What does breastfeeding feel like?

I saw this amazing quote in a thread on La Leche League's forum, written by MaddieB:

"ONLY mom has the goods. No one else can provide your child with what you can when it comes to nursing. Nursing is not really like anything else. Imagine the most delicious drink, the most satisfying meal, the most loving hug and the sweetest kiss all wrapped up in one package. Throw in a magical balm that instantly relieves both physical pain and emotional anguish, and you will begin to have some idea about what nursing feels like to a child."

Hungry? Or not?

I met a cousin of mine over the weekend. She is a new mother to a 6-week-old baby. When I casually inquired how breastfeeding was going, she smirkingly answered, "Oh, my baby gave up on me after a few weeks!" Then she explained that her baby was always "hungry" after nursing and "she always wanted a bottle afterwards" so "I wasn't going to starve her."

After hearing that I really felt bad that this happened. Of course every mother knows what's best for her child but sometimes a bit of myth-y information can really lead her to make uneducated guesses and then decisions that probably aren't best for her baby. Let's see if we can figure out what went on with my cousin's baby.

My cousin was able to pump normal amounts of milk so she did not have a milk supply issue. Her baby was able to suck ok and transferred milk fine. Her latch wasn't a problem either. So then what happened? Babies love to suck. If a baby is given a pacifier, he'll probably enjoy it! A bottle is like a pacifier in that sense so many babies will gladly take a bottle at any time if offered (although Sam was NOT that kind of kid) even if they aren't hungry. Think of yourself after having eaten a delicious dinner of rib steak, fries and vegetables. You're probably feeling well-sated and going "ahhhh". But if I then served you a gorgeous dish of gooey chocolate brownie and mocha ice cream with fudge sauce, would you honestly turn me down? Babies love a good dessert too (and formula tastes great).

My cousin nursed her baby. Her baby was probably satisfied with the feeding, but probably not overly full (like bottle-fed babies tend to become after a feeding). Her baby cried for any of the following reasons: gas, general fussiness, the need to burp, dirty diaper, wanting to nurse for dessert, wanting to be held, or one of the other thousand inexplicable reasons why baby cry. She assumed her baby was hungry and offered her a bottle, which she slurped down (think of yourself attacking your dessert plate with gusto). Was her baby truly hungry before the bottle? No.

There's actually a condition called "Perceived Insufficient Milk" (which I believe I've experienced at some point!) where a mother honestly thinks she doesn't have enough milk for her baby. This happens when a mother misinterprets her baby's cues for hunger and she therefore thinks her baby is always hungry even though she isn't. This often causes premature weaning because the mother will just end up supplementing, assuming there are no solutions anyway.

Nursing more often than "the schedule" stipulates

Yes, I know the title is confusing but here's what I mean: Do you ever go back to breastfeeding more times a day once you already established less feedings per day? Say, you're nursing 5 times a day. Does it make sense to ever suddenly nurse 9 times a day? I think this would be ok even though it sounds "off schedule".

First of all, nursing doesn't have to be on a schedule like a high school curriculum. It's ok to nurse 8 times one day and then 20 times the next day. I do understand that it's nice to have a routine to rely on for stability. I enjoy a relaxed schedule because I work full time and we do need some sense of order. But sometimes I have to break out of that model. Like I've said numerous times, relaxed schedules are way better than fixed, rigid ones.

Like this week. Sam is nearly 15 months old. At this point he nurses once in the morning, once after work (sometimes not) and once before bed. Then he'll nurse once more during the early AM hours. This has been going on for about a month or two now. But last week he got pneumonia on top of an ear infection. And just when he was about to finish his 10-day course of antibiotics, he developed a stomach virus of some sort (we don't know yet if it's shigella - we'll get the results back one of these days). For the past two days he refused to touch any solid meals and would very reluctantly drink from a cup (only a few sips at a time).

I was scared he'd get dehydrated without the fluids and nutrition. So I turned to breastfeeding to help me out here. I just nursed him a bunch of times a day and I felt so good doing it. I was so happy I had this backup ammo to ease me out of this frightening situation. Sam would nurse almost always, even though he wouldn't want to drink other fluids. And he needed the liquids!

According to my baby's pediatrician, when a child is vomiting and or having diarrhea, the number one fluid of choice is breastmilk. Number two is Pedialyte, and number three is any other drink. I was surprised to hear him say that since it's known that many pediatricians aren't major proponents of breastfeeding. Sure they'll tell you to nurse your baby but they don't really encourage you or help you out with difficulties. Like this doctor had no problem telling me to just give formula bottles if I wanted him to drink more (as if that would work - he hardly enjoyed drinking EBM bottles!).

So we basically nursed a lot the past two days. In between, I gave him a sport popup water bottle with Pedialyte inside (that gets the fluids down a lot faster than a bottle or sippy cup would). He was able to keep some foods down, like corn flakes, baby cereal puffs, and potato sticks (the snack type that's similar to potato chips).

Now I've got one more reason for why I'm still breastfeeding Sam at 15 months :)

Sleeping through the night and breastfeeding correlation

I randomly thought about this the other day and I wonder if this idea is of any significance. I noticed that mothers of babies who sleep through the night early on (sleeping longer than 6-8 hour stretches, in this case) are less likely to nurse their babies past the half-year mark. It's just that whoever I talk to whose babies were such good sleepers as newborns and young infants said they didn't nurse beyond a few months.

Here's why I think that happens. It's widely known that milk production gets a real boost during the nighttime when prolactin, the milk-making hormone, is at its best. Nursing (or even pumping) at night really gives your milk supply an edge even beyond the nighttime. Now, if a mothers isn't breastfeeding her baby at night because the child sleeps through the night (and why wake a sleeping baby?) her prolactin doesn't really get chance to shine.

If milk supply isn't given that extra oomph from nighttime nursing, it might not function so well during the day. This is even more hampered if a mother works full time and has to rely on pumping during the day to keep up her milk supply. If a mother can stay at home with her child and nurse on demand then this probably isn't such an issue because a nursing baby can effectively extract enough milk (whereas a pump doesn't do that great of a job).

Now this is far from a scientific fact; it's just a speculation on my part. What do you think? Do you have evidence to support or disprove this claim? If yes, share it! I will try to conduct a poll about this on a breastfeeding website and share the results here.

Finger-feeding a baby who can't breastfeed

Sometimes a baby is born with some sort of difficulty which makes it hard for him to nurse properly and or obtain a good latch. Sam was like that. Due to his tongue tie he wasn't able to latch onto my nipples or even suck that well. Only the second day did he attempt a little sucking and by the third day he was able to actually nurse for an entire feeding. So what happened during this time? The hospital staff fed him bottles. I had no choice, really. They did not tell me anything about hand-expressing colostrum (idiots) and they just found it easier to feed him formula, so that was what happened. My sister did give me great advice about that, though. She said to have the nurses use a breastfeeding-friendly method when administering the bottles.

If you read what the internet has to say about that, you'll see all kinds of suggestions from using an SNS (supplemental nursing system), to cup-feeding, spoon-feeding, dropper-feeding, and finger-feeding. The SNS is a really helpful tool (based on what I've read online and heard from mothers who have used them) but I don't have much info since I've never tried it out. Cup-feeding and spoon-feeding sound very messy to me. I know that Sam couldn't easily drink from a cup until he was several months old so no way could I see that working when he was a few days old! Droppers don't sound bad, and I've resorted to using that at times when he was reluctant to eat (I have plastic pipettes).

Which leaves finger-feeding. How does this work? You (or whoever is feeding the baby) wash your hands (important!) and fills a bottle with milk or formula. Then you attach a lactation aid which is really a thin tube that can attach to the baby bottle. Tape the other end of the tube to your finger and let your baby suck your finger as if it's a nipple or pacifier. Release the milk into the tube and your baby is now being fed!

This was a great method to use in our case because Sam was able to build up his sucking muscles while eating, but without the nipple confusion a regular bottle would have caused. I wanted him to learn to suck on skin, not silicone. I actually never did this because the nurses in the hospital were doing it for me, but the technique did work to help Sam suck better, and it got him fed without a bottle!

So if you're in such a situation where your baby can't nurse for whatever reason, don't give up hope. You probably can sort out your breastfeeding issue, whether it's a physical issue like tongue tie, or a milk supply issue. But in the meantime, there is no reason your baby has to be given a bottle. Bottles don't help as well as other breastfeeding-friendly methods do. Plus you can give your baby your own milk most of the time!

Honeysuckle vs Lansinoh breastmilk storage bags

Side by side of Honeysuckle and Lansinoh milk storage bags
Click to ZOOM in for better detail.

I use Honeysuckle Breastmilk Storage Bags when I pump each day. They come sterilized and are mostly non-leaky. I say that because I only experienced a few leaking bags that came from one set of bags (a set is 25 bags), but never again. And I've gone through over 500 bags. They're BPA-free and tamper-evident, as well as recyclable and biodegradable. The milk is sealed with two zip seals (like a Ziploc freezer bag).

What I really like is how the Honeysuckle bags' sides have a nice 1/4"-thick seam and the bottom is nice and sturdy. They claim that their gusseted bottom allows the bag to stand up while you fill it, but I haven't found that particularly true. I haven't seen that in the Lansinoh milk storage bags. I only used those a few times because I got a sample of them with a package of Lansinoh nursing pads.

Lansinoh claims that theirs is the largest bag out there but the Honeysuckle bags also hold 6 oz so that's clearly untrue. Lansinoh bags boast a convenient pouring spout, lay-flat capabilities, double secure zip, write-on tab and BPA/BPS-free - all of which are also present in the Honeysuckle bags. I must add that the "time" space on the Lansinoh is a good idea for people who pump twice a day. Most mothers probably don't care at what hour they pumped, but for some people it's helpful.

Additionally, the part on top where you can fill in information like the person's name, quantity of milk pumped, and date pumped, is straight up, but on the Lansinoh bags they are upside down. I don't know why that is so. While you take a look at the top part (everything above the zip seal), notice how the sides are opened on the Lansinoh bags, but sealed for the Honeysuckle bags (the sides only opened once the dotted line is torn).

As of now on Amazon, the price per 50 pieces for Honesuckle is $9.90 and Lansinoh $10.83.

So in my opinion, it pays both economically and practically speaking to purchase the Honeysuckle bags. They have better features, are nice and strong and they are actually a bit cheaper than the Lansionh bags.

Review of Hyland's Baby Teething Tablets

Hyland's Baby Teething Tablets

I always heard about Hyland's Baby teething tablets from other moms but never thought into them much. After all, when Sam got his first two teeth on the bottom, I barely knew about it. The only reason I suspected teeth was because I felt something sharp when he was breastfeeding. But seriously, I never saw any of the classic teething symptoms (e.g. ear-pulling, crying in pain, biting everything in site, drooling, etc.). So I figured that Sam must be one of those babies who breeze right through the teething stage without shedding a tear. I purchased a bottle of these tablets just in case, but never used them.

I was wrong in my assumption, though. When his top teeth were emerging (a few months later), boy did we see all those teething signs! After a few days of watching Sam suffer I bought these tablets. I can't say they made a 360-degree difference, but it definitely helped.

On their site, Hyland's Baby states this product's indication:

"Temporarily relieves the symptoms of simple restlessness and wakeful irritability due to cutting teeth. Helps reduce redness and teething discomfort."

I bolded the terms that I'd like to mention. Most teething products just anesthetize the area to a degree. They don't do much else. Once the baby licks off the gel or whatever, it ceases to be effective. This homeopathic product, however, works on the symptom level. It calms your baby. It helps your baby sleep better (in fact, it can even induce sleepiness because the baby's pain finally subsides), and it generally makes the kid feel better. Hyland's Baby teething tablets contain:

Calcarea Phosphorica (a mineral) that supports dentition (teething)
Chamomilla (a botanical) relieves the symptoms of irritability
Coffea Cruda (a botanical) relieves the symptoms of sleeplessness
Belladonna (a botanical) relieves the symptoms of redness and inflammation of the gums

Here's how we use them: I shake 3 tablets out onto my palm. Sam loves to pick them up and pop them into his mouth by himself. In fact, I think that excitement alone can take his mind off the pain even for a little bit! They dissolve within a second or two because of contact with liquid, in this case saliva. They taste slightly sweet, which babies enjoy. That's how easy it is to administer! You can repeat this dosage 4 times a day (or 2 tablets every hour for 6 hours).

He doesn't become calm instantaneously, but pretty soon he mellows out a bit. I usually find mornings after breakfast a challenging time with the teething pain so after giving these, he starts rubbing his eyes, looking all tired. And then he naps. It helps him sleep better - he doesn't wake up crying from pain.

On exceptionally painful occasions, I would give Sam a dose of Advil (ibuprofen) to generally ease the symptoms, and follow up with the Hyland's Baby teething tablets as needed.

In conclusion, the downside is that these can be pretty costly (about $7), but they do last a while so maybe that's justified. They taste good and they melt fast. No messy gel application to gums. As if your baby would let you put your fingers into his mouth! I know Sam wouldn't. These are easy to self-serve for him so it works out great. They work quickly but don't offer immense relief (nothing does), yet it's a good combination with a pain reliever medication like ibuprofen or acetaminophen. By the way, an empty bottle of the tablets works great as a teething surface ;)

2/26/15 note: I have come to realize that not all teething is equal. Molars, for example, have got 4 prongs that have to emerge through the gum, but a canine/cuspid is much smaller and only has one little "poke". That's why when Sam got his four "first molars", it was a long-drawn out cranky experience. For about 4 months, Sam had very many miserable times related to teething. This month, in contrast, he got 4 canines/cuspids which barely bothered him. Here the tablets worked very well alone, but with the molars we had to double up with the painkillers.