Another dose of reality: nursing

 

I went to the hospital's breastfeeding class this morning and it was extremely helpful but also a little bit discouraging as to the reality of what's ahead! It was a 3 1/2 hour course that covered in detail different techniques and answered any possible question you could have about it! What surprised me the most is the enormous time committment that it takes to do this successfully! I hope this process isn't as complicated as they made it out to be. 

So I knew that initially we will have to feed him every 3-ish hours, making a total of at least 8 feedings per day. I am over the shock of that. BUT... I figured that after a month or so of breastfeeding him myself, that there would be light at the end of the tunnel (aka a chance of me sleeping some nights and David feeding him a bottle of breast milk.) WRONG!!! So apparently my milk supply will decrease or even stop if I do not maintain the baby's demands for feeding. This all means that I will need to either a) breastfeed him myself at all times OR b) pump at the times that the baby feeds in order to keep my boob trained, while David is bottle feeding him! Either way, this involves ME having to do something! David's really getting off easy again with this whole baby thing! :) 

It just seems like all I will be thinking about is when do I have to feed him/pump next! And they recommend that you continue this for a year?! Yikes. I really want to do it right, because there are so many benefits and we want little Nico to be the healthiest he can be! I'm hoping that it will take just a few weeks, and we will have a routine down.

We went ahead and bought the breast pump last weekend. I know that this trip to the store was especially exciting for David! Ha!