Raising Rials: Charlotte Rose Week 2-3: Reality Check

It has definitely been a trying couple of weeks for us. Like everything else, I though we'd get the hang of breastfeeding fairly easily, but we have been proven wrong. I never knew how much went into feeding your infant; the mechanics of not just her, but you as well. And how much anatomy plays a huge role in it.

We started having issues about 10 days in. I was so uncomfortable sitting and nursing, due to the recovery from delivery, that I was attempting to nurse Charlotte in a variety of positions. Soon after I started to feel pain when breastfeeding on my right side. In fact, I had encountered some tissue damage leaving me to pump on my right side. So we were exclusively breastfeeding only on the left. Within days, my left side started to suffer from tissue damage as well and Charlotte was having difficulty staying latched on and had started to click when nursing.

Things progressed very rapidly and I was in excruciating pain, dreading our next feeding session. With multiple calls to various lactation consultants, we were finally seen Tues April 29 at the ArizonaBreastfeeding Center. I immediately fell in love with our consultant Jennie. The atmosphere of the treatment rooms were very nice with many different options of comfy seating. Thankfully my mom was with me for this appointment and was able to help out with Charlotte while I spoke with the lactation consultant.

Her diagnosis was that I did not have thrush, which I was thankful for. This meant Charlotte didn't have it either and hopefully recovery would be more simple. We did discover however that I have a bacterial infection in both breasts and was on the verge of mastitis. The consultant recommended I rent a hospital grade breast pump for the next couple of weeks to help with the healing process and make pumping easier as I was unable to breastfeeding at all. In addition, I was prescribed a topical ointment that has nearly resolved all of my pain thus far.

When it came to Charlotte's turn, things weren't so simple. The consultant suggested we get an evaluation for tongue-tie as soon as possible, as well as upper lip tie. If she in fact had them severely enough, it was possible for her to have a procedure by the end of the week to improve her latch. In addition, her jaw and neck were very tight, limiting her ability to open her mouth for a correct latch. This was Tuesday, by Wednesday we had her tongue-tie evaluation, Thursday an appointment with her pediatrician for a second opinion as well as to work on her neck and jaw since he is also an Osteopath, and by Friday we were taking her in to get her tongue-tie corrected.

It was a whirlwind of a week but I'm so thankful we got this taken care of when we did. She was fussy for a few days, and infant Tylenol definitely helped with that. We are being very diligent with her mouth and tongue exercises to improve her range of motion with her tongue as well as improve her sucking ability and jaw range of motion.

And although all of Charlotte's issues have been addressed it has been emotionally taxing for me. Pumping is no fun at all! If I'm lucky enough to get 3 hours between feedings, half of that is taken up with pumping, taking care of myself, and then changing and feeding Charlotte. We had to start implementing paced feedings, which means that when we feed her a bottle of breastmilk we can only have her take a few sucks of it, then do mouth exercises with her in between, stretching the feeding out to 20-25 minute sessions or else she guzzles the bottle within 5 minutes and wants more even though she is full to the brim. And with Jeremy going back to work, my mom home for a few days, there were definitely some "Baby Blue" days in the mix. Having to pump when Charlotte wouldn't stop crying definitely sent me into a sob session of my own.

I have to say that I am so glad we are over that hump now and things are starting to get easier. Here are a few pictures of our week: