Breastfeeding is harder than it looks

When Little Dude was first born we had a hard time with breastfeeding.  He had trouble latching and hubby had to help me entice Little Dude by dripping expressed milk or formula from a syringe onto my nipple while we tried to get hit to latch.  Then after a while of attempting to breastfeed we would have to finish off with a bottle.
This is not an unusual experience, especially when the baby starts out in the NICU and unable to breastfeeding initially like Little Dude did.  But we stuck with it and got help from the amazing NICU nurses and a lactation consultant and now we are doing great.  Little Dude is nursing like a champ on weekends and at night and I am pumping at work during the week so that he can have breastmilk bottles at daycare.
I even have a bit of an oversupply so we have been able to donate about 300 ounces of milk so far to the King's Daughters Milk Bank, which I volunteer with for Junior League.  I am so happy that I am able to put my extra milk to good use to help feed the sweet babies in need at the hospital.

So why do I say it is harder than it looks?  

First because we had trouble getting started.  Breastfeeding doesn't always come naturally.  Unfortunately many mom's are led to believe that it should happen easily and when it doesn't they give up thinking that breastfeeding is an all or nothing game.  It isn't, any amount of breast milk is good for a baby and even if future generations learn that formula is as good as breastmilk you can still save money by feeding a baby what breastmilk you can produce even if you are supplementing with formula because you don't make enough.  So don't give up if you don't want to, do what you feel is best for your self, your baby, and your family.  

The Second reason is a bit more recent.  I am currently battling a clogged milk duct on my lower producing side and it hurts like a bitch.  I apologize for the harsh language but it is awful.  I have tried salt water soaks, I have tried a heating pad, I have tried hand expression.  Thank God it hasn't turned into mastitis (yet, please let it clear up before it gets infected!) but I have even gone as far as buying a vibrating back massager thing to hold on it to try and break the clog up with little relief so far.   And since it's my slacker side having this clog slow down/reduce milk flow even more than normal has made Little Dude want nothing to do with latching on that side to help a mama out.  He will but he gets annoyed quickly and isn't nursing as long as normal on that side which I know is making it worse so I have started just walking around the house this evening with my Haaka attached to that side.

Pray for me :)