Breastfeeding benifits baby,mom,and community!

[SuzzeQ4]

HI, i'm nursing baby number 5 right now. My other 4 babies all weened between 20 & 22 months. I hope to be as fortunate this time. I had a home birth again so I am lucky because the midwives all have good training in breastfeeding. (Oh I'm in Ontario so if anyones wondering, midwives here are University trained like a doctor). I enjoy nursing & got good support. My MIL nursed all her children including her twins and when her youngest was born & the twins still nursing she just nursed them after the baby. I enjoy nursing and all the benefits, although alot of the ways that it benifits a baby later in life (diabetes, heart disease etc as mentioned in the original post.) benifits babies nursed beyond 18 months.

It is unfortunate ndnMSW that the nurses didn't know how to help a large birthwieght baby. Good job on the tandem nursing!

My oldest three weened a month or 2 before the next baby was born (as superndngyrl mentioned with her babies)so I never needed to try that out, although I was a wet nurse for a friend when my 1st baby was nursing so she could go to school.

I've nursed through teething & taught them not to bite. I've nursed doing pretty much anything, except chicken pox, that's when my 4th baby weened, he had them in his mouth & would just cry, it was so sad.

Anyway thought it was nice that this thread is here. I love talking about my babies!

[ndnMSW]

Haha...I would have worried about my youngest getting enough except I knew by then that it's all about supply and demand...lol. The consultants all said that my body will make enough to keep up with the baby, and the baby can go on these frequent nursing binges periodically to increase your milk supply...I forget now what they called it. That's how your body keeps up with the demands of a growing baby.

I had to go on travel for my new job when my youngest was about 9 weeks old. She was so little I knew I could take her with me to my meetings because she just slept all the time and just woke up to nurse...lol. Well, that morning she slept way more than I thought she would and she skipped a feeding. Even after she nursed I still had one side that felt like it was about to burst...lol. So I just let my older daughter nurse on that side and it helped so much. Didn't have to travel with the pump.

If I had any doubts about having enough milk, like if I knew I didn't drink enough water or if I went running, then I would just let my baby nurse first, then I let my older daughter nurse on that same side after my baby. I only had to tandem nurse in pinch situations...lol.

The first time I did that, we were at Tonkawa powwow when my baby was only about 6 weeks old. She got hungry so I took her back to the van to nurse her. My older daughter wanted to go too cuz she was getting tired and fussy...we all got back to the van and I got my boppy ready to nurse my baby and my 2 year old started fussing saying, "No Mama no!"...lol...she didn't want me nursing my youngest. Well then my youngest started squawking because she was hungry, THEN my husband says all of the sudden, "Uh oh! They just called my contest." and then he takes off! So I'm sitting there in the van with two increasingly fussy babies...lol. I thought to myself, "I am NOT going to sit in here with two yelling and crying babies all by myself." So that's when I remembered what my breastfeeding book had shown and I got them both situated and both latched on....lol. They were both so suprised that they quit crying, they were looking at each other while they were nursing, and then they both started laughing!!! My mom was so proud of me for thinking of that and being willing to do that....lol.

[superndngyrl]

I know! My son didn't want to give up nursing either and I thought I would be tandem nursing. My mom was so worried cuz she saw on the discovery channel how a lady's baby became all malnourished when she tandem nursed.

But towards the end of my pregnancy he slowly weaned himself. After babygirl was born then he would lay by me and say feed me. I would just smile at him and say its baby food you're a big boy and he was content to cuddle and talk w/me.

[New2itall]

I give ya points for tandem nursing!

[Ann111]

I enjoyed reading about your two c-sections. I didn't know about your milk coming in 5 days afterwards. That is horrible! And so hard to start things that way. So they baby lost 20% birth weight and then a nurse who don't understand you. I have had those kinds of nurses before. You are speaking but they aren't listening to you. Some are so heavy into the breastfeeding they loose their mids. You're not upset by formula or the sight of it. You're upset by baby losing weight. DUHH!!

[ndnMSW]

I have 2 baby girls and I nursed both of them. I had to have c-sections with both of them, so for my first baby I really had a tough time getting going with the nursing. When you have a c-section, since your body doesn't go through the normal labor process, the hormone process that starts the lactation and contractions to get your uterus back in shape doesn't kick in on its own, you have to have an IV with some hormones in it to mimic that effect. So, for some women, the lactation process gets delayed, meaning where it may take a day or two for a woman's milk to come in after giving birth through normal labor, it can take up to 5 days for a woman who has a c-section. I happened to be one of those lucky women where it took 5 days.

Well, I had a big baby (no gestational diabetes, big girls just run in our family), and she got dehydrated in the hospital because I didn't have enough for her...the damned nurses, who were all lactation consultants, kept insisting that the colostrum was enough, but she couldn't sleep and would nurse frantically for over 30 minutes at a time. No one said anything about supplementing her with formula, even after I kept asking if she was getting enough. She was latched on properly, she just couldn't get enough because she was a big baby. No wet diapers, no poopy diapers, and no one thought there was anything wrong.

She lost 20% of her birth weight from dehydration...the first idiot on-call pediatrician thought her weight loss was because he thought THEY WEIGHED HER WRONG at birth.....can you believe it? so no one caught it until the 3rd day after she was born. FINALLY a different doctor said she was dehydrated an ordered her supplemented with formula until her weight came back up. They used one of those supplemental nursers, the kind where you can tape the tiny tube to your breast and let the baby latch on and they can stimulate the milk production and also get the formula they need at the same time. I became an expert at using that thing...lol. Here is what got me...the nurses were so gung-ho about breastfeeding and were really down on formula that they really kept asking me, "So how do you feel about supplementing her? Are you okay with that?" I was like, "DON"T WORRY ABOUT MY FEELINGS JUST HELP MY BABY!!!!!"

It took her over two weeks to regain her birth weight, and I kept using the supplemental nurser until I was comfortable with going it alone with breast milk. It was so frustrating and emotional because I couldn't make enough milk for her until she was about 2 weeks old. If it weren't for my mom constantly telling me I could do it and not to give up and letting me cry on her shoulder for 2 weeks straight, and also what the lactation consultant said (she said to dedicate myself to nursing for 6 weeks before I decided to quit), I think I might have quit early. But I am soooooo glad I stuck with it. It got so easy, and then I knew what I was doing with my second baby.

I nursed my 1st baby until she was about 2 1/2 yrs...lol. I took a demanding job when I was pregnant with my second that required alot of travel so I kept nursing my first baby because I didn't want to wean her when her routine was constantly getting disrupted....then I didn't want to just cut her off when the new baby got there....I tried that and she looked sooooo sad when I told her she couldn't nurse. She about broke her dads heart. He is the one that talked me into nursing both girls. He just asked me, "Isn't there any way you could nurse both of them for a little while? She just looks so sad and I don't want her to feel left out or abandoned because of the new baby." I thought about it and realized that that was a great idea...lol. That helped immensely when I got engorged after having the second baby....I didn't have to pump to relieve the pressure and both my girls got all the milk they wanted...lol.

I sometimes had to nurse BOTH babies at the same time!!!! Lol. The book I read that showed how moms with twins nursed really helped out in crunch time when I had 2 fussy babies and I was all by myself...lol.

I have 2 beautiful, very healthy, and very intelligent babies....and every good thing about them their dad attributes to the breast feeding. It was a very rewarding experience, the good and the bad, and I wouldn't have done it any other way.

Do I get points for like, the longest post ever written????

[Mud_Woman]

my lil boy might be like her . . . chatter box, wont stay still for more then 15 sec, and drives me up the wall . . .

[New2itall]

That just sounds super sweet!

[Mud_Woman]

my lil girl, who is turning 3 this friday, encourages him to roll around. she rolles around w/ him. now she trying to get him to crawle. they look so silly . . .

[Ann111]

Glad to hear you are happy and well ! My 2nd oldest, when she was learning to crawl, would chase after a speck of paper on the floor. As soon as she saw it she'd inch across the floor to the paper. It so funny to watch. You have your own now too.

Love you too !

[New2itall]

he is 5 months now. i feed him rice cereal in the morning and at noon. he's not as cranky when he eats cereal. he has grown so much. he likes to roll all over the floor. i try to keep him on the blanket, but five seconds later he's by the bedroom door. he's an active lil guy.

Thank you so much for your support. Love ya guys ta death . . .

He sounds like a complete cuddle bum! I am glad you are both doing well!

[Mud_Woman]

he's how old now? ... maybe he should be starting solids now ... rice cereal that is LOL

I think I did solids at at 6 months. I fed it to them in the morning and before bed. I hope you guys are fine.

You don't ahve to start with rice cereal. Avocados, bananas and sweet potatoes are some of the best baby foods around. Babies dont get much sustenance from food at the beginning. Its more about learning and experimenting. If your baby is grabbing for food dont hold them back tho.

I'm sure your baby is doing good Mud_woman! just give him lotsa love and cuddles.

he is 5 months now. i feed him rice cereal in the morning and at noon. he's not as cranky when he eats cereal. he has grown so much. he likes to roll all over the floor. i try to keep him on the blanket, but five seconds later he's by the bedroom door. he's an active lil guy.

Thank you so much for your support. Love ya guys ta death . . .

[superndngyrl]

You don't ahve to start with rice cereal. Avocados, bananas and sweet potatoes are some of the best baby foods around. Babies dont get much sustenance from food at the beginning. Its more about learning and experimenting. If your baby is grabbing for food dont hold them back tho.

I'm sure your baby is doing good Mud_woman! just give him lotsa love and cuddles.

[Ann111]

I think I did solids at at 6 months. I fed it to them in the morning and before bed. I hope you guys are fine.

[chazziff]

he's how old now? ... maybe he should be starting solids now ... rice cereal that is LOL