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10 Comments

  1. I remember those days! Lanolin and the Medela pads where my life savers in the first few weeks.

  2. Great post- my first child is now a week old and we are learning the ropes. She lost A LOT of weight at her first appointment so I’ve had to do a mixture of breastfeeding and pumping breast milk for bottle feeding to make sure she was getting enough. However, it’s been 7 days and my milk still have come in full force (still colostrum but getting lighter and lighter).. Any tips?

    1. theanalyticalmommy says:

      It’s so much more convenient ! Thanks for reading !

  3. theanalyticalmommy says:

    Hi Tess! Thanks for reading and commenting ! How much do you get when you pump? I was told that if you are able to pump more than an ounce or so that the milk came in. I experienced somethibg similar and started pumping early for multiple reasons to make it work and my little one is perfect healthy now ! It took a few weeks for his weight gain to become textbook but we got there. What did your doctor recommend? I went in for some extra weight checks so I could be sure things were on the right track. Luckily I have a very breastfeeding friendly doctor so he helped me through it. Good luck and hang in there !

  4. I have always used the medela pads. I must stay they kept me sane when i was about to loose it.

    1. theanalyticalmommy says:

      Me too!! Definitely a must have !

  5. Rosemary Brown says:

    Though I appreciate Analyticalmommy’s desire to encourage other mums to breastfeed and persevere through the early days when baby and mum are learning, i am concerned that quite a bit of the information is not correct, and ends up being an advert for Medela hydrogel pads. The most common cause of sore nipples is the baby not having enough of the breast in the mouth, but women’s areolas vary considerably in size, so getting all of the areola in will not necessarily work for everyone. The baby needs to come on to the breast asymmetrically, with more of the breast where the baby’s chin is in the baby’s mouth than above. Also the baby’s head needs to be free to tip back, so that as they come on to the breast the nipple goes up and over the tongue to the back of the roof of the baby’s mouth. There are some really excellent videos, just about 8 mins each, on ‘Attaching your baby at the breast’ , ‘Knowing your baby is getting enough’ and other topics freely available in English and several other languages on http://www.globalhealthmedia.org
    . Hydrogel pads and lanolin will not prevent soreness – only effective positioning of the baby at the breast will do that. Having lots of skin to skin with your baby with you leaning back and allowing them to get on themselves will also make a real difference – the video on ‘Breastfeeding in the early hours after birth’ is great for that too. Pain and bleeding nipples are not something to endure – you need to get help, but not pads or lanolin. Hope this helps.

    1. theanalyticalmommy says:

      Thanks for the positioning tips ! It’s not something I was ready to tackle in this post but I hope to in the future. That said, I can only speak from my experience – and my experience was that while the baby and I were learning, we made mistakes that lead to cracking and bleeding. It took time for me to heal even after we got it right. We had to get over that hump (healing and continuing to nurse even though the latch was right) as many moms do… So these were things that helped me and others get through it. Thanks again for commenting!