Thursday, February 19, 2015

Pressure to Supplement - Denisse and Austin


Being a new mom is the greatest joy one can experience, and that becomes an even more joyous journey when you decide you want to breastfeed. I always knew from the moment I found out I was 6 weeks pregnant that I wanted to nurse my child. I wanted to do so for so many reasons. I knew that nursing was healthiest for the baby and mother.  I knew that it's a natural reaction for the baby to look for food and want to be close to his mother. I wanted to be that and more, I wanted to be the comfort for my child and what nourished him in every way possible. When he was born and I was in the hospital I nursed him the instant they put him in my arms, he was a pro! I breastfed him the three days we were in the hospital and it all seem to have gone well. But as soon as we got home and I continued to nurse him, he seemed like he was upset after each meal as if he wasn't getting enough to be satisfied. I started to suspect that I wasn't producing enough milk and started to worry. We went to the pediatrician and told her the situation and she advised me that everything was fine, to continue nursing him for as long as he wanted and whenever he wanted. I did just that and a week passed by and it was time for his next check up with the pediatrician. At his check up the pediatrician told us that he had lost some weight.  I became upset and told the pediatrician that I wanted to supplement him in order to get him back on track. While all of this was going on I had been trying to get my supply up by eating a lot of oatmeal and even took a few supplements to help increase my milk. I was like this for about three weeks. During this time Austin was able to gain his weight back (but I knew it was because I was supplementing him that he had even gained weight!).

 


 In those three weeks I did all I could to nurse Austin without the help of formula, but in all honesty I was so overwhelmed by my family and the pressure to supplement him because they could see that no matter how much I nursed him he never seemed to be fully satisfied. My mother in law would always comment on just giving up, just letting him have formula so that I could just stop stressing over the fact that I might not be able to have enough milk to fill him up. That crushed me, it made me feel so belittled and insecure. As a mom all I ever wanted to do was nourish Austin, and for some reason I couldn't seem to fulfill that role as a mom. After much thinking and research I decided to take some advice from a mommy friend and set up an appointment with a lactation consultant. The minute I walked into her office and I told her my story, she patted my shoulder and said “You’re capable of this momma you just got to keep trying".  The tears rolled down my cheeks.  I couldn't hold back and just cried. She said we would figure something out, and that by the time we were done with this I wouldn't need to supplement Austin.  I had four appointments with her, where she gave me tips on the positioning of Austin and to just let go of my stress and anxiety of thinking that I didn't have enough milk.  She would have Austin weighed before we started our appointment and then I would feed him and she would weigh him after I fed him. By the second appointment she assured me and showed me that Austin WAS in fact getting enough milk about 2 oz.  from each breast. For his age at the time it should've been enough to keep him satisfied.  I finally just completely stopped supplementing Austin and have exclusively breastfed him ever since. I thank God every day for not letting me give up.  I feel like I fulfilled my role as a mother and was able to provide everything for my son. I'm also eternally grateful for the support and encouragement I received from Kristal, my lactation consultant.  Austin is now 8 months old and still EBF.

 

 


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