I swore that when I had a baby....
1. I would exclusively breastfeed for as long as I was able
2. A dummy would never pass through my child's lips
A month later...
1. The girls are formula fed. I started off breastfeeding and it was going reasonably well. R took to it like a natural but would only take from one breast and even when I tried to fool her with the other one, she wouldn't have it. G was fairly uninterested in the whole process, despite repeated attempts (the drip in my arm probably didn't help either of them) and help from the hospital's breastfeeding counsellor. This meant I ended up with one normal, soft, well-used boob and one huge, hard, heavy, uncomfortable one.
The night we came out of hospital was hellish. I was still recovering from the c-section having practically discharged myself from hospital as I was getting no help from the midwives and support staff. DH took charge of the changes and said he would wake me for feeds. Of course, the girls wanted feeding constantly and the problems outlined earlier meant that I could only feed one at a time. I was concerned that G wasn't getting enough food and the girls were extremely fretful and restless.
The next day, dh was sent out to buy formula. This didn't solve the problem of my unused boob so we also bought an electric breast pump (the Medela mini electric - marvellous!) and decided to mix-feed, breast milk as much as I could manage, topped up with formula when required.
I followed the advice received in hospital and expressed every three hours. For three weeks I was prolific and managed to express around 10 feeds a day. However, my supply started to dry up. I wasn't producing enough to sustain one baby, let alone two. The unused boob dried up first and the other one lasted about another week. We became more and more reliant on formula. We started off using SMA gold, but the girls were getting hungry an hour after a feed. The visiting midwife recommended that we switch to SMA white, 'for hungrier babies' - it felt like we were getting the girls hooked on a class A drug after experimenting with something softer but it's working. They are much happier, are putting on weight and are feeding every three hours during the day and a little longer at night.
2. I hate dummies. I think they are common and chavvy and I wouldn't allow a child of mine to be seen with one. Or so I thought...
The girls have dummies. I'm not entirely happy about this but dh was willing to give them a try so I conceded that they could have them at night, secretly hoping that R and G would spit them across the room. To her credit, G does most of the time, although I have noticed that she tries to hold it in her mouth with her hand now. R will put up with it for a while, but once she remembers that it has no calorific value, she quietly ejects it. I hope they won't get addicted to them because I don't want to have to wean them off dummies at a later date. However, they are a godsend when we're out shopping and R decides to have a mini-fit in Sainsbury's, usually at the checkout. Is she objecting to the price of nappies?!
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that you have all these plans when you're pregnant but once the baby (or babies in my case) arrive you have to be willing to try things out, even if they aren't quite what you wanted. The day I throw the dummies under a passing car will be a happy one though...
