World Breastfeeding Week is August 1-7, 2014. In honour of this week, and to celebrate all the mothers who have attempted to breastfeed (regardless of whether it worked out), Nicole and Dana are sharing their stories of establishing a breastfeeding relationship with their babies. As every new mother has a unique breastfeeding experience, we felt it was important to share both of our breastfeeding stories.

We also recommend you check out our Expert Advice feature this month with breastfeeding expert, Justine Pearson and our review of the book, Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Moms.

Our Breastfeeding Stories

Nicole’s Story

I was able to nurse all four of my children for more than a year and have spent more than five years of my life breastfeeding. In each case, the first few weeks were the hardest. Adjusting to the sleep deprivation that comes with a baby who wants to nurse round-the-clock can amplify postpartum mood swings. Plus, no matter how frequently I nursed (always on demand, never on a schedule), I always experienced engorgement during the first few weeks. Getting out of the house was hard when I was either nursing or stuffing my bra with cold cabbage to try to get the engorgement to go down. With that said, I always felt like I turned a corner around the 2-3 week mark and breastfeeding suddenly went from a chore to an awesome bonding experience. With my last two kids, the knowledge that this would happen, really helped me get through the initial hurdles.

Before I had my first baby, I wish someone had told me the following:

1. Breastfeeding in the first few weeks is an all-consuming task. Babies nurse round the clock, often in “clusters” where they literally switch sides over and over for a few hours. This can be very frustrating if you’re used to being on-the-go all day. BUT, it’s also nature’s way of ensuring your body gets the rest it needs to recover from childbirth. We live in a society where new moms are expected to be “back to normal” almost immediately after giving birth, which is not a good thing.

2. Your baby will give you one short window of rest after you give birth. A few hours after they are born, babies will have a transition sleep. This may be the longest and heaviest stretch of sleep they have for several weeks. I did not know about this when I had my first baby and I invited my visitors to come a few hours after I had my son (after labouring all night). They ooh-ed and ahh-ed at my super sleepy baby as they passed him around. I SO wish I had slept during this time because when he woke up, he was rested and ready to start working on bringing in my milk. I didn’t get any rest and this made my postpartum emotions that much more intense.

With my other three kids, I made sure visitors came either before or after the baby’s transition sleep. I caught a few hours of shut-eye and felt much better during the nursing marathon that took place once the baby woke up.

3. Nipple soreness is not normal. Yes, everyone will tell you it is, but it’s not. If your nipples are sore, cracked, blistered, or bleeding, it means there is a problem (often with the baby’s latch, but it could be thrush as well). You should not be cringing in pain during the first few weeks when your baby latches on. Letting your baby latch on by themselves while you lay on your back is the absolute best way to breastfeed when you’re trying to get the hang of things. I also highly recommend that you have the doctor or midwife check whether the baby has a tongue-tie shortly after he/she is born. Two of my sons were tongue-tied and it can be very painful (and cause them not to get enough milk, thus reducing your milk production) until it is fixed!

Dana’s Story

I was also very successful with nursing my babies, in each case, the baby was latched on within minutes of being born, this made for some fantastic early skin to skin time, but I believe it also played a big role in setting the stage for our nursing relationship. That being said, the first few weeks after each birth were always challenging for various reasons.

Here are some of the challenges I faced and how I dealt with them:

1. Sore nipples. As Nicole mentions above, sore nipples are not a good thing. When I was first figuring out the whole nursing thing, despite having a very eager baby and also being quite determined myself, we still had an adjustment period and during that period, my nipples got very sore and cracked and blistered. Thankfully, I had a very supportive husband and extended family who know how determined I was to make it work. I also was fortunate enough to have a close friend who was a lactation consultant and she was able to come and reassure me that everything I was doing was textbook and she gave me some pointers as to how to best soothe my painful nipples (FYI – the thing that worked best for me was simply expressing some breastmilk after a feeding and applying that to my nipples and also allowing myself a fair bit of open air time).

2. Cramping when nursing. This was something else that no one warned me about. I never would have guessed that my uterus and my breasts were connected, but the cramping that occurs in the first few days after giving birth almost seemed worse than child birth itself! Again, my support network were crucial here in reminding me that this too shall pass, but also for helping me keep on top of taking pain medication and applying the heat pad.

Those were really my only complaints during the first few weeks, but I acknowledge that I had it pretty easy and I was very lucky that I was able to establish such great nursing relationships with my babies. I successfully nursed O for 18 months and only stopped because I was trying to conceive. Baby A is now 19 months and we are still going strong. I plan on continuing nursing for as long as he would like it.

I suppose the biggest thing I learned when I became a mother and started nursing, was that I need not be afraid to talk to the other mothers around me about the struggles I was having.

Please, tell us, what was your breastfeeding story? Also, what was the biggest surprise for you or what was the biggest lesson you learned?

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