Hey you guys! I am officially almost 14 months postpartum! Which means my baby girl is a one-year-old! I thought it was only fitting to give you some insight on our breastfeeding journey so far, and some handy tips for first time breastfeeding Mamas!
This post will give you some guidance on what to except in terms of breastfeeding a brand-new newborn and some insight on how breastfeeding your baby evolves with time as well as some tips from my experience this far. This is just a glimpse into our journey.
This post is all about my breastfeeding journey and breastfeeding tips to help you with yours!
At the Hospital
After Riley was born, we did immediate skin to skin and attempted breastfeeding within the golden hour. It took quite a few attempts to try to get her to latch and after about 15-20 minutes she finally latched. I was so relived. I knew breastfeeding could be challenging and always said if it’s not meant to be its fine. However, I wanted to give it my best shot because I did want to breastfeed. Riley nursed for about 40 minutes that first time and I felt good but there were some challenges we faced ahead.
Riley continued to have trouble latching and we needed a lot of support from the nurses and lactation consultant at the hospital. She was not gaining weight and her bilirubin levels were too high. The lactation consultant had given me a nipple shield to try to assist Riley with latching. It helped so much! It was not the way I thought our journey would start but I was so thankful we were able get her to latch.
We were finally on an uphill from using the nipple shield, but her bilirubin was still elevated. We ended up supplementing Riley with a little formula using an SNS, supplemental nursing system. An SNS is used so you can supplement when the baby nurses as to not confuse the baby by introducing a bottle. We did this once or twice at the hospital in hopes it would help her bilirubin levels.
On day three at the hospital, her levels were started to peak so we would be discharged! Before leaving the hospital, we did set up appointments with a lactation consultant outside of the hospital to continue receiving support. But we were going home!
Home Sweet Home
Once home, we were running back and forth to the doctors getting her bilirubin levels and going to see the lactation consultant. We were nursing on demand, so about every two hours and nursing sessions were lasting about 40 minutes. One thing I wish I would have known, here is a crucial breastfeeding tip, is that it is completely normal for babies to take this long to nurse and MOST of the time they do fall asleep nursing. I was so anxious that she was falling asleep eating and not getting enough.
Because I was not sure about how much she was eating and her bilirubin being a little high, the IBCLC (Board certified lactation consultant), suggested I give Riley a bottle, of breastmilk, to top her off after nursing. This meant that I had to pump after every feeding as well. I will tell you this was very challenging. After nursing for 40 minutes, bottle feeding and pumping it was almost time to start the process again. I didn’t supplement after every nursing session, only when it seemed like she wanted more.
Around week 6, we saw a new consultant who suggested we do a weighted feed. This is when they weigh the baby before nursing and then again afterwards. It turned out Riley just needed some time to “break” at the breast and would resume eating after like five minutes if I didn’t unlatch her. We implemented this at home, and she stopped needing supplementing. It was also around this time that we figured out a new way for her to latch and we stopped using the nipple shield.
6 Months
After our initial struggles with breastfeeding from about six weeks until six months everything was great! We were nursing on demand and time was longer in between feedings. At six months I had to return back to work. I started pumping at work and Riley was getting bottles of breastmilk. She was taking on average about three 4-5 oz bottles during my workday. I was pumping three times for fifteen minutes every day. Somewhere around ten or eleven months she started taking two bottles and a day. I reduced my pumping schedule down to two times a day when Riley was 13 months old.
Today
Riley is a little over 13 months. She is eating three solid meals every day, drinks two 5 oz bottles of breastmilk while I’m at work and is nursing around three times a day. Below is our feeding schedule during the work week.
- 7:00 AM Wake up/Nurse- she typically nurses on only one side in the morning because she still nurses throughout the night
- Two solid meals and two 5oz bottles while I’m at work
- 5:00PM Nurses- most of the time on both sides
- 8/8:30 PM- Nurses for bedtime
- Nurses throughout the night
There you have it! A little glimpse into our breastfeeding journey! I am so grateful for the journey we have had so far and continue to have. I hope all you Mamas took away some tips and a little bit of encouragement. Everyone’s journey looks a little different but this how Riley and I ended up here!
This post was all about our breastfeeding journey and some breastfeeding tips for breastfeeding Mamas.
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