Janet Hsieh and George Young recently became parents to a baby boy, Egan, and the two are slowly coming to terms with parenthood.
Especially Janet Hsieh, who has realised that breastfeeding a newborn is not half as simple and easy as it looks.
She recently posted her breastfeeding woes on Facebook, and it is quite an entertaining and ‘insightful’ read! 🙂
She writes, “I always thought breastfeeding was going to be super duper easy, natural, and instinctual. Otherwise, how would a baby survive, right? Well, turns out, I was wrong.”
“Here’s a few things I’ve discovered and wanted to share with y’all:”
1. Breastfeeding burns around 500 calories per day! WHO HOO!! Bye bye baby belly!!
2. Your nipples have anywhere between 10-20 holes where breast milk comes out of. So, get your squirt on.
3. There are 3 basic ways of breastfeeding: cradle, football and lying down. It all sounds easier than it is. I can’t imagine doing this with TWINS!
4. At first, breastfeeding IS PAINFUL. It’s not all the glamour and motherly love that you see in some instagram photos. Sorry.
There will be times when your baby wants to feed and you literally want to cry. You may dread feeding your baby because you know the pain that you will be in.
5. Your nipples will go through hell. And hopefully come back. But until then, they will be in hell. (It kind of feels like getting little paper cuts on your nipples. Continuously for about 30 minutes and then again every 2-3 hours).
The first latch of each feeding session will make you want to cry and then you eventually get used to the pain. But that initial latch… OMG!
6. It’s ok to walk around naked with your boobs hanging out for the first month. It helps with the pain.
“The baby is out of your belly. Yay! But you will still look about 3-4 months pregnant. Sorry.” PHOTO: FACEBOOK / JANET HSIEH
7. You will leak. Everywhere. There will be milk everywhere…. On your bed, pillow, clothes, baby’s face, husband’s face, floor, couch, etc.
8. You will lactate when your baby cries. Apparently when other babies cry too but we haven’t tried out this theory yet.
9. In the first few days/weeks, you will get soooo much satisfaction out of squeezing out a few cc’s of milk. EVERY drop is precious and if you spill some milk you’ll want to smack whoever came up with the saying “there’s no use crying over spilt milk”.
Don’t feel discouraged if you only have a drop or two the first few days. And DON’T FREAK OUT if your baby is losing weight.
It’s all natural and part of the process, but definitely listen to your doctor, and in the end, if your baby is losing too much weight and you need to give it a bit of extra formula, don’t blame yourself and don’t feel bad! There’s nothing wrong with you.
10. When you get your first “squirt” of milk, you will feel this sense of accomplishment you’ve never thought you could feel from…squirting.
11. Your breasts will engorge and swell up to the point where it’s almost painful. There will be pockets of milk “rocks” in your boobs that you have to massage and squeeze out to prevent mastitis. Do it. Don’t get lazy. Your boobs will thank you for it.
12. That “electricity going through your nipple” feeling is NORMAL! It’s your breast producing more milk and it’s in tune with your baby. You tend to feel that electricity (and start leaking) when your baby is about to wake up or when he’s hungry. Nature is AMAZING!
13. You will feel like a cow. Not a cute fluffy petting zoo cow, but a big, leaky, sedentary cow. And it feels like you’re feeding your child ALL. THE. TIME. No break. No rest. No end to it. Just a continuous, repetitive, monotonous cycle of feeding.
PHOTO: FACEBOOK / JANET HSIEH
14. There will be times when you just want to give up, but then your baby will give you this look, or smile, or even just let out a cute little fart, and you suddenly find the energy to continue on.
15. Breast milk tastes different depending on what you eat! Latte anyone?
16. There’s a thing called “cluster feeding” where your baby will want to feed every hour or so. WHAT?!? It’s very normal and very annoying.
There’ll be cries of “I JUST fed you!”, but it’s just your little one having a growth spurt…all this shall pass – just remember: you are your child’s buffet.”
We couldn’t agree more! New mums will surely be able to identify with each of these lessons!
Even though Janet is very much a breastfeeding mama these days, she seems to endorse the “Fed is best” view. Mummies shouldn’t be over stressed to the point that it affects their health and the health of their baby.
In her words, “I have no idea how long I will breastfeed for and it’s great for all mothers to have so many options these days (breastfeed, pump, formula).”
“There’s no right or wrong and just do what you can, and do what you think is best for you and your baby.”
“So, to all the mothers out there, HANG IN THERE!”
Also READ: Breastfeeding positions and FAQs