My breastfeeding experience.

Breast-feeding did not come easily to me.. My baby and I both struggled a lot to get it right.
I had a C-sec and the milk started setting in only on day 4. Till then my baby and I were struggling to latch on correctly. PC was not able to suck well and I did wasn't holding him right.
On day 4 a whole lot of milk came in and my breasts were too hard for him to latch on.
I was pumping milk using a machine in the hospital. I brought this up with my gyne as to how I would manage on going home.. She just brushed my fears aside and told me I would be fine..
But it was not so... I got discharged on the evening of day 4. The whole night was a struggle with my baby crying all along and me not able to feed him.. I rushed back to the hospital in the wee hours of morning and pumped some milk for PC. I also bought some big syringes from the hospital and used those for extracting milk thru the day. My the evening of day 5, I was writhing in pain with the use of the syringes and was going nuts.. I called up the doc and she asked me to either hand express or pump out some milk. I did not know the technique of expressing manually and my mom could not help me in anyway. I then sent my father to a baby store selling imported products to get an electric pump. The pump was damn expensive but it was a blessing on that day... On Day 5 and Day 6 I used the pump to get the milk out and feed PC.. Poor starving PC finally was getting food. The pump though very expensive was not hurting me much and hence I do not regret spending for it. After day 6, the excessive overflow of milk stopped and it was a regulated supply. I was able to directly feed PC . However I was holding him the wrong way and as a result stressing my back beyond words... I used to put him on a pillow, hold his head in my palm and bend forward to feed him.. PC was nursing for an hr and this was extremely hard on my back. We had to visit the paed. on day 6. PC was still losing weight. The doc gave me the number of a lactation consultant and asked me to visit her if I had any feeding issues. I thot it quite wierd to visit a lactation consultant.. When people for ages had fed their babies why couldn't I .. I thot it was just teething trouble and we would be fine soon.
However I was quite wrong.. Feeding was getting tougher by the day... I bending down to feed him and the feeding sessions lasting 45 minutes every hour or two.
I pulled along for the next 4-5 days when PC started biting my nipples with his sharp jaws.
I was surprised to find that a new-born could bite me so hard with his jaws... His jaws were razor sharp and my nipples got really sore... I was dreading every feeding session which is when I decided that I could not take it in my stride any more and rushed to the lactation consultant..
She spent just about half an hour with me and taught me the tricks of the trade.. She taught me two very comfortable positions. One where I could lean back on a couch or against a wall while feeding him and two lying down sideways and feeding him...I regretted having delayed in visiting her. I could have avoided all the tensions and stress and PC's incessant wails if I had gone to her the previous week. My problem seemed solved at that moment... Little did I anticipate more issues in feeding.. PC was feeding all the time...From whatever I read I thot babies fed every 2-3 hours.. But PC would hardly give me a break of 30 minutes at the max.
He would not quiet down by walking him around or rocking him or singing to him and everyone at home would demand that I feed him..I was going crazy feeding him all the time..
He was hardly sleeping when I thot new-borns slept for 18-20 hours.. He would however sleep well after a drive.. I would beg my husband to take us for a drive so that I could get some rest atleast for a couple of hours but he never did that....
My mother was of the opinion that I was not generating enough milk and hence he was feeding all the time.. She was strongly suggesting starting some substitute food.. She even discussed the matter with my maid who also told her that babies cry all the time if the mother did not have enough milk.... So there I was.... with no support from my husband to get some rest and a mother who was advocating all the time to start a feed or two of Lactogen and a newborn crying all thru the day and night. However I have to mention the support I got from my younger brother. He was the only one who seemed to understand me. He is far away in the US. How I wish he was near me at that time.. I would speak to him for hours about my issue. And he would always encourage me. My younger brother is a very well read person, so no surprises on how he could advice on breastfeeding :))
I had a steely resolve that my baby would get only breastmilk for 6 months. MY ONLY ANSWER TO EVERYONE WHO TOLD ME I DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH MILK WAS THAT IF WOMEN ON THE ROADS IN INDIA CAN EXCLUSIVELY BREASTFEED SO CAN I.... I was too determined to exclusively breastfeed and the Scorpion that I am, I did not allow anyone to change my mind, not even my mother though I was very very irritated with her constantly repeating that I was not producing enough milk and the baby was starving without substitute food.
I would feed him as much as I could and then hand him over to my father or mother when I was too tired... He would continue to bawl but I would deny feeding him to get the much needed rest.
My father and mother would try their best to quiet him...

We again visited the paed. on Day 24. PC had still not reached his birth weight by then and this was a cause for concern and also caused a lot of tension at home... I was blamed for denying him the feeds at times... But nothing made me change my mind and start substitute food.
I again went to the lactation consultant the same evening... She was a very sweet doc who would patiently understand my issues and give me solutions. I trusted her the most to get me out of my problem..She explained to me that I was a feeding machine for the first 2 months and there was nothing wrong if the baby demanded long feeds.

I then decided to feed him as much as he demanded... The night feedings were the longest...
I would start at 11pm and feed him till 3 am after which he would sleep for a couple of hours..
I was literally feeding him all the time maybe for about 20-21 hrs in a day... I searched the web and found other women in such situations too.. So I just dumped the idea of feeding every 2-3 hours and nursed as long as PC wanted to....
PC's weight then started going up..... And in a few days time he was picking very well...
He reached his average weight when he was about 6 weeks.. And by 10 weeks he had gone well above his average weight... All this by exclusive breast feeding...
The feeding frequency did come down after about 8 weeks. After that nursing him was no longer an issue...He would nurse only every 2-3 hours and the nursing sessions also lasted only for 10-15 minutes. The poor baby had to feed all the time initially to achieve the regular growth and also to catch up on his lost weight.
Today the paed. keeps complimenting me that both of us have done a wonderful job.
So all those mothers who have decided to breastfeed, please stick to your decision. Don't allow anyone to change your mind..Be patient and things will definitely settle down.
I am so glad that I did not for a second think about alternate feeding... I am soo glad that I nursed him to good health... I am so glad that I did not heed to my mother's advice, ignored my husband's lack of support and did what I wanted to.