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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us March 6, 2006 Tales From The Crib Truths about breastfeeding often hidden Jennifer Margulis When I first got pregnant I knew I wanted to breastfeed. But when I glanced through the breastfeeding books at the bookstore, I found the diagrams, warnings and advice overwhelming. I closed those books quickly and decided I wasn’t ready to hear about how hard it was. I was afraid, I think, that learning about the pitfalls of breastfeeding would make me succumb to them. I didn’t want to entertain the idea that I wouldn’t be able to nurse. When my oldest was born she knew just what to do. Although her latch-on was perfect, clear blisters formed on my nipples, filled with pus, burst, and became bloody. No worries, the lactation consultant told me, if she’s drinking blood with the milk it’s adding extra protein and iron to her diet. Then I started reading. Six years of lactating and two more children later, I’ve found that, while books about breastfeeding are helpful, they omit a lot. No one ever told me that my breasts would be lopsided (perhaps permanently), or that my nipples would change color — going from a pleasing pink to a dull brown. (Every time I catch a glimpse of them in the mirror I realize I’m still not over that shock.) And who knew that a breastfed baby can go weeks — literally — without pooping and not be constipated? When we took our 6-month-old daughter to the doctor he told us that if a breastfed baby is acting normally in every other way but not pooping, there’s no cause for alarm even if more than a week goes by with no bowel movement. Then the poop came. Think volcanic eruption. James remembers one day when he heard my breathing and Hesperus’s little suckling noises. He looked over at us. I was fast asleep lying on my side while my daughter, wide-eyed and wide awake, happily nursed … … on a breast that was enormous compared to her newborn head. The books do usually mention this but the reality of it is daunting. You’re supposed to feed a baby with boobs that are twice the size of the poor little thing (and get the areola completely in her mouth ... ignore that advice — it’s impossible). Even if you’ve always fantasized about being in the “Sports Illustrated” swimsuit issue, it’s overwhelming to suddenly have such mammoth mammaries. The books also didn’t prepare me for thrush, a hard-to-diagnose nipple infection. The pain of thrush — I’ve had it twice — was worse than the pain of drug-free labor. Thrush is frustrating because it doesn’t really look like anything. Your nipples may get bright red, or they may not. Your doctor may be able to see white patches in the baby’s mouth, or she may not. And it doesn’t respond to conventional anti-fungal prescription medication for weeks, if at all. Seventy percent of thrush cases clear up in three days if you put gentian violet — which stains everything — on your breasts and in the baby’s mouth. Mine didn’t. What finally broke the hold of a tenacious infection (after weeks of taking vitamins, removing sugar and yeast from my diet, eating plain yogurt three times a day, and taking garlic, acidophilus, and fish oil supplements) was grapefruit seed extract. The fifth medical professional I consulted suggested taking 200 mg three times a day orally and applying five drops mixed in one ounce of water to my breasts three times a day. Two days later the infection that had lasted for weeks was gone. That experience also taught me that if you stop nursing abruptly (which I did on one side because the thrush caused a huge crack in my nipple), breast milk can sour in the breast. Not fun. The pain of thrush makes many women give up nursing. I almost did too. No book could ever tell me how glad I would be that I made it through that pain and can once again sit on the couch, cradle my son in my arms with our fat tummies touching, and feel that peace and love and centeredness that comes with “having nummies.” Jennifer Margulis is the author of “Why Babies Do That: Baffling Baby Behavior Explained.” DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams