Breastfeeding Troubles [Trial 1] The Battle of a Mother of Four

About me, NORA

Hello.
I'm NORA, a mother of four who wants to escape being "just a mom"🐈

I got pregnant right after quitting my job,
and it's already been 10 years since I got married.
With my four children here,
I'm full of happiness💛

However... I suddenly thought,
"I really am just a mom."

It might be wanting what I can't have,
but I thought I wanted to take some kind of action,
and that's how I ended up on note.

You're more than welcome even if you're not a mom,
so please feel free to take a look(_　_)★

A record of breastfeeding troubles

I've been writing about trivial things
and a 10-day health challenge,
but...
I've decided to record what I'm currently struggling with the most:
"breastfeeding."

If there's anyone in a similar situation,
I'd be happy if this could make them feel a little better
or think, "I can do this again!"

The thing is...

"Breastfeeding must be a piece of cake for a mother of four,"
"You're used to it, so it must be easy, right👍!"
people often say things like that to me,
but the reality is that's not the case at all!!!

I thought I could handle it to some extent myself,
but I was naive...😨
With my fourth child, I'm having the toughest breastfeeding period yet.
(Though there are happy moments, of course)

～The main topic this time～

The first trial

What I'm talking about this time is [The First Trial]

It was the first wall I hit while in the hospital.

I had various things happen with my third child too, but...
with my fourth child,
it started with them not even latching onto the breast.

They can drink from a bottle, at least,
but somehow it takes time for them to latch on...?

Am I doing it wrong!?
Has it been nearly five years, so am I starting from zero!?
Even though I'm an experienced mother, and a mother of four at that,
the midwife said, "You probably don't need me to teach you, right?"
but I couldn't do it...

Not only could they not drink well,
they wouldn't even latch on.

Measures for "Baby won't latch on directly"

What I did was
1. Let them lick it, even if it's just a lick
2. Give them formula or expressed milk
3. Empty the breast completely by pumping

A mother's body is a mysterious thing;
it seems the more the baby latches on,
the more breast milk it produces.

That's why they tell you,
"Try your best to breastfeed frequently."

I wanted to breastfeed frequently too, but
they wouldn't latch, so I couldn't feed them.
But I felt that relying only on pumping
had its limits for production.
It really just wouldn't increase.

So, while keeping the expressed milk warm,
I prepared myself for them to cry or fuss,
and repeatedly tried to get them to take it into their mouth.

※Some midwives
　had the idea of forcing them to latch to teach them,
　but my baby got angry and it didn't work⚡
　So, halfway through, I kind of gave up, thinking "It's okay if you don't latch,"
　and just let them take it into their mouth casually, relying on the pump for the rest.

Does pumping increase breast milk?

In the end, it probably depends on the person,
but in my case, it did increase.

But still, when they took it even a little bit,
or sucked just a little,
the amount I could pump afterward increased.

I thought the coordination between the baby's mouth
and the breast was truly amazing.

However, as a point of caution...
Even if it's tough in the middle of the night,
and even if the baby is fast asleep after formula,
you should get up every 2-3 hours
and keep pumping, even if it's just a small amount.

Actually, a relative of mine gave birth at the same time👶
and was pumping in the same way,
but she said that once the baby started sleeping through the night,
she slacked off on pumping.
Then, even though she was producing about the same amount as me,
it gradually stopped coming out.

Well, you want to sleep at night, right...
I'm sleepy. lol
It's tough until a rhythm is established.

How much do you want to breastfeed?
Are you going with mixed feeding, or aiming for exclusive breastfeeding?
It depends on that, but
in my case, I thought, "If I can, I want to go with exclusive breastfeeding!"
so I did my best (´；ω；`)

The reason my baby couldn't drink

Until the baby's and mother's bodies
perfectly match up,
there are people who take time,
and people who go smoothly.

This time, the wall just happened to be too high. lol
No, I'm still fighting the pain,
so I can't laugh at all💦

Why they can't drink, of course there are
various reasons, but

What surprised me when I was told right before discharge was
the remark, "Their tongue usage is unique, they have strong habits."

I had thought their mouth might be small,
and the midwife had mentioned it too,
but a midwife who was like a 'breastfeeding god'
figured it out after just a few minutes of checking.👀

Yeah, I wish they had told me sooner. lol

If they had, I wouldn't have had to
be so hard on myself for not being able to do it.

Apparently, there was a tendency to push the tongue forward
instead of pulling it from front to back.
That's why they couldn't latch onto the nipple well
and struggled to get a good hold.

Actually, I was concerned that they wouldn't
latch onto the bottle nipple right away,
and they didn't really grab onto it themselves,
so I thought,
maybe they just don't have a big appetite?

But you know, once they started latching,
it turned out their suction power was incredibly strong!(*_*)!

Because of that, I kept getting injured
and developing blisters over and over...
(That's for the next part)

They were sucking so hard
that the bottle nipple would collapse.
On top of their unique tongue movement,
I guess their suction power was just amazing...💦

As for when they were finally able to latch...

In the end, it wasn't until they were three months old
that I decided I could finally
breastfeed them properly.

Up until then, it was almost entirely pumping.👼

My husband took paternity leave in the middle of it,
which helped me get through it,
but it was a really tough three months.

Even now, the days of trial and error continue.
I'll keep recording the rest of these trials,
so please take a look if you'd like.👀

If there's anyone in a similar situation,
I'd be happy if we could encourage each other.
Let's do our best without pushing ourselves too hard!

Well then, I hope to see you again...★

[Next time... The story of the blisters⚡]