My experience with Breastfeeding 2 kids

Where to begin...............I have had two completely different experiences with breastfeeding one was kind of a nightmare and the other is still going really easy. When my son was born I knew I wanted to breastfeed, but what I got when I was nursing with him made me terrified to ever nurse again but I did. We thought that my son was doing so well at first with breastfeeding but the day we were going to be discharged from the hospital to take our sweet little boy home the doctors came in and told us that he had lost a total of 11oz and that we should monitor his eating. I was devastated, I guess he just wasn't latching properly and wasn't getting nearly enough to eat. I had to exclusively pump for him and sometimes supplement with a little bit of formula, that was the worst I had to get up about every 2-3 hours just to pump and when he would get up in the middle of the night I had to give him a bottle and then pump. Sometimes I just wanted to throw my pump across the room and go to bed. As a first time mom I wish I would have known that it is very important to buy a very nice breast pump instead of just a $60 one. Around 2 weeks of being home I had this excruciating pain in the left side of my boob, I couldn't even carry my son on that side it hurt so bad. I went to my ob and he said I had mastitis and prescribed an antibiotic, little did I know that antibiotic wasn't strong enough and the mastitis just kept getting worse. When I went back I was in so much pain and it was red and swollen. They sent me to the hospital to have an ultrasound, we had to wait in the waiting room for what felt like hours to hear if they were going to admit me into the hospital. Finally the call came in and sure enough I had to go in and have surgery. Our hospital stay was for two nights, I had to sleep there without my sweet little 3 week old baby I remember a lot of tears that's for sure. Luckily we live close to both of our families and Kaden stayed with my mom for those two nights. The surgery I had to have was so they could go in and as gross as this sounds they had to go and drain the abscess that was in there I'll spare all the gory details of the healing process and what not. We did end up getting this breast pump and it was a life saver I highly recommend the medela. I exclusively pumped for him for 6 months a lot of people said I was crazy but I wanted him to have breast milk for as long as possible. I hope someone learns from that and buys a nice breast pump because the first one I had wasn't getting all of the milk out and that is what caused the mastitis. I did try a few more times once we were home to actually nurse him but he just never latched on right. If that happens to you don't let it get you down it is actually more common then you think. Remember nothing really ever goes as planned I know this was definitely not in my plan.

My experience breastfeeding Bryleigh has been a completely different one then with Kaden. Since the day she was born she has latched on and been a very good eater. She did lose a little bit of weight while we were in the hospital also but nothing to serious. In the first 4 weeks of breastfeeding I didn't know how long I was going to be able to do it, the pain was pretty bad. I went and read my breastfeeding book again that my mother in law gave me when I was pregnant with Kaden. I am so glad I had that book its called The womenly art of breastfeeding, I read that it could be hurting because the baby might not be latched on right, when I paid attention to her latch the pain went away within a couple of days and it has been so easy ever since. She likes the boob even more then her baby food, I was trying to feed her sweet potatoes the other day and she is turning around to me with her mouth open. I do still have to pump with her which I hate that thing but she has to have milk when my husband and I go to the gym and I only have to do it once or twice a day depending on how lazy I am that day.

This is our schedule

6:30am nurse

nap til about 8

once she wakes up form her nap she likes to nurse and get some baby food she loves bananas

nap again around 10

lunch which is usually some kind of fruit or some sweet potatoes and to nurse like I said she loves the boob.

She loves to play in the floor with her toys and she likes to try and take whatever toys her brother is playing with

She usually nurses about every 2-3 hours sometimes she will go a little longer

around dinner time which is about 5:30 or 6 she gets squash or sweet potatoes.

then she will have 1 or 2 more nursing sessions and go to bed around 9
up at 2:30am nurse for 15 minutes

I make sure I am eating enough to produce enough milk especially on days we go to the gym. I do sometimes cheat a little like oh I'm breastfeeding I can have this cookie! I always like to have plenty of fruit on hand if I want a snack I just grab a banana or apple and drink a lot of water. It's crazy to me how different both of my breastfeeding experiences have been. I wouldn't trade either of them though the first experience taught me a lot and this experience has been a piece of cake and I love the bonding time I get. That time with her is so precious I love when she just looks up and smiles at me and she loves to hold on to my fingers. She is such a sweetheart and I love both of them so much and every decision we make is for them, I think both decisions for them were the best ones for each of their situations. I plan to breastfeed Bryleigh til she is about a year since this experience has been such an amazing one. The only thing I can't wait to do is get rid of that pump and not have to wash all of the pieces!!! Hope this helps someone with their own breastfeeding journey.