The One Where I Thought I Was a Pro

So I had this lactation specialist call me like three times before I gave birth to Lazy Baby. Asking if I had any questions, or needed any help. Of course I explained, this is my third baby and I had no problems nursing the other two, so I'm an old pro. She gave me her number. I wrote it down on some scratch piece of paper that probably got thrown away the next day.

I nursed Little Man for about 10-11 months, until he pretty much lost interest. Baby Girl was a tough one to wean, she hung on until about 18 months. With both of them I only used the boppy pillow for a couple of weeks and then everything came smoothly and naturally and I would just nurse wherever whenever doing things all the while. It took little effort or concentration on either side.

So here comes Lazy Baby. He came out of my womb rooting and ready to eat. He tried sucking on the arm of the nurse when she tried measuring him. He latched on instantly and took to nursing like he'd been dreaming about it the whole time. The other two took a couple of days to get the hang of it. So I was completely optimistic. Laughed once again at the lactation specialist.

She called two days after we got home from the hospital to see if I wanted her to come for a home visit. I politely declined. In my head I was thinking some not so polite things.

I totally blame her. A few days later was when we started having issues. All of a sudden he forgets how to latch on. I have awful problems trying to get him to realize it's right there in his mouth. We are getting the positioning all wrong, he is favoring the right breast, he's getting frustrated and I'm getting frustrated. And both of my nipples are absolutely killing me, especially the left one. I would swear I had an infection, but there are no cracks, no red spots, nothing that would indicate an infection other than severe pain.

At his first appointment my doctor asks how the nursing is going "great," I lie. I have the whole troop with me, which includes both tween girls. And the last thing I want to do is talk about any problems with my nipples or nursing while they are listening in. And I wish I would have kept the phone number of the lactation specialist. I'm sure that I could call the hospital and get it, but instead I google things and read things in the books I have. And try all sorts of things that just don't seem to alleviate any of our problems.

When we were leaving the hospital my doctor told the nurses to send me home with some nipple cream. But they forgot, and I was in such a hurry to leave that I knew if I reminded them it would take another half an hour to get out of there. So I just figured I would go buy some. But the first time I went to the store and saw how much it costs for the cream ($10!!) I thought forget it, I bought some before I had Little Man and never even used it. I wasn't about to waste $10. A week later I broke down and forked out the cash, wishing that I would have just reminded the nurse.

Despite all of our nursing problems, Lazy Baby is gaining weight like crazy! So then I start thinking that maybe I'm just overfeeding him? I slacked off one day, and things seemed to go a little better, but still not great. I still have a real problem trying to get him to nurse on the left side, which sucks because that would leave my right hand free for other things (eating for one). I've been pumping that side when he refuses it for a couple of feedings.

I wonder what the lactation specialist will think when I hunt down her number and beg her to come for a visit. I think she was secretly willing that to happen.