Milk

I'm glad that my sister's new baby is so close in age to my own Mr. X. As first time mothers, the two of us can talk and ask questions about one another's experiences as we learn to be mothers to our children.

My sister is nursing her daughter, and had the usual troubles at first -- sore nipples was the biggest problem. Then, her milk came in! She was painfully engorged, and nursing could only relieve that feeling so much. She didn't have a breast pump, so she called one of her girlfriends who helped her out by picking one up at Target. She said that she gets really engorged, and so if little Ramona doesn't nurse right on schedule, she pumps and produces about 3 oz. each time, which is really great for being so early on. As of now, it looks like she will have no problem maintaining a plentiful supply, and so Ramona will be exclusively breastfed, or at least consume breastmilk only.

I, on the other hand, wanted to exclusively breastfeed X, but ended up not being able to do so. I think I read somewhere, in passing, that PCOS can cause issues with milk production, but I never followed up on it because at first, everything seemed to be going okay. Looking back, though, I never had the moment where I went,"OH MY GOD, MY BOOBS!!!" from the engorgement of the milk coming in. In fact, I think I only got really engorged once or twice.

At any rate, at about two or three weeks of age, X got SO hungry that he just cried and cried, even though I was trying to nurse him whenever he gave the slightest indication that he might be hungry. So, I finally broke down and consented to giving him some of the formula that we received as samples at the hospital. He gulped it down like he hadn't eaten since birth! I knew at that moment that I would do whatever it took to make sure X was fed and, more important, satisfied after each feeding.

Now, six months in, he is primarily formula fed. I do still pump at work and we nurse in the morning and at night, but I know that I just don't produce enough to feed him exclusively with breast milk. I'm glad I have stuck with it, though, and that I am able to breastfeed at all. I'll be sad when he weans himself from nursing. Until then, I'll cuddle him close and love every second of that special time that he and I have together.