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When I got pregnant with my daughter, there were a few things I was determined about: not using any pain medication during labor, not finding out the gender of the baby, and breastfeeding for the first year. I always planned on breastfeeding. It was what my mother did, and she engrained it in my head that it’s what I should do. This isn’t to say breastfeeding didn’t have it’s ups and downs though, because it did!
I’d love to be able to tell you I loved every minute of breastfeeding, but I can’t. From my daughter having thrush and infecting my nipples to my son acting like he didn’t know what to do with a nipple in his mouth, it was work.
I was young when I had my daughter—only 20 years old. When I ended up with thrush (an infection), I was in so much pain that I wanted to quit. I ended up having to pump and feed her expressed milk while her mouth and my nipples healed. This meant giving her a bottle of expressed milk and pumping immediately after every two hours, around the clock. Thankfully, my mother warned me I would regret it if I quit. Without her support, I don’t know what I would’ve done! I went back to college and worked part time when my daughter five months old. This meant re-establishing my relationship with the pump. But I was determined to do it! I went on to feed Brid only breast milk her entire first year (other than solid foods).
Christopher is a different story! I thought after Brid that I had this breastfeeding business down. No infected nipples this time! No way I’m pumping except when I’m at work! I was ready! I delivered him and immediately tried to breastfeed. The little stinker wouldn’t even open his mouth! I expected him to want to nurse right away and all the time because that’s what newborns do, right? Not my newborn.
He finally latched and nursed fine, but he didn’t want to nurse often. I remember calling the nurse because it had been three hours and Christopher didn’t want to nurse! He was crying because I was trying to force him to nurse. I was crying because I thought he wasn’t nursing enough! Anyone who’s tried knows you can’t force breastfeed a baby. Eventually we fell into our pattern and he nursed fine. I still despise pumping at work (which I did until he was 13 months old), but I was determined to only give my son breast milk. We’re still going strong with breastfeeding at 20 months old.
Breastfeeding presents challenges, but none that I couldn’t overcome. The part I dreaded the most was expressing milk. Some babies have trouble taking a bottle of expressed milk or switching back and forth from a bottle to the breast because of nipple confusion. Luckily, I never had that problem. Even with pumping at work, I thankfully never had supply issues, either.
I’m glad I’ve been successful with breastfeeding both of my children. I loved never having to pack bottles or worry about paying for formula. I loved being able to instantly soothe my crying baby in the middle of the night. Breastfeeding was the perfect choice for my family!
This is personal advice and should not be substituted for advice from a medical professional.
Read other articles in this series:
Caitlin’s Story-Feeding Your Baby Formula
Chrissy’s Story-Feeding Your Baby Exclusively Expressed Milk
Jasmine’s Story-Feeding Your Baby-Supplementing Breast Milk With Formula
Congratulations on making it 20 months! I’m currently nursing my 3 week old and it’s been exhausting this time around. My 6 year old nursed every 3 hours like clockwork. Her 4 year old brother wasn’t as predictable but still only nursed every 2-3 hours. My new little munchkin wants to nurse constantly- like every hour- for comfort. It’s stressing because I am constantly attached to him. I’m afraid to even run to the grocery store without him because he’ll cry the entire time he’s home with my husband! So far no luck with bottles or binkies, bu we keep trying because mommy needs a break!
Isn’t it amazing how each child can be so different? My son never took to a binkie and eventually found his thumb. It works for now-not sure what I’ll think of it when he’s 4!
Thank you so much for this awesome blog! I’m 6 weeks along in my first pregnancy, and like you I’m a young first time mama (21). The breastfeeding information is so helpful, and unintimidating. Reading this gives me courage to know I can do it too, even if that means pumping at work (oh well what can ya do?). Thanks again!
Congratulations, Natalie! Please let us know if you ever have any questions or just need some support once your little one is here and we will try and help you as much as possible! I am glad you found this article helpful. Good luck!
Wow, that is an excellent article. I have tried eating oatmeal and papaya to increase my milk supply but it doesn’t seem to help me. I guess it’s different for every woman. I totally agree with you on drinking water. It is so important to stay hydrated while nursing or pumping. My baby boy is 4 and a half months and I still a pitcher of water by my pumping station. I still get extremely thirsty and hungry while pumping or nursing. I’m currently nursing (about 6-7 times a day) and pumping (7 times a day) daily. It has been an exhausting few months but if I don’t pump and nurse, I get clogged ducts right away. My baby doesn’t nurse so much so that he drains each breast so I pump for fear that I lose my milk supply. I also pump because if I rely on my baby to nurse only, I will get clogged ducts. For awhile, I took Lecithin for approximately 3 weeks to help with keeping clogged ducts away (2-4 pills daily and then decreasing the dosage gradually). Im a stay at home mom for now so I’m able to comtinue this. I know that once i start working again, this whole process will be too tiring for me. I know that it is inevitable that i start weaning once i go back to work. Nearly every day I think about starting to wean my baby off of breast milk because it is so tiring doing what I’m doing right now with pumping and nursing but I do find inspiration when I read articles such as this one about mothers that have given breast milk for an extended period of time. I also am reluctant to start weaning because I feel that it is a gift to be able to give my son all this breast milk. I produce about 45-50 ounces daily. I also want to continue to pass antibodies to my son from my breast milk. It is especially important for him right now as we’re in January of 2013 and it’s flu season!! Thank you again for taking the time to write this article and to educate and inspire us mothers!!