Notes on Nursing, part III of V

*Quick disclaimer: this is a post about breastfeeding. If you're not interested in reading the words nipple, breast, latch, suck, etc... repeatedly... then click away now! 

I woke up the morning of day three exhausted and miserable, though hopeful. I had a fresh start, so to speak: Ben wasn't starving! The night nurse informed me that Ben had had a hard time even suckling the nipple on the bottle, so I knew that he was really struggling to suck. It was actually a relief to discover that he was having trouble both with a bottle nipple and with mine. I called Josh in a weepy mess to find out when he was coming to rescue me from my pit of inequity... The nurse from the nursery brought Ben to me, and tried in vain to help me get him latched on (hey, at least she tried). She said, "You know, I'm wondering if maybe you should start pumping." A light went on in my mind. Pump! I can pump! I had brought a little hand pump with me, and she got it out of my bag. I had no idea how to use it, but it turns out - it's not rocket science. I pumped 10 cc of my own, golden yellow colostrum. I was as proud as a peacock. I rang for the nurse to bring me a nipple to attach to the bottle, and I FED MY SON. It was so great! I did this a couple of times that day; even my dad got to give him a bottle. I still wasn't having any luck latching him on to nurse at my breast, but I had the sweet relief of knowing that I had a way to feed him. The hospital set me up with a really effective electric breast pump, and I was able to pump feedings in just minutes after that. Josh's Uncle Duane, who is a pediatric nurse practitioner, called to see how things were goine. His suggestion was to get Ben to suck one of our fingers, frequently, in an effort to get him to learn to suck with his tongue in the right position. This worked really well. By the time the evening shift nurse came on, she said - NO MORE BOTTLES FOR THIS BABY! Ha ha. She spent an incredibly long time at my bedside, much longer than an hour I am sure. Ben latched on with a lot of prop-type help: we tried pouring a few drops of my milk into his mouth (from a bottle) before attempting to latch him on, had him suck on a pacifier just before latch-on, we even put him to my breast and poured drops of milk across my nipple to get him tasting it as he was sucking my nipple. He finally got the picture, though, and he nursed my right side for about 15 minutes! I was so incredibly happy that it had FINALLY happened (even though I was afraid to breathe for fear of disturbing his precarious latch). It was awesome. That same nurse was able to secure me an electric breast pump from the hospital's rental supply, so I'd have one to take home with me. Josh had already been to Babies R Us to find a suitable electric pump for when we got home, but having one ahead of time took a lot of the stress away.

That night, when they brought Ben to me in the middle of the night, I was hopeful that things would go well. I told the nurse from the nursery what we had been doing to help him latch on earlier in the day, and she said, "Oh! I have an idea! Why don't we use a medicine dropper?" That was great. I needed someone to help me drip a little milk across my nipple to get him started, but he was latching on pretty well. Whoopee! I was even able to switch sides and latch him on to my other breast by myself, without the milk drips. Things were really starting to look up, and I realized with GREAT relief that I'd be going home the next day. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted.