Its unbelievable the amount of people who can make you feel that you don't have enough milk, or aren't successful at breastfeeding. This is probably the major reason that a lot of women give up breastfeeding or introduce formula early on.
There are a lot of variables to successful breastfeeding but in my opinion one of the most important things that you can do is build up your confidence that you actually are capable of breastfeeding. There are some women who truly are unable to but some women are simply misguided.
Its unfortunate that in the short time that formula has been introduced, our women's breastfeeding support system has completely sunken into the forgotten past. Formula is definitely easier, but why not provide your child with the most natural, most healthy nutrition for the first few months of their life if you can.
These are a few things that I did that gave me the confidence I needed to begin and establish breastfeeding.
1. Pre-natal classes
2. Attending local LLL meeting
3. Reading
4. Understanding cluster feeding
Pre-natal classes
I attended a pre-natal class by Karen Wilmot of
Pregnant in Oman. This class not only gave me the confidence that breastfeeding
is possible , but also gave me the confidence to go for a natural delivery. Understanding the different stages of labor and delivery, and the different types of medical interventions got me well prepared to know what to expect and how to deal with different circumstances that arise. Going for a natural delivery helped me ensure that both me and my baby were alert in the first few hours after birth (not drugged through pethidine or an epidural), thus we were able to get her latched on and begin the breastfeeding journey right at the delivery room within minutes of being born. I'm thankful that my circumstances allowed for a natural delivery although I did come very close to having an emergency c-section.
La Leche League Meeting
La Leche League (LLL) is an international women's support organization that encourages women to breastfeed and provides support to those who may have difficulties or questions. The group was established in the 1950's by a group of American mothers who wanted to go the ulterior path away from the mainstream formula feeding that was current at the time. This group of 7 housewives began having meetings to support other women who wanted to establish breastfeeding and were available to answer questions at all hours of the day or night. This small group has now turned into the most influential breastfeeding advocacy organization with chapters all over the world.
I attended my first LLL meeting in Abu Dhabi a few weeks right before delivery and dragged my other pregnant friend along with me. It happened to be a toddler meeting (mothers and their toddlers).
The mothers we met were very open to discussing any of our questions or concerns regarding getting things off to a good start. They handed out leaflets on breastfeeding and even had a library of breastfeeding books that we could borrow. More importantly, having met the group leaders and exchanging phone numbers with them, ended up being very helpful for the needed support in the early days. I remember feeling like I was failing miserably in the first week and was scared to go into my appointment at the lactation clinic for fear that they would tell me that my baby was loosing weight and that I would have to go on formula, the women at LLL really gave me the advice and support that I needed at that time and to my surprise my baby had re-gained her birth weight and more within the first week (its normal for babies to loose some of their birth weight before gaining it back again).
I remember my friend and I walking out of that first meeting thinking that we had never been exposed to so much boob ever before. Whilst we knew that we wanted to breastfeed our newborn babies, we were quite surprised to see that moms were still nursing their toddlers who were walking around the room playing, hopping onto their moms laps to nurse and then hoping back off to join their play group. We could not remember the last time we had seen a woman nurse a newborn baby, let alone toddlers old enough to be walking around. Little did we know that within a few weeks when our babies arrived we would also be bearing it all and not ashamed to nurse. I guess with older babies, although nursing does tend to continue its less common to see it done in public.
Reading
The only way to understand more about how to get things off to a good start is to be armed with the knowledge. Given that more women around us today are used to grabbing formula if a baby seems to be crying too much or waking too often, I found that reading helped me understand the cycle of breastfeeding and persevere without caving in when older women around me tried to challenge me by saying that my baby was not getting enough milk from me. Two sources that I found really helpful were the LLL book
Womanly Art of Breastfeeding and the online web source
www.kellymom.com
Understanding Growth Spurts and Cluster Feeding
When your baby starts cluster feeding, that can be the time that you really think that you must not have enough milk. In fact many women around you will probably tell you that you don't, and that's why your baby is still hungry. I'm sure this is the point when women will grab that formula and begin supplementing.
Cluster feeding takes place when the baby demands to be fed frequently, even hourly. For us this tended to happen usually late evenings and early mornings.
Our first incidence of cluster feeding took place right around the 1 week mark which also coincides with a growth spurt period and my baby pretty much nursed from 6pm all the way through to past midnight, with very short breaks in between. I was fine with doing it because I understood what was happening. Because my husband had attended the pre-natal class with me he also understood what was going on and was very supportive. Breastfeeding is based on supply and demand, by following the baby's cues to feed whenever they want you can ensure that your milk will come in to meet their demands.
Overall, these are the things that I really believe helped me out, although I did struggle with nursing in the first month, starting off with soreness from the wrong latch followed by mastitis and a course of antibiotics which then also led to thrush which took over 6 weeks to get over. Despite the initial hurdles the experience has been very rewarding and I am amazed at the power of our bodies to nurture and I enjoy the special bonding experience that comes with nursing.
