Thanks for visiting e-mom rewards and welcome to Lactation Corner! Whether you are pregnant expecting your first baby, have already welcomed that new bundle of joy home, or are nursing your third child, Lactation Corner is just the resource you need to help with a variety of breastfeeding aspects.
In the coming months, I will be discussing breastfeeding and breastfeeding-related topics. These topics will include: "Why Breastfeed", "Positioning and Latch", "How Do I know if my Baby is Getting Enough", "Breastfeeding - Hospital and At-Home Plans", "Pumping and Storage", "Going Back to Work or School", "Breastfeeding Myths", and "Support Systems and Resources".
I can't wait to share all of this information with you in the coming months.
Before I move on to cover these various topics, I want to introduce myself to you and how I came to become a Lactation Educator Counselor. When I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to breastfeed my daughter. I also had my life carefully planned out about going back to work and how I was going to be a working breastfeeding mom. I had also thought through things like my post-partum exercise plan, her nap schedule, and just about everything else you can imagine. What I didn't count on was how my daughter was going to change my life and that almost everything in my "plan" turned out to be 180 degrees from what I had "planned" on. Everyone tells you that kids change your life and it wasn't that I didn't believe all the advise-givers while I was pregnant, it's just that I didn't fully grasp the extent to which she was going to change my life, breastfeeding included in part of that kids-change-your-life phenomenon.
I am going to try not to sugarcoat the facts about breastfeeding in this column. As a pregnant mom, a new mom, or even a not so new mom, you have access to a variety of breastfeeding resources, which likely give you a very rosy and picture-perfect description of how things are going to be or else it's so clinical you really can't figure out what they are trying to say. In my opinion, here are some facts that other resources may not be as forthcoming mentioning. Fact #1: You will get very little sleep with a newborn. Fact #2: You will wish your husband or significant other could grow breasts to help you with that 1am or 3:37am feeding. Fact #3: You may want to quit breastfeeding many, many times in the early days. Please promise yourself you'll never quit in the middle of the night (everything does really seem better in the morning). Fact #4: You will fall in love with your baby more than you ever thought was possible, especially when you gaze down at that little face sucking happily and growing from the life-sustaining powers of your milk!
I came to be a lactation educator because breastfeeding was not exactly as "natural" for me as I would have hoped, and my daughter and I had plenty of bumps along the way. Because of those bumps, I sought education and knowledge about how to overcome the hurdles, and in the process, I fell in absolute love with breastfeeding her and the experience of it all. I want to share my insights, opinions, and experiences with all of you and hope you'll fall in love with breastfeeding as much as I have. Hope to see you back here next month where I'll cover the topic "Why Breastfeed?"
Anne Sakoff
Lactation Educator Counselor
