I have several friends and family that are either expecting a baby or just had one. I’m grieved every time I hear of a young mother that wants to nurse her baby but in the end, her confidence is crushed and she resorts to giving a bottle. I thought I would share what I have learned about feeding baby.
When I first started having babies, I didn’t know too many people who nursed their babies. My sister was the only one I knew and she did a wonderful job — wonderful enough to give me the confidence to do it myself. Both my sisters in-law nursed theirs as well. I lived in a place, far from my relatives, that did not go for the whole nursing thing so I had to go it alone with my long distance support system from back home. I was able to successfully nurse 6 baby boys through at least their first year. None of them received any supplement until they were at least 4-6 months old. It was an experience that I will always treasure.
As I thought about having babies and feeding babies my mind kept going back to Eve. What did she do? Why would we do things differently than she did? God designed her and God designed us. All of us are designed to nurture a baby while in utero as well as afterwards. Every aspect of childbirth is natural and perfect. The more we interfere with the natural processes, the more complications arise and the more trauma moms and babies go through. So, how did Eve feed her baby? The only way she had available — she nursed him. There was no bottle standing by just in case she didn’t make enough milk. She made enough milk. There was no question about it — her body was designed to feed that baby.
Keeping Eve in mind and knowing that for centuries and centuries women fed their babies the way God designed them to, here’s some tips on nursing:
1) Have confidence that you can do it because God designed you to do it.
2) Be prepared for pain for the first 2-3 weeks. It’s probably going to hurt but nothing good was ever achieved without pain. If you weather this rough time, then it’s smooth sailing. The joys of nursing far outweigh the painful beginning.
3) Do not take those freebie bottles and formula home from the hospital. Leave them there for someone else to use. Don’t ever supplement. Eve didn’t have to supplement and neither do you. Keep nursing. I recall nursing every hour for 20 minutes at a time on occasion. It was exhausting but I never supplemented and my body supplied what the baby needed.
4) Don’t ever stop nursing. I hear over and over that a medical professional recommended that mom supplement (means you’re going to miss out on a nursing session) or give it up all together. Don’t listen to them. The whole idea of nursing is that the more baby nurses the more milk you make. This is so important in the first weeks of life. If you skip a nursing, then you do not benefit from the sucking that will increase the milk supply. Your body thinks that it shouldn’t make as much milk because the baby obviously doesn’t need as much because he’s not sucking as much. It’s all about supply and demand.
5) Drink lots of fluids. If you get dehydrated, you won’t be able to produce enough milk. Actually, baby will probably get enough but you’ll start losing the good stuff you need. If you don’t think you’re producing enough milk, drink more water.
6) Nurse on demand. Forget about all of those rules and times. I don’t picture Eve sitting there with a watch to determine when the baby needs to eat. Only the baby knows when it’s time to eat. You’ll think you’re feeding 24/7 sometimes — that’s ok. That’s what you’re there for. There are times that it will seem like the baby, that has been nursing on a relatively easy schedule, all of a sudden can’t seem to get enough. This is not a time to panic and think that you’ve quit making milk. Remember, your body is designed to make milk. This just means that the baby is going through a growth spurt and needs more milk. The extra nursing time tells your body that it needs to produce more. Before you know it, you’ll be satisfying that baby again and he will be fat and happy. You can expect these times to happen around 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months.
7) Get plenty of rest. I know you’ve heard this over and over but you have to get plenty of rest. That means that you won’t be going to back to the previous schedule you had before baby was born or before you were pregnant. Things are different now. You have a baby to take care of. Nothing is more important — not a job, not school, not anything. If you begin to feel a little feverish and your breasts are tender to the touch that means you’re doing too much. Stop what you’re doing and spend a day in bed. Spend that time nursing your baby. The more you nurse the quicker the symptoms will subside. I know, you’re going to say this is impossible but it’s not really. You can sit the other kids in front of the TV or send them to a friends’ or relatives’ house on occasion and no one is going to think you’re a bad mommy. There are times that you just have to take care of yourself. The worst time I had with this was with baby #4. With a 2 and 4-year-old running around and home schooling a 8-year-old it was hard to take time off. I learned that if I would rest as soon as I began to feel those symptoms come on that I would be up and running as usual the next morning.
8 Eat right. Now is NOT the time to be thinking about losing that baby weight. Remarkably, most of the time, you will return to pretty close to you pre-baby weight because you are nursing, but if you don’t eat right, you won’t be able to nurse and then you’ll have to depend on a rigid diet to lose the weight.
9) Eat enough. This goes along with the last one but I didn’t want it to get lost in a long paragraph. Not only do you have to eat the right foods but you have to eat more than you did when you were pregnant. Think about it. You’re feeding a baby 100% of what he needs and that baby is growing everyday. As the baby grows he needs more food. You’re the one producing it so you’re going to have to put more in to get more out. The trick is to make the extra calories be good calories, not junk.
Nursing is one of the most wonderful things you can do for and with your baby. You were designed to nurse and you should ignore anyone that tries to discourage you. I’m sure some of my more experienced mom friends can add to this list. Feel free to do so.
One other thing I’d like to add. I thought I would attach a photo and while searching for an appropriate one I was reminded of one last bit of advice.
Nurse modestly. There is never any reason to reveal yourself while nursing. If you can’t nurse discreetly, find a quiet place that you can nurse your baby. A woman should be able to nurse her baby and others in the room not even realize (unless their really focused on the situation) what is going on. Always think about what you’re wearing before you go out. Is it something that you can nurse modestly in. Always carry a light blanket to cover up any parts that may be showing. The whole debate over women nursing in public would not be necessary if women would show a little respect for those around them as well as for themselves and their baby.
Here’s another encouraging article about breastfeeding you might like to read: Breastfeeding Gets Easier
