Getting Started

In the Beginning....

Wow! It was hard...so hard. I had Sam December 28th by a scheduled cesarean. I started my breastfeeding journey in the recovery room with my husband and a not so helpful nurse. We got skin to skin and I put him on my breast. What nobody told me was that my breast would be numb from the epidural and Sam would not attach right away. I had read all these books about a babies quiet alert state after birth and how they stare into your eyes and want to nurse right away. Well...no one gave baby Sam that memo. He was sleepy and not interested in nursing. I was totally numb and a nervous wreck. We tried it for 15 minutes and then I decided to stop torturing the grandparents and let them in to see their new grandchild. So, here we are in this truly spiritual moment and all I am thinking is..."Will he ever latch? Will the feeling come back in my breast? Did I totally screw myself and Sam by not forcing the issue right away?"

That night in the privacy of our hospital room I tried over and over to get him to latch. He did it kind of, but not really. He would cry and get super frustrated. They tell you that any nurse can help you and baby get a proper latch but I found this to be untrue. They were actually kind of rough with him and that seemed to make him even more frustrated. So I made a decision that made all the difference. I asked for the hospital's lactation consultant to come to my room. The nurses tried to get me to go to the nursing class instead but I stood my ground and asked for the lactation consultant. They put it in my chart for the morning nurse to make the call. And, there in my hospital doorway at 10 in the morning was my breastfeeding angel.

The moral to this first breastfeeding post is that if you have trouble you should insist on seeing the lactation consultant. The first 3 days were very hard and confusing, but having the lactation consultant checking on me every two hours during the day and helping me gave me the support and confidence I desperately needed.

You won't believe what all I had to do to make breastfeeding successful!! More to come...