Breastfeeding

NS2 · April 2, 2012, 1:31am

I was unable to latch my baby on and got a pump to feed my baby the breastmilk. Actually I was so stressed out when leaving the hospital because of not be able to latch him on and he had low birth weight too. Doctors had a close watch on his weight. And I did not want to miss any feed. The lactation consultant gave me medela’s manual pump. She said we usually dont give out pumps but I know that you have been so trying hard to breastfeed him.

There are creams out there that can be used for cracked nipples. Its only in the beginning. They wont stay like this. I started pumping the time my milk came in. I had an over supply. I didnt know that its a supply and demand thing. The more you pump the more milk comes in. I was in pain most of the time. So I tried ‘block feeding’ method. When you only pump/feed from one side each feeding session. Say if you pumped/fed from right then during the next feed time you only pump/feed from left. This left me engorged with a lot of pain but I took pain killers for that and had a 103 F fever the 3rd day. After 3 days of block feeding my supply came to the level that I could handle. Otherwise It was becoming so hard for me. I couldnt go outside without my pump. At someone’s house or a restaurant, I would go to a bathroom/restroom to pump to get rid of the terrible pain. I thought I would give up soon. But Alhamdilillah, my son is about to be 5 months inshallah and I have kept up with pumping and feeding him breast milk exclusively . I got an electric pump though which made my life much easier.

mashAllah good job:) but did u try to bfeed him again as he got older? i am sorry if my question seems awkward cause there might b a problem im unaware of..just curious..
My daughter learned to latch after a week of severe pain..engorgement plus cracked/bleeding nipples..during this week even I pumped and fed her..but during the day when I had the energy to fight with her I tried my best to make her latch..and mashAllah she learned..I had one inverted nipple and she successfully breastfeeds from that breast even..now my other nipple is cracked and It hurts alot so should I wait for it to heal or shall I continue to breastfeed from it..it hurts when she is on that one:(