You know, I thought after having breastfed my first daughter, I wouldn't have any problems with my second--especially not after she latched on so well the very first time she tried. As one of my friends said about her second child, she practically came out of the womb ready to suck.
As the weeks have crept by, however, I find that I'm attacked by doubts--many of them the exact same doubts I had with my first! Am I keeping her on long enough? Should I be doing both sides or only one? How long can I really go between feedings? Is my diet okay?
One thing I'm not worried about is her weight gain--she gained two pounds in her first three weeks!
I'm slowly working through matters. I figured out today that she empties one breast in about 5-7 minutes (fast eater!), so there's not much point in trying to force her to stay on for 10-15. Up until today I was doing both sides at every feeding, and letting her go up to 4 1/2 hours between, but she's been awake (and unhappy) from 5-10 pm for the past two nights, and I think it might be because I've let her nap more during the early part of the day, so today I cut back to only one side per feeding, and not going more than 3 1/2 hours between. She seems content with that--we'll see what happens tonight!
I'm wondering what other things I learned with my first daughter that I'll have to relearn with Carys. Do all mothers obsessively worry about whether they're doing the right thing for their babies, or is it just me? If I recall correctly, it gets slightly better after the first six weeks, when the hormones start to settle, but still. I've already had one baby, I shouldn't be worrying about things like sleep and feedings!
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Comments: 5
I didn't breastfeed, kind of wish I did now. As far as worring I am doing right? I do it all the time and my kids are 21, 17, 3. I am always asking myself am I to protective? Should I do this? Should I do that? I thought I was just a worry wart.
The funny thing is that I'm not a worrier in general--until my first daughter was born I was such a carefree person. Now it seems like I'm always hyper-sensitive to anything regarding my kids, and it drives me nuts because it's just NOT ME!
Emily,
As long as the little one is gaining weight you should be in good shape. My son ate every 2-3 hours during the day for the first few months. At night, I would actually cluster feed him every 1-1/2 hours before I tried to put him down for a longer stretch. That definitely seemed to help him sleep longer at night vs during the day.
Good luck with everything and congrats.
I think most moms worry about everything concerning their kids. The first 6 weeks of breastfeeding are the getting to know your baby and getting settled into a routine period. After that is the reward period where you just enjoy feeding your baby.
It can take a while to get adjusted. My best advice is just to nurse on demand and keep an eye on your baby's output and weight gain-- those are the best indicators of how well they are nursing.
If baby starts to get green, frothy poo, she may be getting too much foremilk and not enough hindmilk (though that shouldn't be the case, since she empties a breast in a feeding.) Let her eat when she shows signs of hunger, and be done when she shows signs she's done. That's how our ancestors did it, and it worked out pretty well for most of them! ;)