I busted out the breastpumps even though they say not to give your baby a bottle for the first 2 weeks. The look of contentment on his face after that first bottle of breastmilk left me with no regrets. And again when I got to watch my husband give him a bottle. And again when I got to sleep through night while DH pulled the night shift. And again when he was still happy to breastfeed. At our 1 week appointment yesterday, he still wasn't quite back up to birthweight, but his average weight gain per day was 3 times the average.
Well, we are at 8 days old and here is what i have learned:
- It gets less awkward. You will figure out how to hold your baby comfortably while they nurse and they will learn to "take a bite out of a boob sandwich" for a proper latch. Google some other holds and positions. It helps.
- Gravity is awesome. Our first *great* feed, i basically planked overtop of him with my boob going straight down. Those gleeful swallows were music to my ears.
- Breastmilk is the only nipple ointment you need. Coat your nipples with it and let them air dry. They will still be sensitive, they're being sucked on repeatedly everyday- but no cracking, bleeding, or blisters here.
- Heat does help. Drink a cup of tea to warm your boobies! Our try nursing fresh out of a shower! It helps your milk flow. A good boob massage helps too! Any of the fenugreek teas will help with your supply.
- Those lactation cookies are pretty awesome. The pre-packaged milkmakers taste kind of gross (i got a sample in my bumpbox), but there are mixes you can buy, and recipes for making your own. Check out these recipes: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip and Nuts & Berries .
- I pump for when I want him to eat, so I can let him sleep. I usually leave a freshly pumped bottle at room temperature for him, and keep the others for night feeds and outings.
At 1 week, I'm pumping 3-4oz at each sitting (roughly every 3 hours). Sometimes he wants a boob for comfort, and sometimes it's easier to just breastfeed, but the bottles have saved us and i feel no guilt about my fat happy baby (or getting to sleep through the night or getting to share the experience). He's still getting the exact same nutrition from the exact same breastmilk.
Some guidelines about bottles:
- General food guidelines (because i work in a restaurant. lol) are that perishable items can sit at room temp. for 4 hours, though a lot of sites say it's fine to leave a bottle at room temp for up to 6 hours.
- Refrigerated milk is good for ~1week
- You can keep milk frozen for 6-12 months, but once it's thawed it has about 1-2 days in the fridge.
Some of our choices:
- I wrote about the Ameda Purely Yours pump that i chose. I sometimes feel that it's a little slow, but i will say that the milk absolutely does not back up into the tubing and having washed and air dried a plethora of pump parts at this point, i can't even imagine trying to get tubing clean and dry. I am so glad i picked a pump without this problem. It runs for ~2-3 days on just batteries, but i did eventually plug it into the wall.
- I also bought a manual pump- an evenflo which was the first pump i ventured to use and i bring it to bed with me so i can pump when i wake up. Manual pumps require handwork and some people may not like them, but i find it to be faster
- We chose avent bottles for several reasons. 1 was that i got a lot of free ones, and the fact that they give you bottles to try makes me like them. Another reason was that i wanted glass bottles without a lot of parts. I am happy with the choice for an entirely different reason- his mouth looks the same on this bottle nipple as it does on my nipple and i believe that probably contributes to the ease we are having in switching between the two. In fact, avent bottles are on this list of bottles that mimic the breast and is one of the most affordable options on there!
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