"Breastfeeding my children has been a blessing. With my first child, it was a difficult journey. I was working and taking master's degree courses. but that didnt stop me. Pumping was part of my day and each time I would be wishing for the day to be over to go home and breastfeed my boy. We made it to 1.5 years. I felt like a dream come true making it that far.
Amazingly, after going through very delicate health issues and giving up the idea of becoming a mother a second time, life surprised me. My little boy came to my life healthy and ready to breastfeed. He loves his "kie kies". He is 2.8 years old and not letting go of this magical bond that we share thanks to breastfeeding." - Yanzza R.
"This picture is important to me because it was the beginning of nursing a toddler. No more little baby. We had made it! And the gymnastic nursing had begun! We had a very rocky start to our nursing relationship. We had to go through a lot of hurdles, But with determination and a whole community of support, we fought to get here! I am proud of how far we've come! This picture is now a year old, and our breastfeeding journey is still continuing!" - Vanessa M.
"As many first time mom's prepare for their new baby, I had a birth plan/aftercare plan and breastfeeding was high on the list. Every book and article made it sound so simple and beautiful as if every newborn immediately latches on to the boob at first skin to skin contact. That was not the case with my son, Aiden. I wasn't able to hold him for the first 45 minutes due to some complications and once we were skin to skin, he was so exhausted from birth that he went into a deep sleep and didn't wake up for approximately 14 hrs. A lactation consultant attempted to get a latxh within those first 14 hrs but he wouldn't stay awake, nor did it seem that his little mouth could open wide enough to latxh into my nipple much bigger than his tiny mouth.
In the meantime, I requested a pump and started pumping so that his first taste of milk would be from me. I attempted to latch him numerous times throughout the three day stay with help from three different LC but it wasn't turning out the way that I envisioned it, nor did the LC seem to have adequate time to spend with me working on our issues. I was feeling an array of emotions and failure was one of them. Why didn't any of my readings discuss when breastfeeding doesn't go as planned? I never thought about hiring my personal LC for afterbirth to advocate for me when my busy nurses and LC started to complain about my child needing to consume "x" amount of milk and kept listing formula as an option. What was the point of having on staff LC if they couldn't help me?
I started doubting myself in the hospital and supplemented with formula. Someone mentioned WIC having a Lactation counselor on staff to assist mother's for free, so I called and was able to set up an appointment the following week. I had so much anxiety knowing that I had to still figure out a way to give my child breast milk even though he wasn't latching. The day after we were discharged from the hospital, I bought an electric pump and dedicated every min to pumping so that I didn't have to give my son formula. Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for formula because at least I knew he was getting nourishment but it wasn't apart of our plan. That following week we finally met with the counselor at WIC and I was so nervous. I was nervous because I didn't want another person looking at me with sympathy and telling me sorry they didn't know why he wasn't latching. The counselor was extremely empathic and listened to my concerns without being rushed or having to attend to the next mom. She explained that that not only were I heavy chested but my nipples were twice the size of Aiden's mouth, making it difficult to latch him using the football hold. She explained that the "tea cup" hold would work best and demonstrated. She was able to latxh my son on the first try and I started to cry. She unlatched him and had me attempt the hold myself and having my son latch on for the first time in a week was the first time I didn't feel like a failure. But now that he was latched, I felt extreme pain and couldn't imagine how this could be beautiful. She explained that the pain and clicking noise was a result of a possible tongue tie. That was another hurdle to get over but at least we had gotten Aiden to latch. At his second pediatric appointment, a tongue tie was confirmed and fixed soon after. I suffered through the pain some feedings and pumped for the first six weeks. Once we both were comfortable in our breastfeeding relationship, we slowly weaned off the bottle and have been exclusively breastfeeding ever since. Aiden will be 2 on August 14th and we see no end in sight."
I started doubting myself in the hospital and supplemented with formula. Someone mentioned WIC having a Lactation counselor on staff to assist mother's for free, so I called and was able to set up an appointment the following week. I had so much anxiety knowing that I had to still figure out a way to give my child breast milk even though he wasn't latching. The day after we were discharged from the hospital, I bought an electric pump and dedicated every min to pumping so that I didn't have to give my son formula. Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for formula because at least I knew he was getting nourishment but it wasn't apart of our plan. That following week we finally met with the counselor at WIC and I was so nervous. I was nervous because I didn't want another person looking at me with sympathy and telling me sorry they didn't know why he wasn't latching.
The counselor was extremely empathic and listened to my concerns without being rushed or having to attend to the next mom. She explained that that not only were I heavy chested but my nipples were twice the size of Aiden's mouth, making it difficult to latch him using the football hold. She explained that the "tea cup" hold would work best and demonstrated. She was able to latxh my son on the first try and I started to cry. She unlatched him and had me attempt the hold myself and having my son latch on for the first time in a week was the first time I didn't feel like a failure. But now that he was latched, I felt extreme pain and couldn't imagine how this could be beautiful.
She explained that the pain and clicking noise was a result of a possible tongue tie. That was another hurdle to get over but at least we had gotten Aiden to latch. At his second pediatric appointment, a tongue tie was confirmed and fixed soon after. I suffered through the pain some feedings and pumped for the first six weeks. Once we both were comfortable in our breastfeeding relationship, we slowly weaned off the bottle and have been exclusively breastfeeding ever since. Aiden will be 2 on August 14th and we see no end in sight." - Nora J.
"When I had my third child in 2010, I was determined to breastfeed for 6 months. I had given up at 1 month with my 2 older children because of lack of support and because of my insecurities of breastfeeding in public. I plugged in with some awesome ladies before I had my daughter and knew they would help me. After birth injury resulting in a sore baby, oversupply, mastitis twice, plugged ducts, undiagnosed tongue tie and weak oral motor muscles added to my extreme fear of nursing in public, I spiraled quickly into my only battle with post partum depression. I fought with everything I had to establish breastfeeding.
And it was hard. Really hard. But at 6 months, we were still going. And it finally got easier. So I set a new goal of a year. When we hit that milestone I decided we would take it month by month. At 18 months, I was diagnosed with a thyroid disorder. And my depression came back when the doctor told me I had to wean. After more support and research, I weaned my daughter down to 1-2 times a day. But made a promise to her that she could nurse as long as she still asked for them when she woke and went to sleep. We weaned at 4 years old. A few months after her little sister was born. I don't regret nursing my daughter for 4 years. I regret that I did not get more pictures though. I'm so glad Andrea was able to capture this moment for us while I was 8 months pregnant with her little sister. (Who is still breastfeeding at 15 months.) "