Common Breastfeeding Problems | My Story Part 2

Continuing from my previous story about “Why Breastfeeding Is So Hard“ I left off expressing the twenty different waves of emotions that were hitting me all at once; those were the emotional and mental casualties. Here I’m going to share the physical casualties in this nursing experience.

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Frankly, I’ve faced one of too many common breastfeeding problems, starting with….

BABY LATCHING ISSUES

MAMA, let me tell you…. attempting to latch a baby who doesn’t know how to isn’t the problem, that comes with time. But to latch a baby with a tongue tie… one of the most strenuous situations to work through.

In the beginning my baby was only able to nurse through a nipple shield. The Medela Nipple Shield was my favorite because it came with a pack of two and a shell-case to keep them protected. Somehow these magic shields made it easier for him to express my milk. I had to measure my nipple to find my size. Using this reference page helped a ton, I measured at 17mm.

17mm was also the size I was able to use as a reference for my breast pump flange size. Spectra unfortunately does not come in a wide variety of flange sizes, so I had to use compatible pump parts found on amazon and they worked perfectly! The flanges that came with my spectra breast pump were too big, the pull from my areola made them extra sore and uncomfortable during the session. This product saved my sanity for a bit, until my LC stated I couldn’t use it forever 🙂

NIPPLE THRUSH / NIPPLE YEAST INFECTION

Latching wasn’t the only issue on my plate. I woke up one morning with my breasts uncontrollably itchy. The type of itch you don’t want to stop scratching, almost the itch of a mosquito bite. I tried to nurse my baby and to be honest nursing felt like knives were cutting in to my breasts through every swallow.

Intermittent pain of lightning strikes were beginning from my chest to my areola. I truly don’t wish this pain on anyone. That first experience left me in utter shock. I ran to the mirror to see what was going on, my nipples overnight changed to a light pink color and a bit cracked.

But I couldn’t tell if it was a natural symptom of being an exclusive breastfeeder or if something was actually wrong. These were one of the signs of common breastfeeding problems. Little did I know, I had a Nipple Yeast Infection. Thankfully I was able to relieve and heal with a couple over-the-counter ingredients and a prescription from my doctor.

BABY’S TONGUE TIE

About 6 weeks later, we arrive at Auggie’s appointment at the ENT Physicians office. Which unfortunately took about two weeks to schedule in because my insurance company didn’t receive confirmation August was born. (He was born about 3 weeks early due to my pre eclampsia) We confirmed first appointment of the day. 7AM, Yes! He was in. We were thrilled to know I can finally feed my baby without all these problems.. ON demand!

But as a mom… as we were getting closer to the procedure my anxiety started rising. I quickly became a nervous wreck. Momma cried three times… three times while they were prepping, holding him near and dear to me. The nurses were extremely kind and empathetic towards my emotions. They made sure I was mentally stable before they took him. The thought of seeing my baby in any kind of pain after a stressful birth was hard to sit with.

I handed August over with a good grip still holding on, but I finally let go. I sat with my eyes closed and within a few seconds later it was all done. She held his wound with a gauze pad and immediately put him on my breast for comfort.. comfort for the both of us. I was relieved to see how he barely responded to the pain with any tears or pain.

COMMON BREASTFEEDING PROBLEMS FOLLOWED ME

Without delay, the real work reeled itself in again. Now, I had to find a way to teach him how-to latch. I gave him direction but that’s really all I could do for him. A boppy undoubtedly came in handy when I had to sit 20-60 minutes at a time, holding him in one arm helping him with my other. Wrestling each other to this finish line.

The LC recommended to me that I place milk on my boob so it would help him navigate his way to my nipple. He was very frustrated because he had adapted to to the nipple guard and now there happens to be a different process? We barely used tongue exercises his specialist recommended after the tongue tie procedure. Where you place your finger to different sides of your baby’s mouth so they can practice muscle memory in their tongue movements.

Though it could have possibly been good for him to practice, my mind was worried about a thousand other things. The one problem I focused on was, “It’s been 4 days! How in the world do we get a good latch?”

In a list common breastfeeding issues include:

Mastitis
Low Milk Supply
Over-Supply
Nipple Thrush
Poor Latch
Milk Duct
Sore/Cracked Nipples
Tongue Tie

HIS LATCHING ISSUE AFFECTED ME TOO

Later I discovered that his latching issues evolved around how uncomfortable he was on his right side during a feed. He also fed with his lips flipped inward inside of his mouth, in which the friction generated him AND myself a lot of pain! Mind you, my baby has my full set of lips lol I had no idea we were going to face that issue.

Honestly the closest metaphor I could relate the nipple pain to, is as if my nipple was receiving an aggressive indian burn time and time again. AGH. I will share how I was able to get him out of that habit with you guys soon. It was extremely challenging.

HOW I FIXED BABY’S LATCH

To be honest the one thing that saved me was my decision to switch his bottle to one that most resembled a breast. I originally fed him with Avent bottles, which in my opinion are awful. Not fit for a newborn. The nipples need for a slower flow at that age. I switched over to the Dr. Browns Bottle brand (8oz bottles helped me adjust/maneuver things with my chin before the baby could hold the bottle himself/simple but USEFUL tip lol)

August adapted to it so quickly. He magically gained the ability to feed at my bare breast just from that one decision to switch bottle brands. This was a small change that made a BIG difference. August was feeding at my breast as if he’d been doing this since birth. 2 long weeks after the procedure, we made it happen!

My best recommendation that I learned through this is to test variables out of your routine. Little by little, see if it works, if not bring that variable back and try to change another one.

BENEFITS TO FIXING HIS LATCH

As soon as he adjusted, it took him a lot less time to eat. As a newborn it takes a baby on average about 25-45 minutes to feed on EACH breast but luckily this new change had cut his feeding time to 20 minutes TOTAL.

My nipples were still sore after but any alternative was better than the one I was going through. For my mental health and for what my physical tolerance could have been able to handle. Don’t get me wrong, pumping was still an every day routine but I had to work through it so we can achieve exclusive breastfeeding.

If you were to ask me how I was able to help Auggie latch after his procedure, I would say if you don’t already, feed your baby from a nipple that closest resembles a breast. THIS IS SO VERY IMPORTANT!

I feel like this isn’t talked about enough, especially for breastfeeding mama’s. It will help your baby become familiarized with what an actual nipple feels like in their mouth and how to navigate around one. This way of feeding can not be compared to a feeding of an 8 month old baby that is already in routine.

MILK SUPPLY

To sustain a milk supply as I was told to by pump every two hours. If the baby wasn’t on my boob from his last feeding, my pump was. The average amount women pump by 3 months postpartum is 3-6 oz so even if you’re not up there with the big 8-12 oz mama’s its okay!

PSA the most important thing I did to get my milk supply up was drink A LOT of water, an uncanny amount. Undoubtedly so, the most burdening sacrifice to tackle before bed because 12 trips to the bathroom came shortly after. I’m very adamant about taking my postnatals daily, it ensures all of the vitamins baby and nursing mama’s need! Also ate every meal of the day or snacked a bunch. Always making sure my body was nourished.. it was incredibly difficult to with hold that expectation but I did my best, especially with the support around me.

Please don’t put pressure on yourself to check all of these boxes, you already have 1,001 other things to do in the day, stress is the biggest corporate for milk reduction. If the baby is fed and full there is NOTHING to worry about.

At this time I was making 3.5 to 4 oz (measured and pumped into my Medela Storage Bottles) God new how excited I was when I saw 3.5 oz, bouncing all over the room. I honestly saw an amount of 4 to 7 oz range only from 4-7am in the morning, take advantage of the milk making hormone, prolactin, which intensely increases during our resting state at that time. Then store it in a milk storage bag to be put in the freezer, these are my highly recommended ones:

Kiinde Twist Pounches (a little more expensive but because they come with screw tops; MILKSAVER=LIFESAVER=TIMESAVER)
Lansinoh Breastmilk Storage Bags
Dr Browns Breastmilk Storage Bags

WHY I CHOSE TO EXCLUSIVELY BREASTFEED

The inconvenience of having to clean pump parts and bottles every 12 hours, was extremely exhausting to me. I think a big part of the commitment is the flexibility and time I was able to invest in by being a stay at home mom. Truly, I am unsure how long I would’ve been able to do breastfeed without mixing formula. It felt like ages for my breasts to adapt to the supply and demand.

I chose for many reasons to exclusively breastfeed, I am producing exactly what he needs. Saving milk really isn’t apart of my routine unfortunately, but it gives me the excuse to be with my baby more intimately 🙂

Surely pumping is very important for travel reasons and if somewhere down the line my milk tanks but this is what fits for me in my life right now. My mental health is the most important and staying consistent with my breathing techniques and seeing every experience with a silver lining will diminish the heaviness of the casualties as much as my heart can take, whether exclusively breastfeeding is in my cards or not.

You got this momma! Remember these are common breastfeeding problems, they can one way or another be fixed. Stay consistent, practice self-care, breastfeeding will have it’s moments and season where it will drain you but as you’ve heard before this experience is the exceptionally rewarding!