what i didn't know about breastfeeding

I had heard all about inverted nipples, trouble latching on, and various holds, but I had never heard of an over supply of milk.

I've been really lucky in the breastfeeding department. Q latched on immediately and I haven't had any real issues besides an oversupply of milk, which is a real issue, but probably the best one you can have. Here is a link to symptoms and what to do about it if you do have it.

An important thing to understand about breastfeeding that I hadn't ever heard of was the whole fore vs. hind milk issue. The problem with an over supply of milk is that the baby gets too much fore milk and not enough hind milk.  If you are planning on breastfeeding and haven't heard of it either you should look it up.  There's more that goes into producing milk than I thought.

Less important things I didn't know about breastfeeding was just how thirsty it makes you. I always have to ask my husband to get me a glass of water and I finish my nightly glass half way through the night so I have to have a water bottle near my bed. It also makes you really hungry. Lots more hungry than pregnancy. I would definitely recommend having a large supply of snacks on hand.

I have a boppy pillow, but my back and shoulders still hurt from leaning over too much. I've actually been leaning back and laying the baby across my stomach, especially at night, which is supposed to help with my oversupply problem, using gravity to slow the flow. It seems to help.  I could really use a massage!

I didn't anticipate how much down time I would have while nursing.  I check Facebook on my i-touch a million times a day because there isn't much to do when you're stuck with only one usable arm, especially at 3:00 AM.  I finally started to check my blogs and blog while I'm feeding since it's often when I have ideas of things I'd like to blog about, but I don't get a chance to do it later on.

Breastfeeding can be draining because it takes so much time and only you can do it.  Since I haven't started pumping yet I'm limited to how long I can be gone and it's a big pain breastfeeding in public.  I have my cover but it's hard to keep everything under wraps when Q likes to get on and off and there's milk squirting all over - part of my oversupply problem.  Besides that it's great because I don't have to worry about bringing any bottles with me or making them late at night.  

I wanted to breastfeed but was afraid that it would be weird to have a baby sucking on my boob even though everyone said it was natural.  Luckily it's not weird at all.  It was a little strange the first time, but not nearly as weird as I thought it would be.  Sometimes it hurts a little bit, but not usually and not all that much or for very long when it does.

Q is definitely getting enough food.  He has gained two pounds in three weeks and weighs almost ten pounds.  I'm finally getting mom arms and I've lost 24 lbs in three weeks!  Unfortunately the other 20 pounds will probably take a lot longer.

I'm sure as I continue feeding I'll find new things I had no idea about.  It's definitely a new adventure!