Down to the Wire

So, I had every intention of posting earlier but just did not happen.  And for those of you who will ask...I did log my calorie intake today and I did walk.  But to be honest the food consumed needs to be healthier picks.

I will head out of town tomorrow.  This will be the first time in nine months that I have been away from husband and children.  Actually, it's probably been longer than nine months but I really can't remember when was the last time.  Once I'm finished blogging, I'll need to go pump.  Numero Uno will be in charge of feeding little man and I really hope I have enough milk in storage for him.

As crazy as this may sound, my first real conversation about nursing an infant came from an old boyfriend's family.  Crazy, right?  Now knowing me and my love with big families and farm living, you can understand how fascinated I became with this guy's big Catholic, chicken raising family.  Plus they were Cajun to boot!  I remember his father telling me (after I had seen a home video in which the mom was nursing her baby while the family was doing something - can't remember I was in shock of seeing a woman nursing) that nursing an infant was the most natural thing in the world.  He must've seen the look of sheer horror on my face like something terrible was going down.  Please understand, I was raised in a family where nothing related to being a female was discussed - nothing.  I'm sure there is a reason for this - I do not know the reason, but I'm sure there is one.  And what a married couple did together was called "it".  So suffice it to say I was clueless about breastfeeding but immediately curious.  Fast forward six years to the birth of Dos and I wanted to breastfeed.  My sister pioneered the way in my family as she has for many things and she was a success at breastfeeding.  Naturally, I thought it would be just as easy.  Not so.  I had read all kinds of materials (okay,one book), attended seminars (okay, one seminar which was recommended by the hospital where I would give birth), and talked with my sister.  Now my sister was working at the time of her first child and pumped ALL THE TIME.  When she used a breast pump, she would get between 8 - 10 ounces of milk.  She told me to only buy the Medela pump and I forked out the big bucks for it and just knew this was gonna be easy peasy.  When I pump, even now, I get two ounces out at best - 2 ounces!!
By the time Dos was six weeks, I was supplementing formula.  I gave up when he was four months.  Now there is a plethora of advice you will get when nursing (or when you're graduating from anywhere, getting married, or are pregnant) and honestly some of those women scared me.  I heard nightmares of how they just nurse their baby anywhere and every hour and a half.  EVERY HOUR AND A HALF?  What kind of life do they have?  Well that was not gonna be me.  And it wasn't. 
When Tres came along I was determined to do better and I did.  I nursed her completely, no formula, for the first five months.  I still remember when I stopped.  It was the day she turned 5 months old.  I thought she wasn't getting enough milk. 
Quattro will be 9 months next week and we're still nursing.  My goal is to nurse til he's one.  We'll see how it goes but I'm proud of myself for making it thus far.

So what made the difference?  What did I learn?  I'll share with you.  Take it or leave it.
1.  Do not let your newborn sleep past the 3 hour mark.  Meaning, feed your infant every 3 hours, counting from when you first started feeding him til the next feeding.  For example, if you fed your baby at 6:00 a.m. then you will feed again at 9:00 a.m.  I learned to wake mine up and it actually worked to regulate their metabolism and as they got older this helped them to sleep LONGER.  Trust me, I've used it on three babies.
2.  Your newborn needs to do three things in this exact order: eat, wake time, sleep.  DO NOT let him/her eat, sleep, then wake time.  It will mess with their long lasting sleep schedule as they grow older.
3.  Drink half your weight in water in ounces.  Let me explain because when I first heard this I thought I would need to drink 80 bottles of water a day and had no clue as to how I was going to accomplish this much less do anything else.  I weigh 160 pounds; therefore, I need to drink 80 ounces of water a day (or 10 glasses of water a day).  It helps.
4.  If your milk supply is feeling low, drink Mother's Tea or it may be called Mother's Milk.  It contains certain herbs that stimulate milk production.  DO NOT start this until after baby is born.  The night before I had Quattro, I made this tea, bottled it up for the hospital and began drinking it shortly after he was born.
5.  TRY, TRY, TRY to not put a lot of pressure on yourself to be a perfect, breastfeeding mother.  Tell yourself (as I often do), "It's gonna be okay.  We (meaning me and baby) can do this.  I got this. Just relax."
6.  Find a quiet spot to nurse each time.  I've found that Quattro will eat better when it's just me and him in the rocker.  He is easily distracted by the other four family members and two dogs:)
7.  Make a "Nursing Caddy" for your quiet spot.  A friend gave me a diaper caddy and I wasn't sure I would use it until another friend suggested I make it my Nursing Caddy.  It was a HUGE help during the first few weeks of nursing.  It contained: hand sanitizer, back up pacifier, wet wipes, lanolin (NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT), nursing pads, diapers, feeding schedule charts, ink pen, thermometer, blue nasal suction thingie, hand lotion.  This bad boy was a lifesaver.
8.  It is okay to veer away from the schedule every once in a while.  There have been times when it has been less than three hours and little man is fussy and I'll nurse him.  But I will caution this has been the rare case.  You do not want to get into the habit of feeding every hour and a half to two hours. 
9.  Enjoy.  It is the truth what you hear from so many women: this is some of the most beautiful, precious bonding times you will have with your child and only YOU can share it with him/her.