Breastfeeding- darned if you do, darned if you don’t

After a rough day with virtually no sleep for either of us, Hazel went down for a 4 hour stretch of sleep last night that allowed Jered and I to catch up on some much needed sleep. This morning we both feel like completely different people- our outlook today is certainly more positive than it was yesterday!

One of the difficult things about being a new mom is getting the hang of breastfeeding. We have chosen to exclusively breastfeed Hazel for many reasons- nursing is convenient, healthy, free, and doesn’t require a lot of the equipment that is needed with formula feeding. That being said, we have learned that breastfeeding is also very challenging. We had the support of a wonderful lactation consultant at the hospital, and I truly believe that if we hadn’t gotten her help we may have already given up on nursing! One would think that nursing would be something instinctual and that mom and baby would simply know what to do- but it actually is a bit counter-intuitive. Initially it was quite painful as our little Hazel has quite the ability to latch and suck! Over the past ten days, things have gotten much easier, and we have started to get into our own little rhythm.

One of the things I find amazing is how many mixed messages there are in the media about breastfeeding. Here in Virginia there is a task force that advocates for breastfeeding mothers- they run ads on all of the local tv stations about the benefits of breastfeeding. You can check out their website. In addition, there are also laws on the books in Virginia (and you can see other states at this site as well) that allow women to breastfeed in public. You can check out these laws if you’re interested.

With all this support for breastfeeding one would think that the state would provide more support for breastfeeding mothers through insurance HMO’s. I have heard that some women in states other than Virginia have had breast pumps covered by their insurance providers. We tried this with our insurance company, and even had our pediatrician write us a prescription, but we quickly learned that our insurance wouldn’t cover the cost of the pump (they can be quite pricey, the one we bought ended up costing close to $300 and we were really hoping our insurance would absorb some of the out of pocket expense!). I know that health care plans aren’t directly related to state government, but one would think that a health care plan within the state system would be congruent with state initiatives!

Today we are venturing out into the world with Hazel. We are going to run by the mall to pick up a few things, and it will be interesting if Hazel gets hungry while we are out. I have a nursing cover up, ready to go, but I can’t help but worry a bit about how others will respond to me nursing in public! Since Hazel has arrived I am surprised at how protective of her I feel, and I have a feeling that if anyone gave me any guff about it, I might get a little confrontational! We’ll see how it goes!

Look for more videos later today- we have a great little bit of Hazel poop humor coming up for those of you who are interested!

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