Guardian Angel

Let me just shout out to Dr. Diane Loo, I love you! You must be an angel. Wednesday morning as I was walking from the bathroom back to the hospital bed my perineum was sore from the birthing process and my nipples were so tender even to have the hospital gown rest on them. That's when I had Trace pull out the gift from you. Honestly, seconds after I put on the Soothies Gel Pads all pain was gone. You made learning how to breast feed not only possible but pleasant! Thank you, thank you, thank you! This will be the gift I give to every new mom. I used the soothies the entire hospital stay. I put them on as soon as I finished nursing, then I would take them off to wash with a damp rag before breastfeeding again. When I got home I put them in fridge like you suggested and it was even better. This is a miracle product.

And it doesn't stop there Diane, the nursing pads and lanolin cream have been awesome this past week.  When I got home I switched to the nursing pads with the lanolin cream. After every feeding I put a small amount of lanolin cream to each nipple. I never really put much thought into how tender your breast and nipples become due to breastfeeding. I also had no idea how much your breasts leak. Holy cow! As soon as baby Estelle gets anywhere near me around feeding time the floodgates open. I was definitely not expecting that at all. These have been super helpful in relieving pain, softening the skin, preventing scabs, and keeping clothes dry. Thanks again Diane Loo. We really do love you!

Other tips. Engorgement is real. I figured I'd get a nursing bra after delivery as I didn't know what size I would be. Very stupid idea. Just have one with you. My milk came in before we left the hospital and a nursing bra or a bra larger than what I had previously been using would have been greatly appreciated. I found a pretty awesome sports bra on a quick trip to the store, but I would have rather avoided the store 2 days after having had a baby. In the future, I should have had it ready a few days earlier.

On engorgement day use one of these manual breast pumps after you breastfeed or on the alternate breast if the baby doesn't feed from both. Fortunately I picked this up with the sports bra and it made my life much more comfortable.