Please stop standing on my nipple. Or: Our Amazing Breastfeeding Journey.

Before I gave birth I had a lot of time on my hands.

I will never again complain that I'm bored! 

Since I was pregnant the bulk of my internet searching and prayer was on pregnancy. (Not so much on birth or babies!! What a rude awakening!!!)

But there I was.. On limited rest. With the world at my fingertips. And lots of time...

I learned a whole bunch of interesting pregnancy related information.

But I knew eventually he was going to come out! 

So I started looking at Crunchy Parenting. 

I wanted to cloth diaper.. But my husband talked me out of that. 

I gotta say.. Huge thank you to him!!!

The one crunchy-ish activity that drew my attention was breastfeeding. 

I had never planned on having children so I never thought about it. 

Here was the time to do so!

I think I watched every YouTube video ever made on the subject. I read every blog.

I was so scared to nurse after watching every horror story ever made!!!

So many people told the scary "I tried to Breastfeed, but after a few weeks of bloody nipples and a baby that was losing weight I had to switch to formula"

Holy cow.

I was scared.

I was in constant prayer.

But I tried my hardest to learn every position, and every trick.

I researched nipple creams, nursing bras and nursing pillows.

I had decided in my head that formula was not an option for me. I just didn't have the money.

Breast it was.

Then he came.

All 7 pounds 7 ounces of him. He was 20 inches of perfection.

And he loved the boob.

From the moment he was born.

Let us take this moment to say.. I went a little crazy with the birth plan.

Ok. A lot crazy.

I'll talk about that in another posting.

Just don't ask my friends.

The short story is, I was scared to death that someone was going to slip something in his mouth that wasn't my nip. I think that by the time I had him everyone in the hospital knew that he was going to be breastfed...

Everyone.

The guy who came in and emptied my trash was told.

Hey, I admitted I went a little crazy. Give me a break.

Well, I ended up with a C-Section.

That was probably my biggest fear.

Not the Section itself.. I was cool with that!

I was scared that I would be "under" and someone would give him a bottle!!

Nope. I was out of the OR in about 45 minutes.

Once they wheeled me back to the Recovery Room I got to watch him scream while my daughter and the nurse gave him his first bath.

Then he was placed on my chest.

It was until this moment that I thought I knew what love was.

My heart grew three times that day. (Sorry.. I had to.)

When he hit my chest, he instinctively started rooting.

I was thrilled.

From that moment on we had a classic textbook Breastfeeding relationship.

Sorry ladies.

Sure I had days when I got frustrated. But never because of him. His latch was perfect from that first moment.

I had read everywhere that you needed nipple cream in order to be a successful. As well as an expensive nursing pillow.

Neither are true.

I tried to use cream.. I really did. But it all felt and smelled like chapstick.

Gross.

No matter what I used those first two weeks, the texture just wouldn't work for me.

I turned to coconut oil. While I loved the texture.. I found I just never needed it.

After week two I gave up.

And I never looked back.

I have never had a cracked or chapped nipple.

I had also read that your milk "Comes In" three days after you give birth.

Holy Sakes Alive is this true!!!

I woke up on day three to find rock hard breasts that were squirting uncontrollably.

I'm telling you... I could hit you from five feet away, easily!!!

I had read so many horror stories about "Supply" that I stressed over it night and day. Until week two.

I had such a forceful Let Down that he would choke. Then unlatch. Then get it all over his face.

Then we repeated!

I quit stressing when I realized that My supply just wasn't shrinking. And I praised The Lord.

About four weeks in I developed a yeast infection.

But that was handled with antibiotics.

How do I approach Breastfeeding in public?

Simple.

I feed my hungry child.

I've never been approached while feeding.

I've done it almost every Walmart trip. I've got a baby carrier and I throw him in it to shop. Easy access to the meal tickets.

But I've also fed while in restaurants with no issues.

And at a baseball game.

I dare you to ask me to leave ;)

(Mississippi has Breastfeeding Protection.)  

It's insane to think that We've been at this for nine months and he is showing no signs of weaning. My goal is to go as long as he wants. (Of course.. The thought of a two year old hanging off of me is a bit off-putting)

How is Nursing a nine month old different than nursing a nine week old?

Simple.

HE'S MOBILE NOW!!!!!

Kid doesn't sit still!!!!

Which means he doesn't sit still while eating either.

Sigh.

If I don't stand and cradle him I get this:

* Rolling over onto his belly so that he can eat while laying down

* Propping up on his hands and knees so that he can eat like a dog

* Propping up on his hands and knees to THROW himself at my chest, taking a drink, backing off, then doing it again. Over and Over until I pick him up and hold him

* Twisting all the way around (yes, with my nipple in his mouth) so that he can see the TV

* Standing up at the couch and slapping my chest so that he can have a drive through meal

* Waking up at midnight with a child attached to my chest who got into my shirt himself
* Having to tell him way more times than I ever would have imagined.. To please stop standing on my nipple

These are just a few "issues" from last week.

I wouldn't change it for the world!

We have finally figured out that if I sit sideways in the recliner, he can eat and watch TV and this keeps him from running off with my nip in his mouth!!!

Again.. I wouldn't trade it.

I was recently asked what my favorite time has been with my son.

My answer?

Today.

Right now.

Every moment is my favorite.

Even if that means I'm looking at my boob contorted in ways I never thought possible.

Oh.. Yea... So...

He figured out that he has a penis.

My fault.. I thought it was funny to let him walk naked for a few days. Oops.

Well.. He has also figured out that my nipple will get hard if he pinches it.

SMH

He squeezes my nipple like he squeezes his junk.

I uh..

I'm not sure what to think of this.

If you have any advice AT ALL.... Please comment!!!!!

Thanks guys!

Let me know YOUR Breastfeeding story/disaster.


UPDATE

I ended up Breastfeeding until he was 24 months old. I had some of the best moments in my life just sitting quietly and watching my son feed. Nothing will ever take those away from me.

Now. The reason I stopped.
I wanted to go on until he Self-Weaned... But he had no stopping point in sight!!!! At about 23 months I started to get chapped nipples. He was still feeding so frequently that I never could get them to heal. Nothing helped. They started to bleed and I just couldn't handle the pain anymore.
So I turned to the bottle :(
Ok.. I turned HIM to the bottle! I was able to very quickly (Like 3 days) get him off of me and onto a bottle at night.
Problem with that: He's 29 months old and stuck to a dang bottle all night.,.. And heaven forbid it go empty!!!!!!!

So. I had the greatest journey and I would do it all over again.

Thanks for reading!