Nursing, nursing, nursing

Nora and I just passed our 10.5 month nursing anniversary! Last week was World Breastfeeding Week so it got me thinking about breastfeeding...oh who am I kidding?! I think about breastfeeding all the time. When I first started breastfeeding, I had seen just a few, as in 1-2 people breastfeeding before. People asked me if I was going to "try" to breastfeed and that confused me. I was like, try? uhhh I AM. I was super determined.

Here are some things that helped me breastfeed successfully:

• SUPPORT!!!!!!!!!
• SUPPORT!!!!!!!
• SUPPORT!!!!! -Really, this one is the most important. My husband supported me. He cut my food up into tiny bites. He kept my water cup full. He never once complained about the house being a mess because I was nursing for up to 12 hours a day. OR MORE. 
• Co-sleeping. This helped me to not be tired. I learned to nurse with Nora laying on my chest or laying on our sides so we both barely wake up to nurse.
• Watching the baby, not the clock. It is really hard for me to answer "how many times a day does she nurse" or "how long does she nurse" I follow her cues and nurse whenever she wants. The only thing I keep in my mind is how many wet/pooped diapers a day she has.
• Side-laying and laid-back nursing! See above! 
• The boppy is great and all especially while I am eating or whatnot. We didn't use it much past 3 or so months.

Now, lets talk nursing pads. When I was thinking about breastfeeding I thought I may leak a little. Little did I know that I had a letdown like a friggin' fire hose that would spray across the room. Literally. Wes got sprayed in the face on more than one occasion. When I was pregnant, I bought some cute little cotton nursing pads. I leaked through these in 2 seconds FLAT. Even when I doubled and tripled them up. I then bought some booby diapers. (Johnsons & Johnsons) I wasn't too happy about this because I don't particularly like that company and its pretty wasteful to have to throw them away. I chose cloth diapers for this very reason. Along the way, I tried bamboo, hemp, cotton, and combinations of all of those to no avail. last week I found my dream nursing pad! Weird. I know. In cloth diapering, wool diaper covers are really awesome. They are antimicrobial, they hold 30% of their own weight before feeling wet, and the lanolin in the wool keeps them clean. All you have to do is air them out between uses and wash them every 2ish weeks with wool wash. Well, I found some merino wool nursing pads! 

Just Fussy makes a whole array of wonderful products. I ordered from her on etsy. Quick responses. She made a custom listing for me and thew in some freebies! Wool keeps nipples dry which helps to prevent thrush. Wool pads can also be a godsend to cracked and sore nipples. They may be a little itchy but you can wash them with a little wool wash. I use eucalan  and like it. Good nursing pads can make breastfeeding that much easier! She also has some other awesome products I want to try! Thank you Just Fussy!!!

Cheers to breastfeeding!