Sunday, July 17, 2011

Preparing for Baby: Breastfeeding Addition

Breastfeeding and I have had our differences. Oh man. It was the hardest thing I had ever done next to birthing my son. Oh the pain, the agony, the moral conflict! I'm not kidding, either! When Sarah came along I had a few tricks up my sleeve to make those first few weeks easier, and now that we are waiting on #3 to make his or her arrival I feel pretty confident. Not that I don't think anything will go wrong or that there will be no bumps in the road, but I just know what to do this go around. Here are a few things I like to have on hand:

My boppy. Oh man, I love this thing. Not just for feedings, either!

If there are any Duggar's fans out there you may have seen Michelle using one of these to feed her babies. She just straps this thing on and walks around feeding the baby. Pretty amazing. They run about $35, but I scored one at Goodwill for $2.99. I'm excited to try it out.
Oh Soothies, how I love thee. They are so wonderful for those early days when you're so sore. AND, if you keep a glass of ice water nearby you can just stick these to the outside of your glass while you feed and when you put them back on it is sweet relief!
My wonderful lactation consultant gave me some of these. If you have any cracking or bleeding you can use these Medela Hydro Gel's. Kinda like Soothies, but these actually help you heal. Same kinda thing they use on burn victims, believe it or not.

Ah, my pump. This isn't a necessity, but I sure love mine! I have the Medela Pump in Style.

Dr. Jack Newman's All Purpose Nipple Ointment
Homies. If you have never heard of this stuff, listen up! This is my ace in the hole. I'm not kidding. I asked for the RX from my midwife before the baby was even born this time so I could have it in my bag at the hospital. It treats inflammation, yeast, and bacteria. If you are dealing with yeast, they can even up the amount of Miconazole in it to 3 or 4%. You can read all about it HERE.
Be prepared for your doctor or midwife to have never heard of this stuff, and I have even had to tell the pharmacy how to make it. Honestly, I can not recommend this stuff enough for those first two weeks! Also, your insurance may not cover it. Last time I had to dish out $35 for the stuff and it was worth every single penny and more!

Some other things I like to have on hand are nursing pads, a ton of different nursing tank tops and of course the number to a fabulous lactation consultant! If you life in my area and need an awesome LC (that is FREE no less!) just ask!

Happy Monday!

5 comments:

Crystal said...

Oh Susan thanks for all the tips! I can't wait to hear how that other pillow works, my boppy was a lifesaver with Xander! I'm gonna have to try some of your other recommendations as well, I really want to breast feed ALOT longer this time if possible... but I get SO nervous!

Susan said...

I'm interested in the pillow, too, Crystal. It isn't soft like the boppy, I wonder how comfy it will be! BF'ing sure isn't easy, is it?

Unknown said...

This time around I definitely prefer the brest friend pillow! It's so convenient.

One Sassy Mama said...

What great ideas! I'll have to remember that for someday. :)

One Sassy Mama said...

Susan, I've been wondering how you like the Brest Friend pillow (what a dorky name) compared to your Boppy, now that you've had a chance to use it?

My Boppy made a huge difference for me (in a good way) in breast feeding Little Man...but there were some issues I had with it that I didn't like.

Did you find other pillow better?