My first breastfeeding journey, well, breastfeeding job (apparently taking up 1800 hours in a year), was a huge undertaking on my mind and body. Regardless of how you categorize it, breastfeeding, for me, was a rollercoaster from the start.
You may have read my previous article, “Eat. Sleep. Breastfeed. Repeat.” But what wasn’t included in that article was the abrupt end that followed 11 months of struggle.
As much as my son loved “boobie milky” (and still does, but that’s a story for another time…), both of my nipples were cracked and bleeding so severely that there was not enough time to have any relief or healing occur in between feedings, or even with a 24 hour “rest” period. It was a pill I had fought swallowing from the start, and simultaneously felt disappointed and grateful at the same time.
This time, with my daughter, has been vastly different. Knock on wood. I’m three months in, quickly inching towards four months, and it’s crazy to think this is the same body that supplied nourishment for my son. There’s no nipple pain. No bleeding. Little worry around if I’m producing enough. How can that be?
Here’s what I learned…
Like each pregnancy, each breastfeeding journey will be an entirely unique experience.
With subsequent babies, our bodies *usually* produce more milk. If you’re set on breastfeeding, allowing the thought and acceptance around formula feeding as a backup can reduce stress significantly, and thus boost your milk supply!
There are a lot of products and information out there about what to consume to increase your milk. With my son, I lived on lactation cookies and coconut water. I’m focusing on vitamin C water, dairy, leafy greens (the darker, the better), and protein this go-round.
Making time for social interactions can help too.
I personally have found that coffee dates, walks with friends, and local mom and baby activities helped me feel the support and fill up my cup with a true sense of community. After all, it takes a village, which I wasn’t afforded much of at the height of the pandemic when my son was just an infant.
Movement is mental gold, which turns into liquid gold.
I don’t do too much, unlike what I was accustomed to pre-pregnancy. I’ve tried hard to be more consistent this time around by sticking to a laid-out program while not biting off more than I can chew. That’s usually my problem with most things in life … go big or go home isn’t the best option here, from my experience. Fitting exercise in has looked a lot like this:
1. Walks to either pick up my son from school or afford my dog some exercise outside of chasing the squirrels in our backyard.
2. Three to four strength training workouts a week, no more than 30 minutes each because who has time for more between feedings, cleaning, and other chores? No one at this stage. The answer is no one.
3. Three to five core classes a week, ranging from five to 30 minutes in duration. These are focused heavily on deep 360 breathing and the timing of inhales and exhales to align with specific movement patterns, reactivating and engaging the abdominals and correcting any dysfunction. It’s a slow but rewarding process that I started within the first two weeks of giving birth. Yep, you read that right.
Funny, really, how each pregnancy, each baby, and each breastfeeding experience come with their own peaks and pits, even though the starting place is the same: Mama.
