Our breastfeeding story really starts a couple years before
Elliot was born. I breastfed his sister and had a lot of trouble building my
supply and her gaining weight. We dealt with failure to thrive issues and went
through frequent doctor visits to make sure she was gaining weight that really
tested our resolve to nurse. But, we made it through and had a sweet nursing
relationship for her first two years.
When I was pregnant with Elliot, I had a lot of fears about
the struggle I had with his sister and was worried about having to go through
those issues again. Little did I know, things would be very different.
When Elliot was born, we discovered he had a cleft lip and a
cleft in his soft palate. High on birth hormones, I didn't think much of it and
immediately put him to the breast and he seemed to latch on very well, so I
went with it. His first week, we saw many specialists because of his defect. I
was told multiple times by "feeding specialists" that Elliot should
not be able to get enough suction with his palate in order to effectively
nurse. I was really upset by this, but, with the encouragement of my husband, I
decided to continue nursing him unless we saw any issues with malnourishment.
Miraculously, he was back at his birth weight by day 4 of
life and had gained almost a pound by 10 days!! So, I just kept nursing
him. I was told a couple more times that he "shouldn't" be able to
nurse, but he grew healthily. We nursed through his facial surgery at six months,
through his first year, and are still going strong at 20 months. I can't
explain the why or how, but by the grace of God I have been able to give my son
the best I can through nursing.
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