My saga on having two kids: Nursing

After having gone through nursing a baby into toddlerhood with Evan, I thought that nursing the second time around would be a breeze.  And don't get me wrong, it has been much easier, but not at first.  In fact, I experienced more hormone-driven "melt downs" at the hospital after having Emma and not being able to get her to latch on (typically in the middle of the night feedings, which I was not at all accustomed to being awake in those hours yet).  I think part of the challenge was that the nursing staff at this hospital where we had Emma were no where nearly as hands on with us (helping us wake up to feed Emma, and helping with the feeding, being super on top of my care and medications, etc) like the hospital nursing staff where we had Evan.  With Evan they had lactation consulting nurses on staff day and night and were there to assist with most of my nursing sessions (showing me positions, teaching John how to support me with pillows, etc).  Beyond the lack of help, I think my mindset for nursing thist time was also all wrong.  I figured "I've been here done this, so it should come easy".  And sure, I already knew the positions and supporting and scheduling aspects, but what I forgot about was that Emma didn't know those things.  I had become so used to nursing an older infant/young toddler (who knew exactly what to do when presented with my breast), that I forgot that a newborn needed to be guided to the nipple and nearly forced to latch on.  That said, I didn't end up with nearly as sore as nipples as I had in those first few days nursing Evan, so either I was better about understanding when latch was bad and making sure to re-latch, or my nipples were just tougher, or maybe a mix of both.

Beyond those early days, there have been a lot of things about nursing that are easier this second time around based on lessons I learned with Evan.  The number one thing was that I learned to plan early on pumping and storing milk.  With Evan I was so overwhelmed with feeding him every 3 hours that I had no clue when on earth I should pump to start storing milk.  In part because I only had a manual hand pump at first, and I struggled to get a let down with it (given I had never pumped before I also got quite frustrated and sad that I may not have enough milk supply when I'd pump that thing and not get any milk out).  Then I got my double electric pump and that helped tremendously....so I wish I had it sooner (thus with Emma I had it from the get go).  When I finally figured out when I could try to pump, it was mostly to pump milk that would be used right away for a bottle feeding when I would be gone for an errand, and that also pretty much was just a few weeks before I had to go back to work.  With Emma, I have learned to  pump while my supply is high to keep it higher longer and/or at least have more in store for when back to work.  So, in the early days when I was engorged, I would pump to relieve the pressure, but also to start building my frozen stock.  And I got lucky that Emma was a one side girl in those early days, because I could feed from one side and them pump the other side for my frozen stock. And here we are 6 months later and I still have plenty of frozen milk to go, but I also remember that it was around 6 months that my supply started to tank with Evan too (when I had to start doing extra pumping sessions to make up the milk he would drink in the day while I was away from him).  So far with Emma I haven't been paying attention to if I'm pumping what she's drinking each day.  I would guess I'm probably not, but my back up stock has been filling the gap so far and isn't running too thin just yet.

While I'm on this theme of nursing and having two kids, I should also note that nursing is also the main time I am tied up with Emma that Evan likes to act up.  It's either because he knows I am pretty much tied down and not going to be able to jump up and correct him, or because that's when he knows I'm not paying attention to him and he just wants to do anything to get it.  Because of my preoccupation with feeding Emma, he has gotten away with more than I'd like while I'm nursing.  However, there are a few things he's done that force me to get up (while still nursing her even) to do something about it.  One of those was when he had to go poop (and he wasn't wearing a pull up, but just his big boy underwear).  I swear there's nothing like having a baby on your boob while trying to discipline a toddler or help get them ready to go the bathroom.

I have learned a few tricks to help nursing sessions while I'm also watching Evan.  The main trick is to set him up with something to do before sitting down to nurse.  Typically this involves turning on Barney or another TV show or movie that he wants to watch or letting him play his Nabi or turning on some music and letting him dance; whatever he is most excited about doing, which then I hope will occupy him for the duration of the time that I'm nursing.  Otherwise, as Emma has gotten bigger and better at nursing, I will occasionally nurse her at the kitchen table while Evan eats or down in our playroom while Evan plays with toys there.  Overall, I feel like it's gotten better, such that either I've gotten better at giving him something to do or he's gotten better at accepting the time that I am nursing Emma.  He does try to stop me from nursing her on occasion though either by sitting in my nursing chair before I can sit down with her there, or just by telling me "no, don't feed Emma!"  Sorry buddy, your baby sister has to eat.