Breastfeeding Hard Time

About half an hour after Sheraz was born, the nurse brought me the baby for the first feeding session. She made the baby latch on and he quickly didn't have any problem finding his milk. Sheraz sucked vigorously that the nurse was surprised. It was cute, a bit weird for me though but it's an experience I will never forget.

I thought I wouldn't have any problem to breastfeed until few days later both my assets cracked badly that they bled. Soon I knew it's because of poor latch. It was a sorrow to see the baby's crying and I wasn't able to feed him because I couldn't stand the pain. Still tried to feed but I had to cry, bearing with the soreness and the burning sensation.

The first hari raya Sheraz was 5 days old. I had to stay at home while everyone was enjoying his/her time. We were supposed to visit DH's parents and relatives. Since I was having difficulties, I let my parents and my sister go to spend their raya at DH's place. So there were the three of us staying at home, dad-mom and the hungry baby. The same situation happened. The baby (and also his mom) cried. One thing I kept in mind is that I don't want to give up breastfeeding, so I didn't give Sheraz formula that time. I tried to express my milk so that at least I could bottle feed him instead of feed him directly. I have Avent manual breast pump, unfortunately it just didn't work. Manual pump works for a lot of people, but not for me at that time. When the baby's angry and when I was panic, the milk just didn't come in. Poor DH had to go the store, looking for other pump. One experienced friend once told me that when you express milk on one breast, the other also leaks, so it could be a waste. So, when DH went to the store, he knew what to look for. He got me Medela double electric breast pump. Medela's double pump is the one we can afford compared to Avent's double pump which is double the price. When pumping, the milk came in fast. Since it pumped both sides at the same time, I could collect faster. Alhamdulillah the baby got what he needed. When he fell asleep, I did another 'production'. I have to do this mostly when he sleeps so that whenever he's hungry there's always stock available.

(I use Avent for feeding and Medela for pumping)

I bottle fed Sheraz for at least 2-3 days until the crack nearly healed. I tried to correct my position when latching, it was so much less painful. Alhamdulillah now I'm nursing him directly. The smart baby still likes to bite even if I try proper latching so many times. He doesn't seem to be patient enough. It can be painful at the beginning of every feeding, but few seconds after, the baby somehow can position his mouth and tongue and breastfeeding is getting much easier even when he still sucks vigorously.

Now I'm worried what's going to happen once I get back to work.