Amanda and Luke ~ Another Story of Perseverance

Before Luke was born, I was determined to breastfeed- but with the worry of my PPD/PPS returning. Luke was born via emergency C-section at a whopping 9 pounds and 7 ounces.   After clearing his lungs, he was handed over to me to begin nursing. I noticed immediately that he couldn't latch and wasn't waking up.  After several attempts we notified the nurses that he was going limp and his blood sugars were tested.  Instead of a healthy 50+ reading, Luke's read 16 and he was immediately taken to NICU and put on a feeding tube to prevent his sugars from dropping any further.  I immediately got set up with a pump and began pumping every two hours and was getting 1-2ml of colostrum to put into his tube almost instantly!  I was determined not to use formula.

 Luke's face muscles had not gotten enough strength while growing and were not strong enough to pull milk from my body, so we had to keep him on the feeding tube and feed him with a bottle.  After a week, he was released and we continued with the bottles.  The constant pumping was wearing me thin. I decided to retry breastfeeding in hopes that practice would make it better on me.  He took to the breast like a champ and has since refused all bottles.  We are now nearly 11 months strong, without any weaning in our future.  I know that my milk healed his body and the breastfeeding relationship has healed me.

 

 

 

Carrie ~ Simple and Sweet

My daughter is my second child. I also breastfed my son. For both of them, the first couple of weeks I had sore nipples, but we got past that. With my son, I used a nursing cover when out in public.  For my daughter, we tried the cover but decided it was more of a hassle than I felt like dealing with. 

 

She's currently two and still nursing.  She usually only nurses when she first wakes up, just before she goes to sleep, and sometimes when I get home from work.  She will also ask some other times, especially when she isn't feeling well.  It's sometimes a cuddle time and sometimes a time she seems to be trying to do gymnastics!   After going back to work, I pumped milk for both of my children until they were over a year old, then they were switched to cow milk. I did produce some extra milk and was able to donate that to the Mother's Milk Bank of North Texas.

Megan’s Story ~ Don’t Worry….Enjoy the Moment

I am a very Type A personality person and I tend to overthink things and freak out when they don’t go my way.  A great combo for a first time mom right? When you’re pregnant everyone always tells you how hard breastfeeding is going to be. I can’t tell you how many times I heard the phrases “for something so natural breastfeeding really is hard” and “don’t beat yourself up if breastfeeding doesn’t work out for you."  We went to pretty much every class Baylor Frisco offered for parents, and one of those classes was a breastfeeding class. I left there feeling like I was well equipped for the struggles and situations that might arise when breastfeeding. I went into labor on my own on my son’s due date (type A like mom?) but ended up having a C-section after 2 hours of pushing because he started to show signs of distress. The thought of a C-section didn’t scare me nearly as much as the possibility of being a “breastfeeding failure.”  When I was in recovery, I was told to let my son’s nurse know before I was going to feed him so she could help me and check his blood sugar levels afterwards.  He was a big baby and was struggling to keep his blood sugar up.  After a while, Noah started rooting around and getting hungry.  I’m really not sure how many times we paged the nurse or how long we waited for her to show up, but it was a long time.  My recovery nurse was worthless and unable to help me latch the baby because breastfeeding wasn’t her “thing.”  The more time went by, the more upset my husband got that nobody was there to help us with the “first latch.”  Since only one person could be in the recovery room with me, my husband traded spots with my mom and she came in to try to help me.  She told me to just “put him on there!”  Low and behold, he knew just what to do and was a breastfeeding pro from the start!  My night nurse always commented about how Noah had the best latch she had seen and he was such a natural.

I was relieved.  We didn’t have any latch issues and after some close monitoring we got his blood sugar levels under control.  All I had left to conquer was this dreaded engorgement that everyone always talked about.  I left the hospital un-engorged.  I sat around at home waiting for it to happen.  A week went by and still no engorgement.  Another week went by and still nothing.  All I could think of was, “These people are crazy!  Breastfeeding is the easiest thing ever!”

We continued having a great breastfeeding relationship, but then the time came for me to go back to work.  I was so terrified that I wouldn’t be able to produce enough to keep him on breast milk.  A couple of mornings I called my mom crying because milk had been wasted or spilled.  I’m now on my second week back at work and things are going okay.  I can pump enough for him, but I absolutely hate having to pump.  It is such a pain and I feel isolated from my coworkers because I feel like I’m always pumping. Noah isn’t a huge fan of the bottle, so he eats enough to get by during the day and makes up for it at night.  I’m hoping that with time he will adjust too.

My biggest piece of advice for new moms is not to worry about what other people tell you breastfeeding should be.  Make it your own and enjoy the special time with your little one.

Becca and Ray’s Story ~ Pumping Worked for Me

I was very excited to breastfeed Ray, who was born via C-section 10/6/13.  Unfortunately, we just never got the hang of the mouth-to-boob thing.  He was born jaundiced and wanted to sleep most of the time, so just getting him to stay awake for food was a challenge!  I could never get him to latch without a nipple shield (man, did I hate that thing), and we discovered during a lactation consult at the hospital's breastfeeding support center that he would only transfer about an ounce at a time during a 20 minute feeding.  He wasn't gaining well, and my supply was suffering.  I discovered that I took to the breast pump easily when we were trying to get Ray to take expressed milk from a bottle.  After learning that Ray lost weight instead of gaining at a weight check appointment with his pediatrician, I decided to become an exclusive pumper.  For a few weeks, Ray got a cocktail of breast milk and formula while I pumped religiously to get my supply back up.  Once I was able to stay ahead of him, we went to 100% breast milk.  My supply ended up being so bountiful that I've donated multiple times to Mother's Milk Bank of North Texas.  I'm proud to have not only nourished my baby, but to have helped sick and premature babies, as well.

His birthday was last week, and I'm still pumping.  It's been a challenge.  There have been lots of getting up in the middle of the night and pumping while I fed him a bottle.  Then washing pump parts with one hand because I had a sleeping baby on my shoulder.  It's become more of a challenge now that he's mobile!  We've gone on multiple car rides just so I could pump.  I'm down to 4 pumping sessions a day, sometimes 3.  We started adding cow's milk to his bottle last week so we can slowly transition him off of my milk.  (Getting him off of the bottle will be the next goal!)  It's bittersweet.  While I'm sad to stop providing for Ray, I am pretty excited to never have to look at a breast pump or hands-free bra again.  If we had been successful at the direct nursing, I'd nurse him as long as he wanted.  I did enjoy it for the few weeks that we made a go at it.  But this pumping business is a different animal!  If I could do it all over again, I would certainly have sought out more support outside of the hospital setting.

My goal was to breastfeed for a year.  We didn't go about it quite the way I planned, but we crossed the finish line all the same.  Now we start moving toward the next phase.

Barbara’s Journey ~ Seeking a Second Opinion

My breastfeeding journey began with the birth of my son in 2009.  I had what I like to call a “standard hospital delivery” meaning I had an epidural, Pitocin, lots of I. V.  fluids and a long labor.  When my son was born I experienced a postpartum hemorrhage which left me traumatized and exhausted.  I barely got to hold my son before he was whisked away to the nursery.  When I finally got him back, I was swollen from all the fluids I had received and we had trouble latching from the beginning.  I remember the nurse asking if she would like me to take him to the nursery and the words were barely out of her mouth before I responded YES!  I was so tired and an uninterrupted stretch of sleep sounded divine.  The nurse would bring him back in when he was hungry and he nursed heartily (and painfully).  I requested to see the lactation consultant several times and one finally stopped by the day we were scheduled to go home.  She put on a glove, stuck her finger in his mouth and declared “Well there’s your problem, honey!  He could suck the wallpaper off these walls!”  Apparently he had a very strong suck.  She told me to keep doing what I was doing and assured me his latch looked fine.  When I inquired if it was supposed to hurt so badly, she assured me it was.

 

So, off we went with our new bundle.  My husband had recently gotten a promotion and we had to move to a new town when I was around 38 weeks pregnant meaning my OB and all the resources I was familiar with were now an hour and a half away.  I can distinctly remember sitting with a boppy in my lap crying, trying to steel myself for the pain that was to come when I latched my son.  Eventually I began dreading him waking from a nap because that meant I would have to nurse him and it just hurt so badly.  I scoured the internet for information and finally made the trek back to my OB’s office only to be told that his latch was “perfect” and my bleeding nipples were par for the course.  I felt so defeated.  Finally, after about 2 weeks, I gave up on nursing my son and decided to pump exclusively.  I did so, waking every couple hours through the night to bottle feed him expressed milk and then sitting for another 30 minutes to pump.  This went on for almost 4 months before my milk began to dry up.  Again, I visited with my OB who prescribed a couple of different medications to try, but nothing worked.  I finally switched to formula and that was the end of my nursing relationship with my son.  I felt guilty but I kept those feelings hidden away.  I had a happy, healthy baby- how dare I feel guilty??

 

Fast forward 3 years.  We found out we were pregnant with our rainbow baby and my husband and I were over the moon.  During that time I had become a birth and postpartum doula and a trained breastfeeding educator, so I was determined to make this breastfeeding relationship work!  In the course of my education, I realized that my son more than likely had a lip tie and probably a tongue tie as well so I was prepared for my new little one to have the same. 

 

Lola was born on July 23 in the water into daddy’s hands and sure enough, we immediately noticed she had an upper lip tie.  I thought she had a tongue tie as well, but that wouldn’t be diagnosed for a while longer.  She, like her brother, had a nice hard suck but she nursed often and my milk was in by day 3.  She had a very hard time latching on my left breast and the soreness I so distinctly remembered from my son’s birth was making an appearance.  I was beginning to dread having to nurse her so I quickly arranged a home visit with an IBCLC for help.  She did an exam and agreed that she had an upper lip tie but didn’t feel it was hindering nursing and felt there was no tongue tie present.  She gave me some excellent tips for positioning and latching and left.  Things improved slightly but we still had trouble getting her to latch on my left side, even after chiropractic care.  During this time, my husband was a life-saver.  When I was so discouraged and ready to quit, he gently reminded me of what the lactation consultant had said and reminded me of why I was doing what I was doing.  He was there with a kind word and a hug at all the right times.  There were nights I was more than ready to throw in the towel and just give her some formula- I came so close as to actually boiling bottles at 2am and making up some formula but I just couldn’t bring myself to give it to her so it sat, staring at me, in my fridge for several days. 

 

After almost two weeks of struggling, I suspected there was more happening with her oral anatomy than was diagnosed so I sought out a second opinion with Mellanie Sheppard; I am SO very glad that I did because I credit her with saving my breastfeeding relationship.  I went to a latch clinic and she immediately noticed our sweet Lola had an upper lip tie that was most definitely hindering her latch, a tongue tie, and a recessed chin.  She explained in more detail the mechanics of why her latch wasn’t working and gave us recommendations to follow up with a pediatric dentist for lip and tongue tie revision and to seek out the care of a cranio sacral therapist. 

 

We immediately scheduled an appointment to have her ties released with Dr. Preece and got in with Frankie Burget, a wonderful cranio sacral therapist.  One visit with her and Lola was able to not only lay flat and relaxed but she could actually turn her head to nurse comfortably on my left side- something she had never done before.  It was a joyous moment to see my little girl lay open and relaxed as opposed to curled up in a little ball, so tight and unhappy.  Shortly thereafter, we had our revision done with Dr. Preece.  That also helped tremendously and while I couldn’t feel an immediate difference as I was hoping, one day about a week or two later I realized I was nursing almost pain-free.  We continued to see Frankie and she worked her magic and the changes we saw in her were remarkable. 

 

I now have a 12 week old who nurses beautifully and pain-free.  I no longer dread my baby waking- instead, I look forward to the quiet moments I can sit and nurse her.  I love seeing her smile as she looks up at me.  I feel like I’ve climbed the world’s highest mountain- I birthed my child naturally and now I’m feeding her naturally, too.  Most importantly, there is no more mommy guilt and I’ve let go of the past.  I finally got the birth I wanted and now I’ve got the nursing relationship I’ve always dreamed of having.

Bianca and Elia ~ Breast is Best!

Allison was able to capture me nursing my baby girl Elia exactly on her second birthday. She was born 12/12/12 and latched on quite well from the beginning. I remember the first few days I had sore, cracked nipples but I continued to tell myself that if I could have an all-natural birth that I could deal with some cracked nipples. I had put it in my head even before her birth that formula was not an option. I never purchased bottles or formula even as a backup.  I was confident that my body was made to do something and that it would succeed.

 My biggest support during my journey has been my fiancé.  I remember before Elia was born he told me that I would nurse her before we left the house and when we got back home, ha! He didn’t know that babies get hungry when they are out and about.  This sounds doesn’t sound very supportive but once he saw how soothing it was for Elia and how much easier it really was compared to carrying bottles and such around, he was all for it. He loved it and would encourage me everywhere, and around anyone to nurse with or without a cover. As long as his baby was happy and fed, what everyone else said around us did not matter.  That was the biggest thing for me; I have always been kind of a people pleaser and not many people like being around a nursing baby and mother. Well, I soon got over that and felt at ease that my child’s nutrition needs were far more important than someone else's opinion.

Breast is best!  Enough said!

Emily and Adelaide ~ It Finally Clicked!

Emily is a Doctor of Chiropractic and using her education and training helped her daughter (and herself)! Read her story below to see what other tips she learned in her breastfeeding journey.

Immediately after Adelaide "Addie" was born she latched on and was nursing while I delivered my placenta. 

The first two weeks were extremely stressful with my milk not coming in until almost the third day.  At that point I was extremely sore and trying to figure out a system to make breastfeeding easier for her and more comfortable to me. 

The day after she was born I did what I knew best to do and evaluated and corrected her spine. She only had one minor issue but after that correction she had a better latch and was able to feed more efficiently than she did the first day which gave me a little more time to recover during feedings. :)

Although she was eating better I was so worried about not producing enough so I made lactation cookies, drank mother’s milk tea, took my encapsulated placenta, used mother’s love fenugreek liquid supplement. You name it I probably tried it! (Within reason 😉)

Things were going great after around 2 weeks. I don't know what happened but it just seemed something clicked and our relationship just seemed natural and easy. 

I was given a tip to pump on one side and nurse on the other by a professor of mine. This was the best advice and I was able to freeze a lot of milk! 

I was then able to donate to several Mommas in need which made me feel great and thus I produced even more milk!

We've had our periods of slightly lower production and increased production as well just depending on her needs. It's been absolutely wonderful and I'm so grateful that I've been able to continue our breastfeeding relationship to this day. We're at 13 months and going strong! :)

I love talking with people about breastfeeding.  It's the most natural and beautiful thing next to birth! :)

Note: Please consult with your own doctor or professional practitioner before trying any teas or supplements other than those recommended by your doctor or professional practitioner.

Rebecca’s Daughters

I had Ruby in Oct 2008 and knew I wanted to breastfeed.  We quickly learned that she had not only a dairy allergy but also a soy allergy, which meant I had to give up all obvious and hidden dairy and soy which is 95% of all processed foods! 

 

I am still amazed that I had the self-control to eliminate them from my diet and firmly believe that Ruby was the reason I had the motivation to do it - that mother - daughter bond is amazing!  I continued to nursed her until she was about 20 months old and self-weaned.  My goal was to never have to use formula and I met that goal.  I firmly believed that Lily would also have the same allergies and to my surprise, she did NOT.  My goal with her is to 1) never use formula and 2) make it as long with her as I did with Ruby, which is going to be a little more of a challenge since I'm back to working full time and have to pump, which was not the case with Ruby. 

 

I absolutely love the nursing relationship I have with her (and had with Ruby) and get sad when people tell me they are CHOOSING not to even try nursing. I really feel like they are missing out on such a wonderful time (of course I do understand medical reasons and such).  It was definitely easier those first few weeks with Lily since I knew that horrid pain would only last a short time, since I remember sitting and crying while Ruby nursed at 2 weeks because it hurt so badly.  Now, it’s so nice to just be able to nurse Lily on demand and not have to worry about prepping and warming a bottle or taking a bottle of formula with me anywhere.  What is also wonderful is that as far as I know, everyone in my life is fully supportive of my breastfeeding, from my mother-in-law who did NOT breastfeed to my own mother who did, to my husband who held my hand during those rough patches. 

Katie and Colton ~ We Beat Each Challenge!

 

 

I knew all throughout my pregnancy that I was going to do everything in my power to exclusively breastfeed my son. My daughter was born 3 years prior and I was convinced to use formula after my un-necessary C-section at 36 weeks. She had jaundice and I was told she would progressively get worse unless formula was used. Our breastfeeding relationship went downhill from there.

 I finally had my natural VBAC and welcomed Colton after 41 weeks and 3 days! He latched on so well and nursed within minutes of birth. I thought all was going well but he kept nursing so often. Sometimes as often as every 10 minutes. I knew something wasn't right. I looked in his mouth and found a severe tongue tie. He could barely move his tongue and it was tied to the very tip, making it heart shaped. After much begging, we finally convinced the pediatrician to clip it in the hospital. Things were better but still not right. We went home and continued to nurse basically around the clock. Then we got thrush. After the thrush came a plugged duct. It grew larger than a plum in size and turned into full blown mastitis. I was miserable and finally went to a highly recommended lactation consultant. She was a lifesaver! She diagnosed another tongue tie as well as a lip tie. We were able to have those revised the very next day.

My little man was nearly 4 weeks old by this point. It took us some time to figure out how to properly nurse after his revision. We had to see the lactation consultant a few more times to get everything sorted out. I suffered from low supply because of his ties as well. He wasn't transferring milk efficiently at all, therefore my supply took a major hit. I tried and tried to pump and do everything I possibly could to increase my supply, even prescription medication. My body does not respond to a pump, not even a hospital grade pump. So it has been a struggle, to say the least.  I am happy to say that my son is 8 months old and we made it without supplementing. I couldn't be happier! I plan to breastfeed Colton as long as he wants.  I don't have any plans of weaning him until he is ready. 

Michele Plus 2 ~ Tandem Nursing!

I have loved nursing my second baby.  She was so easy, I think in part because I was still nursing my first baby so I didn't have to wait through milk coming in, or full breasts since they were working together to relieve mama.  It was the sweetest of times being able to simultaneously nurse both to nap, and allow mama to nap, too. 

 

I choose to nurse because it was free, natural, the best thing for my kiddos.  It made sense with how easy it would be compared to making bottles in the middle of the night and  was consistent with my desire for co-sleeping/bonding.

 

Breastfeeding was the one thing I knew I would do regarding raising kiddos.  It was very hard with my first but I continuously sought support and struggled through it for months.  I know first-hand how hard it can be, from the pain, to poor latching, to not being able to provide enough milk for their needs.  Yet, with help, we got to a place where it was easy and amazing.  It has been so worth it and I wish everyone could experience the beauty and sweetness that comes with being able to soothe and comfort your baby, while providing the perfect nutrition for them.

Rebecca and Clare ~ Patience and Confidence Builder for a First-time Mom

After 4+ years of infertility and undergoing tests, medications, and surgery through NaPro Technology, we were blessed with our beautiful daughter Clare in May 2014. I knew I wanted to breastfeed her and was hoping it wouldn't be a struggle. Luckily she caught on quickly but I did have a some struggles in the first few weeks as my milk supply adjusted. Clare would get really fussy while nursing because the flow and letdown was too much for her to handle. It was very frustrating when she'd freak out several times while she ate, but eventually we got things figured out. Now the hardest part is controlling a super wiggly baby!  

 

Just after Clare was born, a friend and her family came to visit. This friend has 5 beautiful children and is a pro in my eyes when it comes to breastfeeding. I was nursing during their visit and Clare was still having a hard time and started to throw a fit. I was embarrassed and emotional so I took her into the bedroom to try again. My friend came to see how I was doing and I started to cry and vent about my frustrations. She gave me a huge hug and some advice and encouragement, saying that I reminded her of herself when she had her first child. I've learned that having good support truly is vital when nursing. My husband, friends, and family have been great and super helpful in my confidence as a mother. 

 

Breastfeeding has been a learning experience for sure and has helped me grow in patience. I love the bond that it's created between us and I'm still in awe at the fact that I'm able to feed my baby with my own body - it's so beautiful! Nursing in public can be hard at times (again, the wiggly baby) but I've encountered nothing but positive comments so far. I do typically use a simple cover when breastfeeding in public, just out of personal preference, but have been told by several mothers that they never had the confidence and support to even do that when their children were nursing. 

 

I've gone back to work part time so I have to pump for those few days I'm in the office. It feels like such a chore sometimes, but is definitely worth it, knowing that she still gets that nourishment while my husband is with her on those days. I'm also very lucky to have a supportive boss and coworkers and can take pumping breaks as needed. I can definitely see why some women get discouraged and quit nursing when they don't have a supportive environment and people around them. While I'm still at the very beginning of my journey as a breastfeeding mom, I know that I am truly blessed!

Monica ~ LIfetime Bond

It all started on March 19, 2013 I already knew that my plan was to breastfeed. My whole pregnancy I did research and followed some Facebook pages, also my number one supporter, my mom, had done it so why wouldn't I?

As soon as Julissa was born at 3:08pm she was placed on my chest and she was squirming looking for her milk and latched immediately! That's when I knew this was definitely what was right! About a week of being home I was feeling pain when she would nurse on my left breast, the kind of pain that I would count to three before latching her on, the pain that brought tears to my eyes, that made me curl my toes, but the mom in me thought I have to keep going I can't be selfish! I became worried Easter evening when I was sitting on the bed nursing while watching TV, I looked down to help Julissa re-latch and there was blood on her little chin! As a first time mom I was definitely freaking out! I later realized that I had not been latching her on correctly; the reason for the blood was that I had a scab which was pulled while nursing. The next day I called a lactation consultant and she walked me through latching her on correctly. I let my left breast heal for a week, once I started nursing again everything was perfect!

We have not had any problems since then and we are going strong at a year and seven months! I had always had small breast and thought that I wouldn't make a lot of milk, but boy was I wrong! I had what friends and family called my own milk factory going, I had enough to feed my sweet princess and after she was full, I still had plenty of milk to pump, I could pump 6-8oz from each breast! I also was able to donate milk to a friend whose milk supply was low when she had her newborn.  This is by far the BEST experience ever. I've learned so much, such as breastfeeding isn't just food it helps with so many other things. Of course it nourishes a baby/child, helps with skin conditions, congestion, ear infections,  and it also helps reduce chances of breast and ovarian cancer and many other things!

Marcy and Kennedy ~ Kennedy Makes 4

 

My first, Jackson, had a traumatic birth, so breast feeding with him was a challenge from the beginning. I was told he was going to die, so started drying up my milk. After about 3-4 days, he was still hanging on and they said I should start pumping milk for him. So, I did and they started feeding him breast milk through a feeding tube.   This continued for about 3-4 weeks. Then they tried feeding him with a bottle of breast milk. When he got that process down, they said we could try breast feeding. He latched right on the first time but it didn't last. Those first few times in the hospital attempting to nurse, he cried and cried.  So we gave up until we got home. Once we got home (he was 6 weeks old), he started nursing off and on. We eventually had to supplement with formula because my supply couldn't keep up since I had to pump so much.  He nursed until he was 14 months old with formula supplemented as needed. 

My next 2 girls, Claire and Kate nursed with no problems until they were almost 3 years old. 

I'm now nursing my fourth baby, Kennedy, (she is 4 weeks old in the picture) with no problems and plan on going until she's at least 2. 

 

Each child can be different and respond in a different way to breastfeeding.  However, don’t become discouraged if it seems hopeless.  Seek support and help from a lactation specialist if needed to help you over the rough spots.

Victoria and Augustus ~ Breastfeeding Anxiety

When I was pregnant with Augustus, I felt more anxious about breastfeeding (or rather, breastfeeding going wrong) than anything else. I was excited about labor and giving birth. Of course, I was just out of my mind excited to meet our sweet little bug. But, breastfeeding! Yikes! I had so many questions. Would he latch? Would I have supply issues? Would I like the experience of nursing a baby? What if I get mastitis? What can I do to not get mastitis? Will I develop thrush? My biggest concern was will I have supply issues?

 

Our little Augustus Jude was born at 41 weeks 3 days by a natural, unmedicated, vaginal birth. His birth was the first vaginal birth in my family since 1959 something I am incredibly proud of. Oh, and he was perfect, beautiful, sweet and he latched immediately! He gained 3lbs in less than 10 days after birth and continued to grow into a soft and squishy baby. Augustus is now almost 13 months old and still nurses many times throughout the day and night. I haven't had any supply issues nor have I had mastitis or thrush.  All of those worries and questions were for nothing!  Interestingly, the one question I never thought to ask while pregnant was, "What happens if my breastfed baby refuses a bottle of expressed breast milk?" I never asked that question because I had never heard of a baby refusing a bottle until Augustus was born. He simply won't take breast milk from a bottle, sippy cup, open cup, straw, or medicine dropper. I love that he loves to nurse and I love nursing him. But, both I and his other mama, Lindsay, wish that he would have taken to a bottle. She would have loved to have fed him more as a small baby, to share those tender moments with him. Instead, they developed their own special routines and care-taking activities. Lindsay gives him his bath every night, lovingly washing his hair, singing songs about getting clean, and teaching him to splash and blow bubbles. And, once Augustus started exploring solid foods, the two of them discovered that they both love vanilla yogurt and vegetarian "sausage" breakfast sandwiches in the morning. And, oh how they love dancing together!

Best advice, don’t overthink breastfeeding.  Relax and enjoy those precious moments.

Amy Brown ~ Support is the Key to Success

I always knew breastfeeding was something that I wanted to do, but I didn't know anyone who had really been successful.  All my friends either didn't want to or quit pretty soon.  When I became pregnant with my son I was working in Denver, CO and was traveling back and forth between Denver and Dallas.  My son, Connor, was born at Rose Medical Center in Denver in February 2013.  They had an AMAZING staff who were all very knowledgeable and helpful with breastfeeding!  I bought this cute little outfit for my little man so everyone would know my plans for nursing!  Everything was great!  He gained weight like a pro and we moved home to Dallas when he was just two weeks old!  By the time he was 3 months old he had been nursed in 5 different states, in 2 different airports, on a plane, in many different restaurants, pretty much everywhere!  I thought I was a PRO!  Then, I started working again...  I tried to follow his eating schedule with my pumping schedule at work.  My supply stayed up fairly well for the first 2 months or so, but then one day it was just gone!  I was frustrated because I was stressing about supply issues and I was NOT losing the baby weight (it did not melt off like everyone said it would!!!). So after about a month of struggling with what I should do, I decided to stop breastfeeding my son at about 6 months.  It was the hardest decision I have made to date about him!!  I cried for about 2 weeks!

Fast forward about 1 month and I found out I was pregnant with my daughter!  We were ecstatic!!  One thing I knew with the little one was I wanted to nurse for at least a year.  Brooklyn was born May 2014 at Texas Health Harris Methodist in Bedford.  The lactation consultants there were even more amazing than my experiences in Denver!  We had a "slight" latching issue that was sorted out in the hospital!  Once we got her on point, she was a pro just like her big brother, and she gained weight fast!  As a distance runner, who ran throughout my entire pregnancy, I started back to running when she was about 3 weeks old.  I was nervous about it affecting my supply, but have had no issues.  I run about 25-40 miles per week and with proper nutrition and water intake, it’s been an awesome experience.  I will complete my first marathon when she is 8 1/2 months old!  I will say, nursing has been so much easier this time, and I believe my previous experience and just the fact that I am more knowledgeable about it has helped tremendously!

Through nursing, I've learned that a strong support system is the most important thing you can have!  I believe that if I would have had more people to guide and help me to figure out my supply issues with my son, I would have been able to make it to the one year mark with him.  I've learned the first 6 weeks are by far the hardest.  I've learned to embrace my body and to not focus on "baby weight," but rather enjoy the miraculous things it can do while providing nutrition for my baby!!  I've also learned that as a full time working mommy of two, nursing gives me the time with my new baby that I probably otherwise would not set aside!  I cannot wait to see what the future holds!  We plan to grow our family in the future, and I hope and pray that with each my experience is as amazing as the last!!!