Alright Mama's. I have been through the ringer. I knew I wanted to breastfeed my baby-but I did not know how challenging it was going to be in the beginning. I mean-holy crap-it was hard. Way harder than my c-section. My little munchkin latched right away, maybe 45 minutes after he was born (I was so drugged up-it was very blurry). The nurses were shocked that a 45 minute old baby could latch and suckle like a champ. So that was good. Then on Thursday(T was born on Tuesday) morning I woke up and made Pam Anderson look flat chested. My milk came in and came in like it was nobodies business. So it seemed that this was going to be a piece of cake, right? Wrong! Tanner could be part human part barracuda. He destroyed my nipples. I mean-I hate to be so graphic-but really, things were looking bad and feeling worse. I had to get on antibiotics-it was a mess. My nipples were bright red and painful to the touch. I cried while I fed him and eventually I started to pump more than I nursed(which is a whole other post bc exclusively pumping is tough too and then my milk supply went down and the saga continues) So along the way I tried just about every nipple cream under the sun and that's what this post is about.
The very best choice is the Medela Tender Care Lanolin. It is the perfect amount of stickiness and is super easy to apply. It weirdly has the same texture as my beloved Kiehl's #1 Lip Balm. Its my fav. The next one worth mentioning is the Mother's Love Nipple Cream. It is all natural, organic, yada, yada and it is good-but it doesn't feel like it stays on. And last and most certainly least is the Lasinoh Lanolin. This stiff is thick. Like rubber cement. I kinda hate it. It is too hard top squeeze out of the tube-then once it is out-it is too hard to apply(think very cold butter not spreading on bread-its the same idea). So there you go-this was the longest post and the moral of the story is: Medela's Tender Care Lanolin Nipple Cream is the best:)
PS: Nursing gets a million times easier w/ time. I'm glad I hung in there :)
Hi Hillary! I've been lurking on your blog for a bit and I love it. You are a great writer. Thanks so much for this post. I'm not a mom or pregnant but I have babies on the brain so I've been doing a lot of reading, and it's great to see such an honest post about breast feeding, especially from someone as glam and together as you! I'm sorry it was so rough in the beginning but glad you hung in there. Tanner is so cute and i'm sure he appreciates your effort. :)
ReplyDeleteRachel!! That was so sweet :) Thank you hun! You just made my day ;) Im trying to be as honest as possible about this whole mommy experience-it is amazing but can be very hard too. I never want to be someone who posts only the good stuff-that is too fakey and I would rather share my struggles and hopefully help my readers/friends along the way. Keep me posted when you guys start your family!!! xo
ReplyDeleteAGREED.
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