Do you realize how freaked out I was to be bringing my baby home from the hospital? Honestly, VERY freaked out. I had no idea what to do with him. My stay in the hospital was more confusing than helpful. We were there 3 days and nights and received conflicting advice on breastfeeding from all the nurses and doctors. It was like no one knew the "right" answer and they all told me different things.
You may be wondering why we were in the hospital so long. Long story. I will try to give you the shorter version. When baby was born both of us had fevers 100.4 him and 100.7 me. The staff wanted to keep us 48 hours just to be sure we didn't have infections. Neither of us did. We were fine. During the extended stay I was having some difficulties breastfeeding. Now to all of you out there, please don't go in with the preconceived notion that breastfeeding is easy and will "just happen". It isn't and it won't. It is an art that has to be learned by both mommy and baby. Had I known that, it would have saved me some frustrations. I saw 5 different lactation consultants during my stay, and all gave me great advice on positioning, but none were any help in the latching on department. My baby will not latch on, and maybe there is no advice to be given that will help with that. I had one nurse who was wonderful in every way except for helping with breastfeeding. When he would show hunger cues she would always try to help me. He would get frustrated and angry and she was forcefully shoving his face into my boob. I think that actually traumatized him a little. I asked what my options were (supplementing with formula, getting a nipple shield, etc.) and got no help from anyone. My baby was not getting any nutrition at all. He wasn't peeing or pooping because nothing was going in. We were stuck at the hospital until he went poop. He pooped 4 times the first day and nothing on the second or third. On the third day I finally got through to one of the doctors that he needed some form of food. FINALLY, I got a few bottles of formula for him. One nurse told me to only give him 10mL and the doctor told me 20mL. Not even one ounce!!! My mom was visiting us and wanted to feed him. She gave him the whole 2 ounces. Way more than was recommended. I was a little worried, but hey, he ate it and didn't seem to be in any pain. That night he finally pooped and we got to leave, at midnight. Once I got home, every time I would expose my breast to try and feed him, he would scream bloody murder. Lucky for me I went ahead and bought a breast pump before he was due. I got the Ameda Purely Yours, and I love it. Pumping was going fine, but I decided I wanted to try breastfeeding again for the convenience of not having to tote bottles around everywhere I go. My mom suggested a nipple shield. For those who may not know, a nipple shield is a piece of silicone shaped like a bottle nipple that sits on top of your nipple and the baby sucks on that. It works wonders for me. I am now breastfeeding with the help of the nipple shield. Maybe one day I will be able to do it "bareback" or bare-nipple if you will. Until then.............