The first week actually wasn’t too bad. Benjamin was jaundice, which made him really sleepy. Getting him to eat was a chore. We actually would get around 5 hour stretches at night.

Because he was such a lazy eater, he dropped down to 5lbs 15 oz; so tiny. Because he was almost 3 weeks early, he had issues with breastfeeding. The doctors and nurses all said he should get the hang of it soon. But the poor guy just wasn’t getting it. He would scream for hours because he was so hungry. Finally, my mom went out and bought some formula, and as soon as he had some of that he finally had a full tummy.

Everyone knows that breastfeeding is the best choice for babies, but when it’s just not working and baby is hungry, you need to supplement. The one thing I really wish someone had told me was how hard breastfeeding could be. You hear all the stories and watch videos in prenatal classes showing how easy and natural it is supposed to be. I’ve gotta say, I’m extremely jealous of those mummas!! It was anything but easy for us. It was extremely challenging and time consuming and emotionally draining.

If someone had just told me that some baby’s have issues learning how to breastfeed and may need some formula as a supplement for a while, life would have been so much easier during the first 3 weeks. My husband and I struggled dealing with a screaming baby all night long. Little did we know our poor baby was hungry because he wasn’t stimulating enough milk production. When we finally gave him some formula at night he started to sleep in short bursts. Which at this point we were stoked!

~n~