My personal new mom challenges

I know that pretty much every new mom suffers from sleep deprivation and develops a strong ear for crying. Yes, those are 2 of my issues right now too. If only those were, well, the only ones. Beyond a lack of sleep, I have experienced a lack of appetite, a lack of breast milk, which have all led to a lack of happiness. More so, my boyfriend has been working 12 hour nights for the past 1.5 weeks, and may have another 2 to go. Thus it has been baby boy and I bonding pretty much exclusively for the past few weeks.

My mom, boyfriend and friends have been great supporters though! They have listened and encouraged me through all of my struggles. They encouraged me not to give up on anything, and not to be so hard on myself. They are right. My child has made it almost 3 weeks with me exclusively as the caretaker, and has grown over a pound in that time frame. We're good to go.

Yet though I have gotten rid of 2 mother/grandmothers in my presence with a new baby AT THE SAME TIME (imagine THAT struggle!) my other issues are what they are, and still continue to creep in.

1) Breast feeding. I have no idea how moms made it for centuries without lactation consultants. I had to see one from day one as my son was dehydrated at the hospital upon birth. I had to supplement with formula, something that I had not intended to ever have to do. The hunger and dehydration continued even after bringing him home, when my milk wasn't coming in fully. He latched and would give up almost immediately, and to the (extremely expensive!) formula in the bottle we went.

I finally did see a specialist who helped tremendously. However, the formula will still be a constant go-to as eating, sleeping, using the breast pump and feeding 8-10 times a day is virtually impossible. I have instead decided to focus on what I can give him directly from me for the first 4-6 weeks as I have heard those are the most important for helping build immune system antibodies. And that has made me feel like less of a failure, and more of a mother!

2) Sleeping in his own bed at night. Zavier was doing this just fine at the hospital and for his first week at home. Somewhere during his second week he decided that his bassinet was inhabitable. I thus have been holding him all night, laying on my back with him on my chest or cradled in my arms against a pillow to keep him asleep because upon putting him in his own space, he cries and screams! I am trying everything I have researched and can think of- noise machine, putting my scented clothing in the sleeper, cushioning it with a pillow, etc.- to get him to sleep in there. I will keep at it, but for now if I want any sleep, he is sleeping with me! I really don't want this to start a bad habit as I want our bed to be for me and my boyfriend, but right now he is a newborn and I feel survival mode is in effect...at least until I get some more help. :-)

3) Being "house bound". I finally got up the nerve to take Zavier out alone to some doctor's appointments. That was part of the reason that I remained at home- that I was afraid of taking my little one out on my own. :-( Today I even took him to see a friend of mine, feeling like I just had to get out! We did just fine. I'm also soliciting help from my mother-in-law next week so that I can get out and run some errands or even just sleep a bit more during the day...and next to my boyfriend at that! :-P

I'm sure so many deal with these things as new moms. I'm no new case nor am I anything special. I'm just glad that I'm learning to deal with them...