Best Mommy Advice

It seems that women become pregnant in packs. LOL. Yes, its true do you ever notice that you never just hear of only one person you know being pregnant. When I was pregnant with my son, my sister-in-law and three of my other friends were pregnant. Not to mention two of my hubby's friends' wives/girlfriends were also pregnant. Now about 2 years later I have four friends that are pregnant. I always give women the same advice. Be patient; develop a schedule with your child early (it truly does help) and most importantly BREASTFEED! Yes, I emphasize the importance of breastfeeding, whether a friend is just finding out they are pregnant or at the end of her pregnancy, she can guarantee that I'm going to tell her to breastfeed, and I will keep reminding them. I encourage them to utilize lactation consultants after giving birth and reading books prior. When I was pregnant, I had 2-3 pregnancy books on rotation, not to mention my weekly updates from the Babycenter.com. Reading is so important being informed it key. I have seen so many of my friends give up on breastfeeding because they were ill prepared. I’m not saying that I was entirely prepared for motherhood (seriously who really is) but I knew many of the things that could happen. With breastfeeding, women expect it to be blissful from the beginning, it is and it isn’t. It’s beautiful to connect with your child, but the first few days to weeks of breastfeeding can be painful because the suckling of the baby causes contractions of the uterus that can be uncomfortable. There is the swelling and gorging of the breast, ice packs work wonders. The place I see so many mothers go wrong and the reason the give up breastfeeding is because they start wrong. They do not get their babies to latch on correctly. Although I had read a lot I still requested a lactation consultant to come in and she corrected my sons method of latching she even informed my hubby of how to help me open the baby’s mouth wider (by placing index finger on chin and slightly pulling, not hard). With hubby, assisting me the first 24 hours with baby’s mouth positioning, things started and remained great. Improper latching can lead to so many problems the baby not being able to get the milk easily, mom uncomfortable thus making baby uncomfortable, which in turn results in giving up and moving on to formula. I have heard of people giving up in 2 weeks, cracked nipples, the list goes on. Thankfully, I didn’t have any of these issues. Actually, the hardest part about breastfeeding for me was weaning. LOL. I nursed for 15 months. So to all my first-time moms and veteran moms (LOL) if you haven’t done so, consider breastfeeding. The benefits for mother and child are outstanding.