasn’t sure how long I really wanted to breastfeed. I knew that “breast is best” and I intended to breastfeed for at least 6 months, and then reassess. I wanted to do what was best for my baby and follow the WHO guidelines. Of course even with all the fantastic books I read, I still found it hard in the beginning.

The first few weeks were difficult for a few reasons, the first being that Aidan was what you would call a “sleepy” baby. He wasn’t jaundiced enough to warrant light therapy, but sleepy enough to make breastfeeding very difficult and time consuming. It would take almost an hour and a half to feed him. Since we needed to feed him every two hours we were at our wit’s end and it was totally unsustainable. The best way to flush the jaundice from his system while the sun was hiding was to get more food into (and out of) him. We then made the difficult decision to supplement with formula while I tried to pump in between the mammoth nursing sessions. Luckily for us it was the right decision. Aidan started to wake up and nurse, and continued to be a champion nurser until he weaned around 19-20 months.

With Quinlan I naively thought that it would be easier. What I didn’t take into consideration was that while I may have been an experienced breastfeeder, Quinlan wasn’t. I also thought that since this birth was so different than my first, my beginning breastfeeding experience would be different. In the very beginning, it was.

When Aidan was born it was a long hard labour. Because he was in some distress at the end of the labour, Aidan was whisked away to be checked out by the paediatrician before I even saw him. It was at least 45 minutes before I got to hold him. I missed the skin to skin contact right after birth and I was incredibly anxious to get him near the breast to see if he would latch. I am glad he was able to be in Anthony’s arms for most of the time I was being stitched up. It was a great bonding time for father and son.

When Quinlan was born things progressed so quickly that any ideas I might have had for a birth plan went out the window. Well, I guess plan might be too strong a word for what I had in mind, an epidural and skin to skin contact with breastfeeding as soon as Quinlan wanted it. The epidural didn’t have any time to happen, but as soon as he was out Quinlan was on my chest warming up. They cleaned him up and almost immediately he went for the breast. He breastfed like he was born to do it. I really thought that we were home free. I was wrong.

Quinlan also was a little jaundiced and sleepy and had problems latching. It was during this period of a couple of weeks that Anthony was my rock. My hormones were way out of whack, I was in incredible engorgement pain, we couldn’t find a breast pump that had a flange big enough to accommodate my nipples and actually pump anything and I was an absolute wreck. If Anthony hadn’t been there I am not sure how I would have coped. Anthony finally found a pump that would work, and kept me sane in the middle of the night when it would take Quinlan and hour or more to actually latch. Again we needed to supplement so that Quinlan wouldn’t dehydrate, and to get rid of the jaundice. I felt like a failure.

Eventually Quinlan got a little bigger, learned to latch, and got on track. Once he learned to latch and eat Quinlan decided to shun the bottle in all forms. Since he was less than two months old Quinlan would not drink pumped milk, formula, milk or any dairy that didn’t come from my breast. At thirteen months he still will not take anything else except juice and water.

There are several things I learned from my experiences with both my sons. I will be posting my breastfeeding wisdom tomorrow as a part of the Parenting By Nature blogging contest, but I wanted to have my back story written first. I think that it is better to inspire a natural parenting experience like breastfeeding if it isn’t preachy and doesn’t gloss over some of the harder parts of the process. I also think that a lot of lactivists need to work on their delivery because they tend to come across as breastfeeding bullies. In my opinion you don’t win anyone over by making them feel bad about their parenting decisions.

It is distressing to feel disappointed in your body because you have trouble. It is terrible to feel guilty because in order to make breastfeeding happen you needed to supplement in the beginning. I am here to tell you that no matter what your journey, whether it comes naturally, if you need to pump, feed formula, supplement or some combination of them all, you will do what is best for your baby. It isn’t always easy and I, for one, am not judging the choices you have had to make.

Weighing In

Gwen — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:24:46 +0000

I am loving my scale right now and I don’t want to be someone who loves her scale. I have tried really hard over the last few years to stop worrying about my weight and just relax into the shape I have become.

I have always had a love/hate relationship with my body. Even when I was a small size I always had curves. My stomach was not the perfect flat specimen and I have always had the boobs. I am not sure why I couldn’t be happy with my weight and shape especially looking back at pictures. I was so small. How could I have thought that I was chubby? Why did I think that I needed to lose weight? It is a question that haunts me sometimes.

In the last month I have dropped (at least according to my scale which may be wildly inaccurate) about 15 pounds. My engagement ring fits again. My pants are starting to be looser in the waist. I know that my thighs are smaller as well. But if I really think about it I am still not happy with my body. As hard as I try to be ok with it, I still don’t feel entirely in love with myself. I know that part of it is that I still have some post pregnancy issues. I need to tone up, but that takes work.

Despite it all, even if I lose more weight it will be hard for me to really feel it until I lose the breasts. I am pretty sure that Quinlan is our last baby. This means that when he stops nursing (which I don’t anticipate being anytime soon) I will seriously think about getting a reduction. I always promised myself that when I was finished having babies and feeding them that I was getting them chopped off. I still seriously think about it. Smaller bras, easier to find, less back pain. What is the downside? I guess the surgery, scars, recovery and my husband’s reaction are all things to think about.

I guess when it comes down to it I am still unsure about whether I will do it or not. At least I know I won’t be making a rash decision soon.

In Which I Talk About My Problems With Bras and Big Boobs

Gwen — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:39:06 +0000

I am a person of size, a big girl, a short girl, a plus sized girl. Inside I am a tall, curvy and more toned woman with C cups that are still perky. On the outside I am one that will fail the pencil test every time. In fact I don’t remember when I didn’t fail the pencil test. Well I suppose that is not true, when I was 12 I had nothing to speak of.

***

I just checked and not only do I fail the pencil test, I can actually hold 10, yes 10, writing implements under one boob. Sure I know that when I am finished nursing Quinlan the girls will get a little smaller. I often wish for the breast disappearing act that I hear so many women complain about. Sigh. I am most likely out of luck on that front.

***

This has been coming for a while. On Sunday I will have been nursing for a full year (again) and I still do not have a nursing bra that fits and is comfortable. In fact I don’t really think they (maternity/nursing bra manufacturers) make a bra designed for a woman like me. Oddly enough, just because I have big boobs I am not huge everywhere else. Yes I am a plus sized girl, but my ribs are quite small, and I don’t need inches of elastic or band underneath the breast. In fact all that does is make things worse as it is uncomfortable and it folds under itself. What I really need is a good underwire nursing bra, with not too much underwire (I don’t need to be poked in the armpit) and a stretchy band that isn’t too wide. Oh and also, an I cup. Therein lies the rub. I need an I cup. Apparently women who need an I cup are really tall and long torsoed women. They aren’t sturdy not too short women with a bigger rack.

Since I am unable to find anything in Vancouver that fits, I was finally turned toward an online company for a certain bra that the fitter told me would fit me. (Since then I think my band size has gone down even if my cup size has not.) I ordered it and two others that should have fit to see if I could get something that would let me nurse my son and still be able to have the girls where they should be. In fact the two that came were not the one that Dianne’s said would fit me, no that is still on back order a month and a half later. This shouldn’t be such a struggle. I can not be the only woman in Vancouver who has this problem. Hell I can’t be the only woman in the world who has this problem.

So what is a woman with big breasts, a penchant for pretty lingerie, and a nursing mother to do? Really I am asking. I am at my wit’s end. I am uncomfortable, I still need access for Quinlan and I don’t see him weaning anytime soon. Me and the girls thank you in advance.

© 2009 Left Coast Mama | Permalink | 4 comments
Related: Bras, breastfeeding, Gwen, lactavism, Moms, Nursing Bras, Quinlan, rants.

Sick and Tired

Gwen — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:46:47 +0000

Adorable Grin

I feel guilty in admitting this, but I am sick and tired of baby puke. I know, it is called spit-up to make it more palatable, but baby puke it is. There is not a day that goes by that I am not regurgitated on (several or dozens of times) by my now almost seven month old, and it is getting old. I keep hoping he will grow out of it and start to keep his food down.

I sometimes worry about his digestive track, and I have forcefully kept myself from google because of this. He hardly ever has what I consider to be a normal bowel movement, it is always very wet, yellow and hardly ever has “curds” in it. If he wasn’t growing like a weed and in the 50th percentile for weight and 80-90th for height I would be really worried. I hesitate to talk to my doctor about it, because I don’t want to seem like one of those moms who worry all the time about their children’s pooping habits, but I am one of those moms. Is this really a bad thing? Should I worry more about my child’s pooping issues? Does this mean that since he is an almost exclusively breastfed child that I am eating the wrong way? Should I have started solids sooner?

It has only been the last week that I have made a concerted effort to really try to get Quinlan to eat solids. He didn’t even want to try the rice cereal and it is only this week with sweet potato and now carrots that he has shown any interest in solids at all. Sweet potato got the thumbs up as well as a few raspberries. He would show his appreciation (or so I thought) by eating some and then blowing raspberries and getting sweet potato everywhere. Then I tried carrots last night and low and behold, just eating, no raspberries. I haven’t yet tried this morning but I am hoping it will go as well.

I was also told that if we started him on solids he might stop wanting to get up in the middle of the night to eat, that it was habit. I am now not so sure. For quite a while Quinlan was sleeping from about 10 pm until 5ish. Now he goes to sleep at about 7:30 pm (I feed him to sleep) and starts crying for a snack about 2:30 am. He then wakes up again betweek 4 and 5 am for another feed. It is making me a little cranky. I can’t blame him or ignore him, so I am getting really tired. If I wasn’t a morning person before it is really unlikely I will start to become one now.

So the bottom line is I need some advice on stopping the puking, and helping his bowel solidify some of the poop. Or maybe I just needed to vent a little and then some reasurance that despite my fears, since Quinlan is a happy and well adjusted baby, he probably isn’t suffering with his pooping and puking problems.

Quinlan Happy in the Sun

When Will They Learn?

Gwen — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:16:24 +0000

I am not really a very political mother, or person for that matter. I vote, yes, and I have opinions about politics, but I have never been one to join a protest and march. I know, I know, I live in BC and I should be a rabid something or other and protest all the time, join rallies and generally make a lot of noise. A lot of the time people who make huge deals about a lot of things annoy me.

There are a few things however that make me crazy. Telling a nursing mother that she needs to cover up because she is being obscene feeding her baby makes me crazy. Groups like Myspace and Facebook taking off pictures of nursing mothers for being obscene while letting a group taking pictures of drunk girls misbehaving, and pictures of people doing whatever it is they do. Have you seen some of the cartoons that people send on Facebook? As a reaction the League of Maternal Justice had a live web nurse-in and a video montage of lots of mother’s breastfeeding pictures, mine included. I thought it was beautiful. I wasn’t ashamed of having my pictures in a video that saw nourishing your child as a good thing. Now Youtube has decided to take down the video. Not making it for older audiences, they have taken it down. It makes me really sad that something so nice has been deemed obscene.

I am so saddened that I need to write about it. I need to tell you my family and friends that something that is so wonderful, that is healthy for mother and baby is being labelled obscene. I am so sorry that I didn’t make sure that I sent people the link while it was still up. I am sorry that I was quiet in my actions to make a point to people who compare breastfeeding to masturbating in public. It is almost enough to make me want to have a rally, a protest. I am going to do a small video to the Youtube people. I am going to link to the League of Maternal Justice. I am going to link to my member of parliament. (Damn it is Hedy fry and she might just make things worse.) I am going to be vocal about this. I might even send an email to CBC and try to get them to do something on this. It is time to stop telling us that something that the World Heath Organization, Health Canada, and god knows what other health organizations tell us if best for baby, is not for anyones eyes. That it must be covered up. It makes me mad.

If it makes you angry or sad as well there are some things you can do. If you go to the League of Maternal Justice they have links to various organizations and ways to help. I hope that someday soon this won’t be an issue at all. Breastfeeding will be seen as natural and beautiful and something you don’t need to cover up.

© 2007 Left Coast Mama | Permalink | 2 comments
Related: breastfeeding, Gwen, Healthy Choices, Healthy Eating, lactavism, League of Maternal Justice, Political Activism.

Home for a rest, not likely.

Gwen — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 03:57:00 +0000

So if you are among the few people who read my blog you may have wondered if I fell off the face of the earth. Hmm, well I didn’t exactly, but I did spend two (mostly) wonderful weeks on the other side of the country. Now you may think that I should have posted as “Right Coast Mama”, and you would be right, I should have, but I didn’t. So, what to do? Well I guess that a recap will be forthcoming, but not tonight. I still need to decompress and Aidan isn’t adapting well to being back home. I think it will take us quite a bit of time to getting him back into his routine.

The main problem is, yes you guessed it, sleep. He seems to be having separation anxiety especially in the middle of the night. He has been waking up at 3 or 4 am and then he just wants to cuddle. He isn’t ready to be awake, he doesn’t want to play, all he wants is to be as close to me as he can. The odd thing is that when this ever happened before he always wanted to nurse. Now he just wants to be close. It is harder to get him to sleep after this happens when we aren’t nursing. I guess it is me that is missing it.

It is really funny to me that I can miss something that I was sure was going to be a bit of a chore that I would do for six months or until he bit me. Eighteen months later and I am mourning that fact that he is weaning. Sigh.

Anyway, as I am falling asleep at the laptop, I should let you dear readers (my that was presumptuous of me,) go, and bid you adieu. Good night.

Tags: Sleep, Vacation, Breastfeeding, Weaning