Kale Stems: Not as easy to eat as milk!
Breastfeeding can be one of the hardest things you stick to as a green mom. I found the rockiest part to be the first few weeks as you and the baby learn to breastfeed (yes, there is a pretty substantial learning curve), but later, just when you feel you've got everything figured out, something new crops up. What's worse is that everyone seems to have different experiences and problems and some solutions aren't always cut and dried. I'll narrate my experience below, but the point of this post is to point you towards the Kelly Mom site. Any time I had a really, really tough problem and either couldn't find the answer or found only conflicting answers, Kelly Mom came through with the right explanation and suggestions. Bookmark this site, it is the best of the best when it comes to breastfeeding questions and issues.
There's nothing like solving a major problem to make you feel like the smartest mom in the world. I had two major problems and a minor, recurring problem in the last ten months. Fair warning: by nature of this subject, this can become "graphic" (that is, unless you're a breastfeeding mom - in that case this is perfectly normal literature).
First Major Issue
At around 4 weeks, Alison became very, very upset after each feeding and burped a lot (when we could get her to). There were signs that she wasn't getting enough hindmilk (based on "output") and I just couldn't figure out why. I tried block feeding. I tried holding her more upright during feedings and for another 30 minutes after she ate (which is tough to do when the baby doesn't have full control of her head). The problem ended up being an overactive letdown reflex and possibly oversupply. Imagine getting your water delivered to you through a firehose and there's no wonder why a baby would have gas and be generally irritated. It took us several weeks to figure that out, but the fix was simple: just stop feeding for a few seconds after letdown, let the flow calm down, then continue.
Reoccurring Issue
I feel lucky that I've never had to deal with mastitis. I do occasionally get a blocked duct. I find that if I apply heat, massage, and feed the baby directly (instead of pumping) for 24 hours, that's all it usually takes to fix the duct.
Worst Issue Ever
At around six months, I started having soreness, then eventually shooting pains in my breasts. These were not benign shooting pains, they felt like a giant fireball pulsing through me like lightening every few seconds during and after feedings. To make a very looooong story short, doctors, in spite of lack of visual evidence, deduced that it must be a fungal infection (like thrush). The medicine we got, however, wasn't working. In fact, the only time I'd get real relief was when I pumped. To me, this meant it was something Allie was doing. I decided to take some time off and pump exclusively for a week and a half to let things heal. My supply dropped and I used up all of the back-up I had in the freezer - right down to the last bag, before I started breastfeeding again. I also concentrated on correcting the latch process, which had gone downhill in the past few weeks. The time off fixed the problem and we've been good to go ever since. I hadn't figured out what the problem was until a friend sent me this link. Vasospasm, that one scary little word, describes exactly what I was going through. It doesn't seem to be very common because most breastfeeding forums concentrate on mastitis and thrush. Here's hoping this doesn't happen to you, but if it does, try pumping!
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