Around Willows birthday I shared "our" ( I say our, because it was my body who did the birthing) birth story and everyone loved my over sharing so this "series/post" for all of your over sharers out there.
This is all my opinion and what I have experienced through this process and was written intermittently during the process
Warning: this post is about breastfeeding and may or may not include pictures, fyi
Since birth, I have breastfed my little Willow.
She latched immediately and than we ran into multiple problems
When I held my breast my nipples would invert, thus making it hard for her to latch on. When a nurse saw this she recommended a nipple Shield. She measured me and gave me several. When the lactation consultant (LC) made her rounds she double checked and also approved the use of the shield to start off with and wean from there. In the hospital you have a ton of support available and we learned a lot and tried not to get frustrated. Especially that babies don't actually need any food for the first couple days, so the colostrum you do have before your milk comes in, is enough.
We were discharged on a Tuesday and had to go back to the pediatrician on Wednesday for a weight and jaundice check. Turns out my milk had not come in and Willow was losing a lot of weight and her bilirubin (jaundice) levels were high, which was concerning and we needed to start supplementing. This started the first of many internal fights of why my body was not goo enough to not be able to feed my baby without help. The next day we had a follow up weight check and she gained 4 oz from all that formula. From that day on we supplemented. Let me tell you that that little formula made me feel awful and I hated the fact that I was not given the full opportunity to try 100%. Granted I could have said no, but I was scared. Even as a nure when it is your baby or your body it is a very scary thought to think about.
A week later Miss W and I spent days naked and just did nurse ins. I took fenugreek, drank tea and baked cookies. It helped here and there, but the only thing that improved things was the amount of feedings I was having. Some days we gave her more formula than others and some days, mainly when P was away, she didn't get any. Still til this day she usually gets at least one bottle of formula before bed.
I am a modern women and have slowly come to the conclusion that I can not have everything. Every ounce I give my daughter is better than nothing. I have been back to work for over a month now and pumping sucks. Again I was back to eating cookies, drinking tea and taking supplements. I changed the amount and frequency I was pumping. Last night I pumped 10 whole ounces while at work, I know women who do not have a problem with supply and that is not a lot, but it is a huge improvement for me from the 5-7 ounces I was pumping.
As time went on breastfeeding and pumping became second nature, but I still felt tied down by it. We started solids just shy of 6 months and that made her very happy. Willow weaned herself from the breast around 9 months. When I say she weaned herself she would scream at me when I would put her on so we stopped. I still follow her cues and take her lead. It was amazing to go as long as we did and that makes me happy. I am glad that I could provide for her for that long. At her 12 month visit she is 90-95th% in height, weight and head circumference so we can not complain.
How was your breastfeeding journey?
