I'd like to pull the plug. please!
I thought I knew breastfeeding pain.
The first couple of days feeding Mela (and Nathan, too - turns out it's not a lot better with the second) was sheer agony.
Slowly, over time, it gets better though and you learn some tricks to cope (ask me about creams if you ever need one).
At least that pain is restricted to just the nipple, though (stop now if this is too much information).
I woke up this morning with a blocked milk duct.
It felt like a burning, rock-hard ball of lava had taken up residence in my left breast and was in no hurry to leave.
Luckily, I've read enough books about breastfeeding over the past two years to fill a hospital, so I knew what it was right away. And it commonly happens when your baby's eating less (i.e. sleeping longer at night and hoovering gigantic servings of pureed peaches), so I guess it wasn't totally unexpected.
And I knew that the best way to treat it frequent nursing. So I rolled over and started to nurse Nathan.
Mistake! Let's just say that the pain of nursing when you have a blocked duct, while not labour class, is so intense that you should first insert some kind of hard object (a pen will do in a pinch) in your mouth so you can bite down while the lava ball explodes and tries to shoot out the nipple.
Love the breastfeeding.
So now I'm popping Ibuprofen again and cuddling with a hot water bottle. Apparently it usually only lasts about 24 hours, so it shouldn't be that bad. And luckily, I'm still on antibiotics from the crazy cold, so I don't have to worry about it turning nasty (e.g. mastitis).
It's a good thing this baby won't take a bottle ...
No pics but here's a video of Nathan today, just because he reminded me a little of his cousin Jenny. (p.s. he was laughing out loud at the chirping before I turned the camera on!) ...
The first couple of days feeding Mela (and Nathan, too - turns out it's not a lot better with the second) was sheer agony.
Slowly, over time, it gets better though and you learn some tricks to cope (ask me about creams if you ever need one).
At least that pain is restricted to just the nipple, though (stop now if this is too much information).
I woke up this morning with a blocked milk duct.
It felt like a burning, rock-hard ball of lava had taken up residence in my left breast and was in no hurry to leave.
Luckily, I've read enough books about breastfeeding over the past two years to fill a hospital, so I knew what it was right away. And it commonly happens when your baby's eating less (i.e. sleeping longer at night and hoovering gigantic servings of pureed peaches), so I guess it wasn't totally unexpected.
And I knew that the best way to treat it frequent nursing. So I rolled over and started to nurse Nathan.
Mistake! Let's just say that the pain of nursing when you have a blocked duct, while not labour class, is so intense that you should first insert some kind of hard object (a pen will do in a pinch) in your mouth so you can bite down while the lava ball explodes and tries to shoot out the nipple.
Love the breastfeeding.
So now I'm popping Ibuprofen again and cuddling with a hot water bottle. Apparently it usually only lasts about 24 hours, so it shouldn't be that bad. And luckily, I'm still on antibiotics from the crazy cold, so I don't have to worry about it turning nasty (e.g. mastitis).
It's a good thing this baby won't take a bottle ...
No pics but here's a video of Nathan today, just because he reminded me a little of his cousin Jenny. (p.s. he was laughing out loud at the chirping before I turned the camera on!) ...
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