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Breastfeeding

Writer's picture: Monique WykMonique Wyk

HAPPY WORLD BREASTFEEDING MONTH!!!


Anyone reading this, that has gone the breastfeeding route, will agree when I say that once your baby latches your ladies no longer belong to you. It’s yet another part of you that is taken over by baby. Its the strangest thing actually that your breasts just become objects, like the hair on your body or a finger nail. You really do not think of them as a classified "private part" when it comes to feeding your child.






I’m going to take a quick moment to acknowledge that many women struggle immensely with breastfeeding. Some women also make the choice to not breastfeed for very long at all. We are all entitled to raise our children the way we see fit. I, personally, am a strong believer in breast is best as I’ve seen the benefits it had for my son, but we are all different and so our parenting styles will be too!

In my case I was quite determined to breastfeed and for that reason we went to a Breastfeeding Clinic for our “Pre Baby Class”. I knew they were most likely to cover the ‘how to’ of breast feeding in depth. Well they certainly did! We were handed tiny titty stress balls, which both me and Daddy Tayo had a pair of. Yep, the men joined in! It was quite funny watching him learn how to feed a baby from the “boob”, but at that point I can’t say I was much better to be honest. They taught us different ways to hold while feeding, causes of cracked/ sore nipples and most importantly how to know if baby has latched properly and how to correct if need be. I went away feeling so much more confident about my abilities.



Advice that really stuck with me from that class:

  • Sore nipples = incorrect latch

  • Incorrect latch can always be corrected

  • Nipple size/ shape DOES NOT determine wether you can/ cannot breastfeed

  • You DO NOT need to ‘toughen up’ your nipples (this one I used to hear a lot from my mom)

  • Breast-feeding should be pain free!!!

Out of interest I created a few polls on my Instagram page to find a little bit more about the possibly misconceptions of breastfeeding. Now, I must reiterate that breastfeeding is a VERY personal thing, thus no way is the only way of doing it. But if I can possibly help a few of the the moms-to-be, or just the general person, with some extra knowledge then I’m happy to share my experiences!

Breastfeeding comes naturally for all moms. Personally I don’t find this one to be true, but if you were one of those moms that found it was a breeze you are one of the few. It is possible, but not very common.

I actually found it rather humorous that Daddy Tayo was 1 of the 3 people that voted this TRUE. Breastfeeding for me was really stressful at times, so I'm not sure if he just clicked without thinking or genuinely thinks I was a boss at breastfeeding… If I had to answer this question it would be FALSE. Most women that I know had to work hard to get feeding right. They struggled with sore nipples, raw nipples, milk fluctuation, etc. Its definitely not what I would call a walk in the park, even though it may seem effortless.


Breast milk has over 30 uses. This is 100% TRUE!!! Honestly I’m surprised they aren’t using breastmilk to cure viruses and such. When you start reading up on it, the medicinal benefits will blow your mind! It can be used for anti-aging, pink eye, sunburn. Not to mention things like nappy rashes, baby acne, ear infections and chicken pox. All which we’d usually be spending a lot of money on to fix.

See full article on the Cafe Mom Blog for the full list.


I can personally vouch for the fact that breastmilk helped Tayo’s. Nappy rashes and baby acne on more that one occasion. Another miracle use is that it heals sore nipples. Not many women come away unscathed by breastfeeding and I was no exception. But because of the class we attended beforehand I believe I knew what to look for. Honestly by my second night in the hospital (Tayo being 1 day old) I was SO tired, and therefore too lazy to unlatch him and re latch him when I felt him start drinking incorrectly. AND WOW DID I REGRET THAT DECISION!!! It causes your nipples to get really sensitive at first and then they started burning and end up with scabs. It's about as fun as it sounds! So while I fed Tayo on one boob I aired the other one out, expressed a few drops of milk and let it seep in. Then repeated that on the other side. Overshare? Yeah well try having your breast at disposal every 2 hours. Welcome to Motherhood! It solved the problem by the next day and gave instant soothing to my very overworked nipples. Everyone is really quick to buy and use nipple cream, but you have the remedy right there with you. Don’t waste your time with nipple creams if you can help it.

Babies will only latch 2 hours after birth. Not sure if this one came across as a bit of a trick question, but this is FALSE.

If you ask google (or Siri) “how soon after birth do babies latch?” it will tell you that it is recommended to breastfeed your baby within an hour after birth. There are a few reasons for this, namely bonding between mom & baby, food and energy for your baby, but also to start stimulating your body and brain so that it knows to start producing milk. Some women leak colostrum way before they give birth. I’ve heard that being around other very small babies while pregnant can cause this to happen. But besides the recommended time frame, if you are fortunate enough to get that skin to skin time with your baby, you may notice the ‘breast crawl’. Quite amazingly this is an instinctual movement that your baby makes to find your breast and feed. Its quite weird and wonderful at the same time to witness. See more tips for first time breastfeeding on Very Well Family Website.

Milk supply needs to be managed. These answers surprised me a little I won’t lie. I personally believe this one to be TRUE, but once again if you are one of the few that did not have to worry about breastfeeding, and found it without complications, then thats amazing! Unfortunately that was not the case for me. In the first 5 months it was all smooth sailing. Then I became a bit more active again and COVID regulations eased up so we could go out and do things. I became lazy with my water and food intake. I took for granted that I was a walking food processor for my child. Stress also has HUGE effects on your milk production. So I found myself using natural remedies to increase my supply, mostly because I was still set on trying to breastfeed Tayo for as long as I could. The most effective was Natura Prolac Melts, Jungle Juice and oats with flaxseed, sesame seeds and brewers yeast in. All natural, and 100% effective!


Frozen milk can be used within a year. Breast milk storage can be tricky and quite a mission at times. Again, this question could be interpreted in different ways… According to the AAP correctly expressed breastmilk can be stored in a normal freezer for up to 6 months, and in a deep freezer for up to 12 months. So no one was wrong here actually. I tried to express a bit more milk so that I could build up a bit of a stock pile in our freezer. But unfortunately it just turned out to be too stressful. I had enough milk for Tayo, but he then dropped one of his night feeds and my milk drastically decreased. I had honestly been working so hard already over the past few months to keep up my supply. So I just decided that I was going to let things play out naturally. Sure as fire (whatever that means) my milk ended up drying naturally because I did also cut down my daily pumping sessions.


Can I just add that I am incredibly proud of myself for following all the rules to avoid any clogged milk ducts! Yowzers that must be painful…. But I do think it’s largely due to the fact that I didn’t have major leakage after the first 3/4 months.


If your breasts aren’t really big after 3 months of feeding you don’t have enough milk. So only 7% of the vote went to true with this one. This is surprisingly FALSE. Particularly between 6 and 12 weeks. But I think majority of breastfeeding moms get to a point when their breasts do seem “less full” and then they go into panic mode (or maybe its just me?). But once again, the marvel that is the female body! It knows exactly what your baby needs. Your milk regulates itself according to your babies feeding schedule and what nutrients they are lacking. Basically in the beginning the milk comes in with a vengeance and is all like - I’M HERE!!! Leaking all over the place as soon as your baby goes “eeeep”. So to go from that to not having it become s little incognito can be a bit scary and worrisome BUT even though the quantity isn’t the same your body produces the right amount of all the good stuff.


Why the change? Although milk synthesis has already switched over to autocrine control (driven by breast emptying) after mom’s milk comes in, the extra hormonal influence of the early weeks and months frequently causes moms to have more milk than their baby needs. Early postpartum hormonal levels tend to “turn up the volume” on milk synthesis so that extra milk can be produced if it is needed (most moms can produce enough milk for twins or even triplets). Over the first few months, this high baseline prolactin level that is the norm in the early weeks gradually decreases to the lower baseline that is the norm for later lactation. After this point it may be easier for mom’s body to adjust milk production down to baby’s needs.

I speak from a place of privilege in saying that Tayo was a real champ with feeding. If anything he loved it TOO much! I’ve been told its a boy thing??? Could be wrong.

I guess I’ll have to have a girl to compare for myself! Hahaha! Hopefully Daddy Tayo isn't reading this one because I joke about ‘number 2’ wayyyy too much. But yes, my baby was great at feeding. I had to teach him and add a few adjustments to the way he latched. He had a slight tongue tie and his bottom lip would sometimes be tucked in when he drinks. Lip tucked = eina nipples so I used to just gently untuck while he was drinking. Strange how such a small adjustment can make the biggest difference!









Here’s to hoping that any mom-to-be has a smooth breast-feeding journey, with little to no nipple massacre and milk factory of note! And to the veterans that survived the war, I salute you! If your nipples are still identifiable then you’ve come out victorious.


More momsplaining next week...





 

Important note: I am not a qualified doctor, nor am I a professional in any of the topics discussed on this blog. The topics above are purely opinions based on my own real life experiences.

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