Breastfeeding

I knew I always wanted to breast feed my babies even before I tried getting pregnant for a few reasons; (1) It is way cheaper than formula, you save an average $720 dollars (2) It creates a special bond between mama a baby (3) It helps shrink your uterus and slows the bleeding from delivery (4) Your menstrual cycle will take longer to come back, and who wouldn't want that, and (5) It is incredibly healthy for both mama and baby.  I found a awesome timeline of a breastfed baby at http://www.thealphaparent.com/2011/12/timeline-of-breastfed-baby.html?fb_action_ids=4720369129739&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=246965925417366  and want to share some of the highlighted points.

- The very first feed helps to stabilize baby's blood sugars and protect baby's gut.

- The first few days you will produce colostrum, which is thick and sticky and your baby will only need about 3-4 teaspoons daily.  This is high in protein, fat-soluble vitamins, and minerals, as well as antibodies that protect your baby from bacterial and viral illnesses.

- A hormone oxytocin is release into the mothers body when she nurses which causes the uterus to shrink and regain its tone after birth protecting the mother from excessive bleeding as she recovers.

- By day 4 of breastfeeding you have giving your baby their first and easiest "immunisation" (antibody rich colostrum) and helped to get their digestive system running smoothly.

-By exclusively breastfeeding for at least 1 month you have given your baby significant protection against food allergy's at 3 years of age, and also against respiratory allergy at 17 years of age.

-By breastfeeding for 6 weeks means that your child now has less risk of chest infections up to 7 years old.

- Newborns who are not breastfed are much more likely to get sick or be hospitalized, and have many more digestive problems than breastfed babies.

- Breastfeeding enhances your baby's antibody response, strengthening the effectiveness of the vaccine.  Nursing during the vaccination process also offers your baby a unique level of pain relief.

- By breastfeeding exclusively for 2 months, your child now has a lower risk of food allergy at 3 years of age.

- During the three to six month period your body hits a fat-burning period and helps to use up the fat stores you laid down in pregnancy.  Breastfeeding also burns an extra 500 calories a day.

- By breastfeeding for 3 months you have given your baby a 27 percent reduction in the risk of asthma if you have no family history and a 40 percent reduction if you do have a family history.

- At three months you have also given your baby between a 19 and 27 percent reduction in incidence of childhood Type 1 Diabetes.

- By breastfeeding for 4 months you have given your baby a strong protection against ear infections and respiratory tract diseases for a whole year, and you have reduced your baby's risk of cot death.

- Also by breastfeeding for 4 months you have given your child a lower risk of developing eczema and asthma.

- After the first 6 months, breastfed babies tend to be leaner than formula-fed baby's.

- By breastfeeding for 6 months you have given your baby significant protection against eczema during their first 3 years, and a 19 percent decrease in the risk of childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia and a 15 percent decrease in the risk of acute myelogenous leukemia.

- Baby's breastfed for 7-9 months have a higher intelligence than those breastfed for less than seven months.

- Breastfed babies are commonly more alert and more active than babies who received formula.

- By breastfeeding for 1 year you will have given you child many health benefits that will has their whole life.  They will have a stronger immune system and will be much less likely to need orthodontia or speech therapy. 

- Children breastfed for at least 1 year are more likely to display better social adjustment when they begin school.  They also have a lower risk of becoming overweight later in life and have lower risk factors for heart disease as an adult.

- Breastfed toddlers between 16 and 30 months old have been found to have fewer types and shorter duration of illness and to require less medical care than their non-breastfed peers.

As long as you breastfed you will provide your child with essential proteins, nutrients, antibodies and other protective substances.  Human biology is geared to a weaning age of between 2 1/2 to 7 years, because it takes that long for a child's immune system to fully mature.

My breastfeeding experience started off a bit ruff, even though I took 3 different breastfeeding classes.  When Hailee was born at 36 week she was not strong enough to latch and move much, I tried for two days before the doctor had me start expressing to feed her with a syringe because she had lost 12 percent of her body weight already.  I was sad but determined not to give up.  The doctors would not release us from the hospital with her eating out of a syringe so we gave her a bottle if breast milk because we were ready to go home after being their for six days and sleeping on a fold out chair in pediatrics.  After she had the bottle she wanted nothing to do with even trying to breastfeed, I was heartbroken but not ready to give up.  Once we got home I kept trying and after a couple days I could get her to nurse if I was laying on my side in our bed.  At about 2 weeks old she was exclusively breastfeeding and we no longer needed the bottle.  I feel that the first month is really hard, and you will be exhausted, especially at night, but if you make it through the first month you should be good to go.  It is way easier than having to scrub out bottles and warm them up.

One month pictures of Hailee

Instead of paying for professional pictures every month I have decided to take my own pictures and edit them on my computer.  I googled free photo editors and a bunch came up.  The one I used for these pictures was fotoflexer.com, I thought they turned out pretty good for my first time.  It was quit challenging taking pictures of her, we took like 20 to every 1 I liked well enough to edit.  Good thing for digital cameras.

Little Hailee



We have a new addition to our family, little Hailee was born on August 1st at 1:47am. She was 6.5lbs and 18.5 inches long and even though she decided to come out a month early, she is healthier than ever.

Her very first picture, she is less than 5 minutes old

 

Hailee sleeping on her mama

 

She has the blackest hair, and lots of it, I think it will lighten though

 

First picture we got with her eyes open

 

The day we were supposed to go home she got Jaundice and had to go under the lights for about 15 hours.  This was the first time I cryed since she was born, it was heartbreaking because she would cry and we couldn't hold her, except 20 minutes every 3 hours.

Six days old and we are finally ready to go home

 

 

The day I had little miss Hailee was a bit of a surprise, well I knew that something had changed the night before because I did not sleep much and had to get up 11 times to pee from 10pm to when my husband left for work at 5am.  Normally I only got up about 5 times at this point.  I had an appointment for my weekly checkup that afternoon anyway so I figured I would just talk to them then.  This was my 36 week checkup and everything looked great so they weren't going to check me for dilation.  I insisted that something felt different and I have been peeing a lot extra, and they finally agreed to check me.  When the doctor checked me he was shocked because I was already dilated to 6cm, he sent me straight up to labor and delivery.  I called my husband and told him to get his but to the hospital because we were having a baby today.  I didn't feel any contractions until about 3:30pm, at 10pm I was still only dilated to 7cm and the contractions weren't to bad.  They decided to break my water and then the contractions really came.  Just when you think they are strong, they get even stronger.  I had it in my mind I was going to have a completely natural birth before I even got pregnant.  I did really good until I hit 9cm, then I literally thought I was dieing.  Lucky for me I went from 9 to 10 in about 5 minutes and my body started pushing by itself.  I pushed for about 2 hours because she was face up, which makes it harder, before she stayed crowned.  Then it took about 3 pushes and she was here.   We spent 6 days in the hospital because Hailee got Jaundice and lost 12% of her birth weigh, she went down to 5.9lbs.  Then we were free to go.