So, after getting some help from the breastfeeding doctor but still suffering from sore and cracked nipples, I decided to throw still more money at my breastfeeding problem and call in the big guns: This lady, who is something of a Brooklyn legend (I actually called her three days after I got out of the hospital, but she was booked).
She was a riot, a New York City character out of central casting. She advised me to rub olive oil on my sore nipples, "But just a little bit--your breast is not a bagel; you don't need a schmear." And she cracked jokes throughout the whole session. But she was also very warm and funny and loving with my baby. She told me he has the cognitive awareness and interactivity of a five month old. Go S! And she threatened to not let me leave with him. (S. has that effect on people. Bit of a ladies' man already.)
She also said that she thinks his suck problem is down to the fact that he was vacuumed out of me, because in the days after birth, that causes soreness in the muscles he should be using to suck, so instead he uses the muscles around his mouth too much, which is what causes him to clamp down on the nipple, which is what causes the pain. I have no idea if any of this is true, but it makes a certain amount of sense. So we're going to do physical therapy-type exercises three times a day.
So now, my breast feeding regimen consists of feeding him eight times a day, pumping three times a day, doing exercises three times a day, doing tummy time three times a day (to improve other muscles), soaking my nipples in saline four times a day, rubbing olive oil on them after every feeding, and taking something like 10 pills a day. I'm fucking exhausted just typing that.
Hopefully this will get easier soon! Christ on a cracker, I'm not sure how much longer I can keep doing this.
She was a riot, a New York City character out of central casting. She advised me to rub olive oil on my sore nipples, "But just a little bit--your breast is not a bagel; you don't need a schmear." And she cracked jokes throughout the whole session. But she was also very warm and funny and loving with my baby. She told me he has the cognitive awareness and interactivity of a five month old. Go S! And she threatened to not let me leave with him. (S. has that effect on people. Bit of a ladies' man already.)
She also said that she thinks his suck problem is down to the fact that he was vacuumed out of me, because in the days after birth, that causes soreness in the muscles he should be using to suck, so instead he uses the muscles around his mouth too much, which is what causes him to clamp down on the nipple, which is what causes the pain. I have no idea if any of this is true, but it makes a certain amount of sense. So we're going to do physical therapy-type exercises three times a day.
So now, my breast feeding regimen consists of feeding him eight times a day, pumping three times a day, doing exercises three times a day, doing tummy time three times a day (to improve other muscles), soaking my nipples in saline four times a day, rubbing olive oil on them after every feeding, and taking something like 10 pills a day. I'm fucking exhausted just typing that.
Hopefully this will get easier soon! Christ on a cracker, I'm not sure how much longer I can keep doing this.
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