Thanks to everyone who commented on my breastfeeding piece. Sounds like my breastfeeding angst is shared by practically every mom out there. I made two major changes which have helped my sanity quite a bit. As you read in Bernard’s “Girls 1 Bernard 0″ blog entry, I am getting about 3-4 hours or so of uninterrupted sleep while Bernard tries to manage the girls by himself from 11pm to 3am. This doesn’t work out all of the time, but when it does, it allows me to get more than the 60 to 90 minutes of maximum sleep that I was getting before. As a result, I am so much more pleasant during the day, and less prone to bursting into tears for no real reason. After 3 am, I manage the girls the rest of the night and try not to wake up Bernard.
The other major change I made was that I’ve essentially stopped breastfeeding. I know, send out the breastfeeding police! Basically, breastfeeding sixteen times a day is untenable (for me, anyway). It was physically and emotionally draining; I would dread every breastfeeding session, and I was starting to resent my own children because they would almost always want a bottle of formula afterwards. Now, I’m pumping every three hours around the clock (including at night), and breastfeeding twice a day. I don’t know for sure, but I think the girls are actually getting more breastmilk now then when they were each breastfeeding eight times a day. Also, the pumping is closer to what I’ll actually be doing when I go back to work.
Dear Anny and Bernard,
I love reading your blog!
Just wanted to share a nursing experience. After Mathew was born, nursing was an excruciatingly painful experience for at least the first 6 weeks: bad latch -> cracks -> bleeding -> mastitis, etc. One night when he was 3 weeks old, my milk production completely stopped due to mastitis – I couldn’t pump a drop and he was obviously hungry. I burst into tears because I felt like you did – that I was failing in my ability to provide something so basic as nourishment to my child. But as you know, the best thing you can do for your children is to also take care of yourself. It might take several more weeks before you feel like you get the hang of parenting, so it’s better to be forgiving to yourself rather than to have expectations of how things should be going. And there’s so much to enjoy about babies when they’re so young!
Anyway, I think it’s wonderful that you’re so committed to providing as much of your own milk to your babies as possible. If you’re looking for more resources, my favorite book on the topic was The Nursing Mother’s Companion, by Kathleen Huggins.
BTW, I have a few friends who were “exclusive pumpers” for several months – even a year. Their babies wouldn’t latch for one reason or another. One of my friends was able to pump while driving (!) and had so much milk that she donated an entire freezer full to a milk bank. So, you can definitely maintain a supply through conscientous, regular pumping.
I don’t mean to be a member of the breastfeeding police, but just wanted to encourage you to continue doing what’s right for all of you!
Warmly,
Geni
oh… i forgot. FYI: you can buy those disposable liners (doesn’t have to be the special ones for freezing b/c they drink the milk so fast) and pump straight into the bags (just rubber band the liner to the thing that the containers screw onto). i found out that you don’t need a tight seal to pump milk into the bags (that’s what those white disks are for). this way, you don’t have to sterilize or wash the bottles (just the nipples). you can also make formula that way. or you can buy the playtex drop in liners with the adapters for the pump (that’s what bixby used). and you can always prescoop formula into the bag and then just add water as you need it. you’ll save a lot of time/energy/hassle.