Dear Friends,
I gave birth to a baby girl on Sunday, #4 for me. My previous child will
be 3 in July. I did not feel it was that long ago, but after having this
baby, I saw this whole experience has been very enlightening for me in
terms of my teaching and clinical practice. Too bad the IBLCE can't make
having a baby and BF a requirement for certification every few years! I
thought I would share some of the conclusions I have come to.
1. Until this baby was born, I was confidently telling clients that BF
really shouldn't hurt if the latch and all else is good. There could be
some discomfort before MER, but not pain. I very specifically felt pain in
the first few days before my milk came in, just from feeling like my
nipples felt very "meaty" and tough since I last finished BF 10 months ago.
I had no cracks and was crazy to make sure baby was latched on well at all
times. So I think I will rephrase things with my clients and have to give
more support and not assume in my head that if there is pain something
*must* be wrong (of course after ruling out all other options). I think
pain could be normal until the milk comes in.
2. This is just an observation, but getting a good latch on yourself to
me was much harder that showing my clients on them. The angle is totally
different, and sometimes it is very hard to see! I like to think I am
experienced, but even for me it took time and patience. I will therefore
have that much more patience now with my clients when I feel like it is
taking them *forever* to get it.
3. There can never be enough verbal support and encouragement that we can
give to a mother. I came home for the first time the same day after the
birth. In Israel, there was no rooming in when I had my other 3 kids,
(there still isn't really) and I guess I never really knew what babies do
in the nursery. I thought in the first 24 hours almost all babies slept.
My baby was up and latched with eyes open for about 30 out of the first 48
hours until my milk came in. I found this very interesting. Maybe I
should rephrase that. I was exhausted, at the end of my rope, and felt
like I would collapse. Let me tell you, with the amount of knowledge I
had, and intellectually knowing I was doing everything right, I still heard
a little voice saying.. "Maybe she's starving, you are doing something
wrong, it's the middle of the night and you have no formula...." Of course
we made it through and all is well, but I was thinking as I was up and
thouroughly exhausted, "wow, imagine a new mother not knowledgeable in BF,
or someone who is not an LC, if I am having such a hard time, a first time
mother would be going bananas. So the point being, let's keep up the good
work, giving knowledge and emotional and tons of verbal support to all
these mothers that we work with.
4. To some, BF will be a easy, natural process. To others, it will take
work to make it go smoothly, even if they are doing everything they should.
The best analogy I heard on Lactnet was someone who compared it to sex,
and said that for some the first time is not neccessarily so smooth, but
each time gets better...
I'm curious to know if anyone else who had recent babies felt they gained
for their professional outlook.
Hope I didn't bore you guys to much...
Jessica Billowitz, IBCLC
Israel
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