The Purple People Feeders
****Disclaimer: Once again I am spouting off about my hooters. If you are not currently breastfeeding or you are a man who is not looking to put the big kabosh on his libido, stop reading here and come back tomorrow for something for the whole class. This will not prove interesting to 99% of the populous and is kind of graphic and possibly quite long. And boring.
Awhile back I told you all that I wasn't going to complain any more about the bottomless pits of pain that my boobs have become. I lied. I went to see the lovely, wonderful, kind hearted Barb, my friend and lactation consultant this week and she was all "giirrrl, um, did you notice that your nipples are ummmm, how do you say? PURPLE!?" Apparently the girls have been used and abused to the point where there is actual bruising. And cracking. Crikey. I also must say that I am so lucky to have Barb to help me, but I usually do not encourage women whom I hang out and drink wine with feel me up. I am desperate, however, so I will just be grateful and get over it as I would not have met her if it were not for the feeling up.
It is interesting because I thought I noticed this change of color about two months ago and when I asked Davey what he thought he said "They are always like that." Then he went back to The Game. When I returned from my appointment with Barb I did what any wife would do and took advantage of the opportunity to make him feel like a real jerk and shoved my mangled mammaries at him and said "I WAS SO RIGHT! THEY ARE FREAKING PURPLE AND BRUISED! FEEL VERY SORRY FOR ME AND PURCHASE JEWELRY. I LIKE DIAMONDS. THEY ARE SHINY." I did not get the response I was hoping for. Instead, he looked, shrugged and was not impressed. Finally he said "Well, they have just looked so haggard since you started nursing again that I couldn't really tell." Then I killed him.
I am not sure exactly the cause of all of this but it seems that I am in a cycle where I am afraid of the pain so it is affecting the milk letdown and so Roob is sucking too much trying to bring in the milk and so around and round we go. There isn't much I can do about it except try to not nurse as frequently by giving her more solids (because she will flip you the bird if you so much as put a bottle in the same room as her), which sounds great in theory, but when the baby is latching onto my mouth and nose and pleading with me, I cannot resist or deny my nittle' preshus baybee. I was totally willing to slink off to my recliner and cry my way through the next 6 months of this, but Barb made the mistake of emailing me to check on how things were going. She will now know better than to do that again after I whined her ear off with my woeful tale of the nipular persuasion.
Heading back in tomorrow to see if there are any further options. Makes me wish for simpler times when the only time I thought about the hooters was when I was trying to keep them from escaping my tank top due to the extreme perkiness. Ha. I no longer suffer from this problem.
Awhile back I told you all that I wasn't going to complain any more about the bottomless pits of pain that my boobs have become. I lied. I went to see the lovely, wonderful, kind hearted Barb, my friend and lactation consultant this week and she was all "giirrrl, um, did you notice that your nipples are ummmm, how do you say? PURPLE!?" Apparently the girls have been used and abused to the point where there is actual bruising. And cracking. Crikey. I also must say that I am so lucky to have Barb to help me, but I usually do not encourage women whom I hang out and drink wine with feel me up. I am desperate, however, so I will just be grateful and get over it as I would not have met her if it were not for the feeling up.
It is interesting because I thought I noticed this change of color about two months ago and when I asked Davey what he thought he said "They are always like that." Then he went back to The Game. When I returned from my appointment with Barb I did what any wife would do and took advantage of the opportunity to make him feel like a real jerk and shoved my mangled mammaries at him and said "I WAS SO RIGHT! THEY ARE FREAKING PURPLE AND BRUISED! FEEL VERY SORRY FOR ME AND PURCHASE JEWELRY. I LIKE DIAMONDS. THEY ARE SHINY." I did not get the response I was hoping for. Instead, he looked, shrugged and was not impressed. Finally he said "Well, they have just looked so haggard since you started nursing again that I couldn't really tell." Then I killed him.
I am not sure exactly the cause of all of this but it seems that I am in a cycle where I am afraid of the pain so it is affecting the milk letdown and so Roob is sucking too much trying to bring in the milk and so around and round we go. There isn't much I can do about it except try to not nurse as frequently by giving her more solids (because she will flip you the bird if you so much as put a bottle in the same room as her), which sounds great in theory, but when the baby is latching onto my mouth and nose and pleading with me, I cannot resist or deny my nittle' preshus baybee. I was totally willing to slink off to my recliner and cry my way through the next 6 months of this, but Barb made the mistake of emailing me to check on how things were going. She will now know better than to do that again after I whined her ear off with my woeful tale of the nipular persuasion.
Heading back in tomorrow to see if there are any further options. Makes me wish for simpler times when the only time I thought about the hooters was when I was trying to keep them from escaping my tank top due to the extreme perkiness. Ha. I no longer suffer from this problem.
posted by Kirsten at
8:28 PM
5 Comments:
Sorry you are bruised and battered. Have no idea what to tell you, but at least only you are purple this time and not you and Roob!
XOXO
Holy crap! I never had that one happen although I would get little hickies when co-sleeping if they latched on in the wrong spot. I hope you figure a way to get her to latch-less maybe? So your boobs can get better! Yikes!
My firstborn nursed like a dream. My second? Let's just say I have no advice to offer because I caved and stopped. I admire your stamina, but gir...don't ever feel guilty for deciding it's too much. You are the only one who knows what your bady can handle.
Hey sista sledge I am gonna get the beat down from all the die hard nursers out there...but Kirdito you can only do so much, you are so beyond the magic (gotta do it or die) 6 week mark...perhaps you should chat with Barb about hanging the hooters up and lettin' them suckers live on to see another day and another kid...Roobers will live believe me:-)
ouch! Ouch! Ouch!
Okay, my thoughts:
I had a 10 pounder that lost 10 percent of his body weight in the first 24 hours. Know how they say babies only need colostrum for the first couple days? Well, that's only true if you have a normal sized baby. If he's say, the size of a 4 month old, well, they can't maintain their body heat without real calories and nutrition. He screamed because he was sooo hungry. My nipples were given a work out that still makes me cringe. Can we say scabs?!
So the hospital insisted on supplementing. Instead of a bottle, we taped a thin, soft, flexible medical tubing from my shoulder ending at the nipple. It connected to a syringe of formula (my milk hadn't come in). As he nursed, I made sure the tubing was in his mouth too and slowly squeezed formula in. Let the gulping begin and the manic sucking slowed down thankfully for my nipples.
So all this is background for a suggestion:
Perhaps, pump with a good hospitable grade pump at night between feedings when you can relax in front of a fire and control the suction level. Try some heat packs and weird, but look at pics of your baby . This always helped when I was pumping extra. Also, drinking lots of water helps.
Then use the breastmilk in a tubing during a couple feedings a day to supplement. He will get more milk and perhaps he will stop suckling so hard. Then maybe you'll relax a bit. I bet a week of respite will do wonders for your poor nipples and also help you relax.
Good luck! Hope this helps!
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