Loretta is 9.5 months old. So far breastfeeding with her has been even smoother than with Estelle.
We had our golden hour at the birth center and Loretta latched right away. The only hiccup was she was a bit jaundiced, since I already had a scheduled doctor's appointment for 2 days after she was born. She did have to wear the bilirubin blanket. The worst part about that whole thing is the daily blood draws. But once my milk really came in over those initial days, she was back up to birth weight within 2 weeks. The birth center hosts a great breastfeeding support group and a lactation consultant is there every week (pre-covid) to help do weighted feeds, and positioning support.
One thing that has been different is our sleeping situation. Estelle slept in a rock 'n play, before they were recalled, in our room, until she was probably 7months old. EEK. I know. I'm happy we were able to live and learn on that one. Then we transitioned her to a crib in her room. With Loretta, she slept in a bedside bassinet, until she reached the weight limits. We were not super prepared on what we were going to do for the next phase, so then she mostly slept in bed with us, and on our bed for naps. This phase had to end when she started to be pretty mobile, which was around 7 months. We then switched Estelle to a toddler bed, and moved the crib into our room. I'm really interested in doing a floor bed, and having the girls share it. There are lots of steps in between that though. We might have to switch the rooms in our current house, or maybe we can do it when we move.
OK, so that was a tangent. But sleeping set up relates to breastfeeding because it was, and still is, easier to breastfeed with the baby in your room. Now I realize there are other reasons to not have the baby in your room, but breastfeeding is not one of them in my opinion. My favorite position to breastfeed in bed is side lying or laid back breastfeeding. I still do this, and Anselm will move Loretta back to her crib after she's fallen back asleep.
When Estelle moved to her own room, I would hear her wake up on the monitor and go in her room, sit in the rocking chair to nurse her, lay her back down, go back in my bed. she didn't sleep through the night until she was almost a year, or honestly it probably coincided with weaning, so it was kind of a rough stretch there for a couple of months.
So there you have it. That's my breastfeeding experience, in 2 long posts.
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