Breastfeeding a Second Baby

What I didn’t expect from breastfeeding again was the pain. I thought I was an old hand, having learned so many valuable lessons the first time around. I was wrong. Whatever challenges I faced in my first experience in breastfeeding occurred again when I gave birth to my daughter. However, now that my daughter is a month old, there’s one thing that is absolutely certain for me: I won’t give up on breastfeeding exclusively.


Preparing for a Second Birth
The decision to breastfeed again was a no-brainer for me. When I gave birth to my eldest in 2006, I had a very difficult time. I didn’t prepare ahead. While I took a childbirth class, I didn’t think I needed any advance preparation for breastfeeding. After I gave birth via CS, I wasn’t able to latch my baby again until after the next day. My mature milk came in a little later (5 days after giving birth) and by then I was panicking. I didn’t know how to latch the baby and suffered from sore nipples and painful breastfeeding for a month. Luckily, I was able to get support from a La Leche League member and I realized that breastfeeding wasn’t meant to be such a painful experience. More than that, after I read a couple of books on breastfeeding (The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding published by the La Leche League and The Breastfeeding Book by attachment parenting advocates Martha and William Sears), I realized why breastfeeding was par none to nurturing my baby.

For my second baby, I didn’t take a second childbirth class anymore but I did read up and prepare for my breastfeeding experience. I’m a volunteer for a breastfeeding support group (LATCH) and I made sure to attend a class prior to giving birth. There’s nothing like psyching yourself up for a better breastfeeding experience.


Same Problems, Faster Learning Curve
After two hours in the recovery room, I requested to room in my baby immediately. I latched on my daughter as often as I could and, at first, I didn’t have any problems. On my third day of breastfeeding, I started to feel nipple pain. How could this happen? I prepared ahead and I did everything I could to do proper latching. I even had a portable mirror in bed with me to help me examine the baby’s latch. Why was I still having nipple pain? It got worse and I got cracked and sore nipples. I dreaded feeding the baby. The whole time I was hard on myself: didn’t I go through this before? What hadn’t I learned?

Click here to read on about Justine's story breastfeeding her second baby.

[previous|page|next]

Read on about Justine's story breastfeeding her second baby.

When I got home, I studied The Breastfeeding Book again by Martha and William Sears and discovered the lower lip flip which involved holding down the baby’s lower lip with my forefinger when trying to latch on. I realized that my baby’s mouth was just so small compared to my areola and it was taking a toll on my nipple. The lower lip flip really helped me out a lot.

Apart from having sore and cracked nipples, I also had lumps in my underarms most likely due to clogged milk ducts (Yes! Women can have milk ducts all the way in their arm pits.) I was miserable but not hopeless.

The good news was: my learning curve was much faster than my previous experience. Even in term as of my CS pain, I felt that I recovered much faster the second time around. I was able to manage my pain (both from the incision wound and my sore nipples) and by my second week of breastfeeding my cracked nipples healed and I wasn’t suffering as much.


Building My Milk Supply and Getting Adequate Rest
During the time I was breastfeeding my eldest I kept a journal. As I reviewed my notes during that time I realized that I was just too O.C. I kept records of how long I breastfed on each breast and what position I used every hour. That was just too much expended energy with little effect on my peace of my mind.
This time around, I supplement with Omega-3 to help reduce my chances of getting the baby blues and I breastfeed on demand (without taking notes!). I also allow myself to get babied by leaving all the chores to my husband and household help. I sleep when the baby sleeps (as much as possible) and I’m trying to make the most of my maternity leave by recuperating and relaxing.

I’m also not obsessed about pumping enough extra milk since I still have a month and a half of maternity leave. I have enough milk in the freezer for occasional dates with my hubby and I plan to build my milk supply first before storing milk for when I go back to work. I’ll most likely do it two to three weeks before I return to work.

As a working mom, breastfeeding has been one of the best choices I’ve made. It’s helped me give the best nutrition to my kids while at the same time building a unique bond between me and each child. It’s a priceless opportunity and one that I’m never passing up. I look forward to a long breastfeeding relationship with my new daughter. For any mom who’s expecting again, she just needs to prepare all over again, expect the same problems but be able to deal with them in a shorter amount of time. Lastly, a mom should just enjoy her time with her new baby. I recommend that she doesn’t schedule or time her breastfeeding and just concentrate on holding her baby close, nursing the baby and recuperating all her strength.

In main photo: Justine and Clea