My personal nursing story.

I knew when I was pregnant with my daughter I was going to breastfeed. When I made that choice I had no idea how much work it would be! There is so much you dont think about until after baby comes and you actualy start breastfeeding! My impression was you have baby, you hold baby, baby sucks the end. Easy peasy! ..... Nope.

My first tip for anyone considering breast feeding is to learn all you can now. Although I took a WIC class it was not enough to reallygive me a clue! I recommend the site http://kellymom.com/ . Its a great Resource. Also talking with other moms who have sucessfully breastfed is going to be one of the best things you can do. Ask questions it one of the best ways to learn.

When my daughter was placed on my cheast I did not realize how hard it would be to juggle a 8 lbs baby and my breast. At first it was so uncomfortable to try and line up this little body and my breast. As she got bigger nursing did become less of a juggling act. I know when of the best things you can do to make breastfeeding easier is to nurse within the first hour of birth, but nursing a liitle tiny person with your knees to your ears still is pretty challenging. I recommend nursing as soon as you can, it will be ackward, but it will get easier later. Don't judge breast feeding based on your first time. Just do the best you can and make changes ever time, and as needed, and it will get better. Listen to your instincts, they are usually right. When my son was born nursing was once again a crazy balancing act and I had to re learn what worked for me. Dont forget though every baby is different so figure out what works for you and your baby..

Some of the things I struggled through was extreme nipple pain, low supply issues, engorgment and latching issues. My babies both latched great from the start, with one minor issue. They both are terrible at flarring their lips. With my daughter I was able to get her lip to flip out instead of curling in after latching. She would stay that way the entire nursing session. After time I did not have to correct this any more.  My son however seems to have a much more shallow latch. He just won't keep his lip flarred. Luckily it has not caused me any pain. From time to time,  I get "pinched" but a simply unlatch re latch fixes that issue.

With my daughter I experianced very intense nipple pain. Luckily. Never suffered mastasis but this must have been close. Although the Inital pain was extreme nursing was the only thing that helped this pain. I'm so glad to say this round I have not had that pain.

With both babies I experianced some amount of engorgment. I just allowed my ever eating babies to eat when ever they wanted to.  My engorgment equaled out on its own.

There are so many things that affect suspply. With my daughter one week of several issues left me lacking in supply. Taking fenegreek for a few days brought my supply back to where I needed to be. I have just returned to work. I am carefully watching my supply and pumping the same amout my little guy eats at night. I also make sure I very rarely remove baby from breast. Even if  he falls asleep I give him a long time to delatch before I do it for him. He knows what he needs so I follow his lead.

So far this round of nursing has gone easier then the first and I am hoping it keeps going that way. I think I learned the first round. So this time I will bring readers along on my journey. I will show you things I learned and answer any questions I can. Lets learn together! Thanks for reading.