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.