Get “Plugged” in to a Support System - Casey and Kate

I had decided before I was ever married, that when the time came, and my husband and I were going to start our family that I wanted to breastfeed my children. I think it came as bit of a shock to my mom, as neither she nor my grandma breastfed their babies. It really wasn’t anything that I’d been exposed to a lot, I had only known one breastfeeding mother, who was a friend of mine, and she really opened my eyes to a whole new way of mothering. When I found out that I was expecting my daughter, I became voracious for as much information as I could get my hands on about breastfeeding - I knew that it was the best option for my baby and had lots of benefits for myself too and I settled in my heart that I was going to nurse my daughter, no matter what.

 In the months leading up to Kate’s birth, I was both excited and nervous about breastfeeding - would I be able to? What if I didn’t make enough milk? What if she wanted a bottle instead of the breast? I decided to trust my body and the way God made it - He designed my body to carry my baby, He designed my body to labor and birth my baby, He designed my body to nurture and sustain my baby once she would be born. I was able to attend a Latch-On event at the Botanical Gardens about a month before Kate was born - it was such a great experience for me! I left that event with confidence, after seeing all those mommas nurse their little ones, I knew I could do it and was even more excited to join the “sisterhood” of nursing mommies.

The time finally came for Kate to make her world debut! I had a really long labor and ended up having to birth in a hospital, instead of the birth center that we had planned on. Because I was so far long in my pregnancy, forty-two weeks and three days, and the level of amniotic fluid was decreasing, I needed to be induced to get labor to progress. It was about eight hours after induction that Kate arrived and it was love at first sight! She was given to me right away, put on my chest and within a few minutes I was asked if I wanted to try to nurse her. It was like magic! She latched on like a pro and nursed for almost ten minutes! I was in awe of her and my body, it was an incredible moment… and then we hit a wall.

A little while after my daughter was born, we tried nursing again and it didn’t go as well as before. She seemed really frustrated and I was in a lot of pain. The hospital was in-between lactation consultants at the time, so they kept sending in different nurses, each one very nice but all with very different approaches. Kate would scream and cry and they would shove her head on my breast and say, “Her latch looks perfect, the pain will go away.” I knew, from the reading and research, that it didn’t matter how a latched “looked”, it was about how it felt - and this felt awful, I was raw and bleeding before Kate was a full day old. Not being able to stand the pain of her latching or wanting to see her get so frustrated and worked up, I started to hand-express what I could and give it to her with a small spoon. The day we were discharged, we were able to go to a Latch Clinic at For Babies’ Sake and meet with Mellanie Sheppard. Within moments of assessing Kate, Mellanie pointed out that she had a very severe tongue tie and that highly suggested that we get it corrected as soon as we could. We were given so much helpful information and suggestions, and Kate nursed well for the first time, without crying, since she had been born.

 At four days old, we took Kate to a pediatric dentist, who was referred to us by Mellanie, and he agreed that Kate’s tongue tie was severe and needed to be corrected and told us that she also had a slight lip tie that should be corrected too. So we had her ties corrected and she was given to me immediately afterward so that I could nurse her and it was such a difference! She nursed wonderfully! The doctor explained that it was normal for the baby to nurse really well afterwards and then the next few days would be rough as the wounds healed and then showed my husband and I the stretches we would need to do in order to keep the ties from re-attaching. The next week was very hard, there were lots of tears from Kate and me - after a couple of weeks I scheduled a consult with another lactation consultant, Rosemarie Anthony, who was closer to where we lived, so that I could get help because I was still sore and hurting and Kate was having trouble with her sucking. I had, at this same time, gotten a plugged duct and was trying to recover as well. Rosemarie was an absolute answer to prayer! She was so helpful and full of information; she really gave me a wonderful education and explained how I could finger-feed Kate with expressed milk in order to give myself time to heal. She then worked with Kate and me and helped us figure out different positions to nurse in so that Kate could pull the milk from my clogged duct and showed me how to get better at latching Kate on my breast. It took a lot of work but around eight weeks, things started to really improve and I actually started to look forward to nursing my daughter. 

We’ve since then, dealt with over-supply issues that thankfully resolved on their own, and now have started teething - it’s certainly been a journey! Kate is six months old and growing every day, she loves to nurse and is a rock star at it! I honestly didn’t expect to love nursing my daughter as much as I do, the bond that we have is truly a God-given blessing. I remember very well, before Kate was due, a dear friend told me that breastfeeding would be one of the most natural things that I did, but that it may not be the easiest thing that I did - I am so grateful for her honesty because for me it was very true. I would say that support is key and is one of the reasons I’m still nursing my daughter, in spite of everything that we have been through. I have a wonderful husband, great family and friends, and love going to La Leche League meetings and seeing my “sisters”. I would tell any woman who is thinking of or planning to breastfeed: read as much as you can, spend time with other nursing mommies, and get plugged-in wherever you can. While everyone’s journey looks different, you ARE an overcomer who is capable of great things!

We Choose Breastmilk! - Andrea’s Journey

Definition of breastfeeding: suckling or nursing, giving a baby milk from the breast. For me, it is so much more than that. It's how I comfort my crying child when upset. It is how my kids get to sleep, how they relax. It is one way I know that they feel love. I started my breastfeeding journey for the first time over 25 months ago when my first child, my son, was born. When I was pregnant my husband casually brought up that I would breastfeed our son, as if it's the obvious thing to do. Before that I had actually never given it any thought to how I would feed my baby.

Everyone I knew used formula and I had only babysat for formula fed babies. So I set out to find information on breastfeeding because I am a person who likes facts. I immediately learned the benefits of breastfeeding. The nutritional value, the bonding, the naturalness of it and the fact it was free and helped with weight loss was a bonus! My mind was made up. That was that. I would breastfeed my children.

 I read blogs, I read books, I talked to a woman online who had experience with breastfeeding. I did everything I could to be prepared, or at least what I thought was prepared. When my son arrived I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was for us. He latched right on. We didn't experience pain, we didn't have supply issue's, we didn't have problems of any sort. I was so scared at failing but learned that if I relaxed, mine and my baby’s instincts would lead us. In the beginning I had several people make comments on how "if I just gave a bottle or cereal he'd sleep longer", or how "he must not be getting enough from me because he nurses every 30 minutes sometimes". These responses didn't feel right to me. My gut told me we we're ok since he was gaining fine, we we're both happy and I was in fact enough. He is now 25 months old and still nursing strong having never had a bottle, cow’s milk, or any other type of drink except breast milk and water. That is an accomplishment I am proud to have reached.

When he was 15 months old I learned we were expecting! I was so thrilled and excited by this news. I also was in fear my milk would dry and my son would be forcefully weaned before he was ready. Around 14 weeks my milk started to dry up. Surprisingly my son was not fazed by this and continued on to dry nurse. I had severe nursing aversion at this point. It got so bad I would cringe when he latched. I started to resent him nursing and dreaded every time he asked. It was really rough and painful for months during pregnancy. I held on for him. I knew he was attached and not ready to stop. So, through tears, through personal discomforts, anxiety, and pain I held on in attempt to do what I set out to do, which is let him self-wean. Finally some time in my third trimester my colostrum came in and the aversion and pain stopped. This was a relief for both of us.

 Fast forward to present day; my daughter is here and we are celebrating three weeks of tandem nursing. She, like my son, took right to nursing. We have been able to avoid pain and supply issues once again. For this I am thankful. Tandem nursing is a mixture of things for me. It is both wonderful and frustrating. I love that I can nurse my babies and give them what they need. I love when I see my son reach over and hold my daughter's hand. I love looking down at both their faces as they get "milk drunk". I also get overwhelmed at times. It takes a lot out of me to be nursing two babies. I constantly have one or both on me. I don't sleep much because one is always waking to night nurse. I experienced nursing aversion with my son again, especially at night. It has been a struggle these 3 weeks with aversion returning, but again, I hold on for him. So for us, our journey is long and full of ups and downs. I reached my goal with him which was full term nursing to two years old. I now leave it in his hands to wean when he is ready. As for my sweet daughter, our journey is just starting. I enjoy nursing her and I feel blessed I can provide for her. I set the same goal as I did with my son, which is to make it to one year without any supplementation and then to hopefully reach two years or let her self-wean, whichever comes first. I am happy I can do this for my kids and I am happy that I have encouraged several friends on their journey with breastfeeding. I fully support a family choosing whatever route is best for them when it comes to nourishing their children. For us, we chose breastmilk and I am so happy we did.