More on Milk

Original Post from 2014

One of my pregnant cousins had some more detailed questions about nursing.  This will probably be a TMI (too much information) kind of  blog, which is becoming a trend on here, I suppose.  That's the point, though - the more you share, the more people know and then it's less strange.

First, it's hard to fathom what it will be like, but you know the little hole in the end of the nipple on a baby bottle?  Well, it seems a real nipple has lots of little holes much tinier.  Like really really small.  The first week, when trying to "express" or squeeze out a bit manually, you just notice a bead of milk forming on the tip.  Later when you start to feel more "full" and a bit uncomfortable, it will come shooting out like a tiny tiny stream or from maybe up to five tiny streams at once.  At least that's been my observation.  Koral tried a bottle of expressed milk yesterday for the first time and had a hard time with it since it's so different.

The other weird thing that has begun in the second half of the first week is the other side leaking when Koral is drinking.  I keep feeding her and forgetting this, so then she's got this huge wet spot on her clothes where she was pressed up to the other side that was letting out milk.  Then I have to change her.  There's not much else to say in this department.  It's getting easier, she's growing so much.  She eats a lot!  Yesterday at her 2-week-old appointment it showed a huge gain in weight.  In nine days she went from 5 lbs 12 oz. to **6 lbs. and 13 oz**!  This is awesome and she is now fitting into most newborn clothing without looking to small.  All her marks looked super and the doctor assured me everything was going well.  Yay!