I'd heard all of these stories from friends about how when your milk comes in, it's almost as painful as childbirth. That your boobs go rock hard, increase to a quadruple D size and leak everywhere. I had been given heaps of left over breast pads for the leakage I would surely experience from friends who didn't need them any more, so I was all prepared. I'd had friends who had had issues with latching, cracked nipples, mastitis, not able to feed because their babies palate was a poor match for their nipples, people who had had to express and bottle feed for a short time and others who had to express for months. You name it, I'd heard it. I was armed and ready.
Anika had no problems latching from the word go. She found her way to my breast, latched all on her own and fed away. It never hurt. It felt right, not weird at all. I never got a sensation of fullness or even feel my milk come in. Did it come in? I'd better call my midwife! First of the questions..... How many wet nappies? When you hand express what comes out? Yellowish liquid or a bluish tinged milk? Well 5-6 wet nappies in last 24 hours and bluish tinged milk. Your milk has come in. But it didn't hurt and my breasts aren't really changing. Not everyone has a feeling of fullness, particularly if Anika has been attached a lot, she's probably removing it as quickly as it's being made. Oh. Just let her stay at the breast as much as she wants as the more milk she removes and stimulates your nipples, your body will be signaled to produce more milk. Right. Then came the mega breast feeding frenzies.
One of the biggest indicators my milk had come in was when Anika started screaming after a feed. She was inconsolable for the first time. OMG what was wrong with her??!!! I had a house full of people and Anika was beside herself. I was beside myself. Ring the midwife. Midwife tells me that sometimes when a baby gets a full belly for the first time it can be uncomfortable and they cry. Change her nappy, swaddle her and hold her, talk to her. Right, we do that, she's still crying. Finally after 20 minutes and my Mum saving the day, she settles down (Mum is like the baby whisperer!!). This screaming now occurs after EVERY feed 24/7, which means EVERY 2-3 hours, for the next week or so. So I do the feed, which sometimes can go on for up to 3 hours! Hubby takes bub away to scream in another room so I can try and get some sleep. Meanwhile, Anika NEVER gets put down. She was either being fed, or being held to comfort her after a feed. Then it was time for the next feed again. Those early days were grueling.
Whilst other people had issues of leakage and pain on latching, I had issues that Anika's feeds seemed never ending. There was advice coming at me from all angles: 'you know they get most of what they need in the first 10 minutes and the rest is comfort sucking, don't be afraid to pull her off, she will be full' or; 'let her stay at the breast as long as she wants as it will stimulate more milk'. Could the advice be more polar opposite???
I was firmly planted on the couch for hours and hours on end watching Being Erica, Drop Dead Diva, The Mentalist, Chuck, How I Met Your Mother + lots of movies. My bum was sore.
Then there were the times when the feed seemed to drag on and on for hours and I just kept swapping her from side to side. Better check the internet and see what this is all about. Hmmmm...... looks like cluster feeding.
Cluster feeding: A pattern of feeding behaviour, predominantly in newborns, in which feeds are grouped closely together. Often this pattern occurs in the evenings to increase caloric intake to enable longer stretches of sleep over night and to boost milk supply during a growth spurt.
Well Anika's feeding pattern certainly seemed to fit the bill, but it didn't help with any longer stretches of sleep! We were still up every 2-3 hours over night for feeds. In hindsight, I wonder if Anika was getting enough milk. I kept saying to myself, she's got enough wet nappies, she's gaining about 180 grams a week and staying on the 10th percentile. She must be getting enough.
What's a growth spurt? I find out these are meant to occur at 10 days, 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 12 weeks, 4 months and 6 months. Fussier period where baby might eat more frequently and stay at the breast longer. Well for us, Anika seemed to be going through and eternal growth spurt. My husband talked to a Paediatrician at work who said that babies who were under nourished in the womb often came out really hungry and sometimes took up to a year to catch up to their potential. No one had told me that! So here I had a baby who was desperately trying to feed and reach her potential. I just didn't have enough for her appetite in the end............
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