Simply the Best!

                                              *Heather R.

Determined and Happy

When I found out I was pregnant, I immediately began asking my mother all sorts of questions.  Not about pregnancy.  Not about delivery.  Not even about nursery decorations.  About breastfeeding. 

All my life, I have been looking forward to being a mommy and getting to have the amazing closeness with my baby that breastfeeding allows. I've even been told that at 2 years old I used to walk down the aisle at church with my baby doll shoved up under my dress "nursing." I read all the books and all the blogs.  My mom had no trouble nursing, so I was sure that between that and my excessive preparation, I would have no trouble. Boy, was I wrong. One hour after birth, I decided it was time to feed my new baby.  I kicked all of the visitors out (it was midnight, after all) and got ready for the moment I had been waiting for.  ...and nothing happened. She latched for a second and then came off.  And then latched again...and then nothing. The nurse told me, "She's just tired," and said I just let her rest and then try again in a few hours. I tried again in a few hours...and nothing. I was devastated.  I had resolved that even if she wouldn't latch, I would still pump and give her the milk because I didn't want to use any formula. 

When I left the hospital two days later, we were still struggling.  My doula dripped sugar water down my breast shield just to get her in the right place, and she still didn't respond. At home, I was trying every 2 hours.  It got to where everytime my mom would ask, "Are you ready to try again?"  I wanted to say no.  The thing that I was looking forward to sharing with my baby the most, wasn't working.  She didn't want it.  At least that's what I was telling myself. Finally, I was pumping 8 times a day, and dripping it down my breast into her mouth with a syringe.  On the 5th day, Brylie slept 12 hours straight and I couldn't wake her up at all to eat.  I panicked and called my doula who showed up at my house 5 minutes later.  She told me that I would have to just put the milk in a bottle to get food into her.  In my mind, I was thinking "bottle=formula (which I don't want to use)."  I had to get past that for my baby, though, and I bottle-fed her breast milk for a few days. Finally, after 3 days of that, she turned toward me and latched on!  With no problems at all.  It was the best moment of my life (besides her birth)!  I realize now that she was just too weak and had no energy to latch onto me. 

Knowing what I know now, I will hopefully have no problems with my second baby.  Now, at six months, Brylie's so ready to eat that she will sometimes latch on through my shirt if I'm not careful! Looking back, pregnancy and labor seemed easy compared to the emotional struggles of trying to breastfeed a weak baby.  That honestly was the hardest thing I've ever gone through in my life. I really hope this story can help a mommy who's having trouble nursing but is determined to make it work.

                                                                                                               *Mari S.

Sticking with it and staying strong

I am a mother of six wonderful kids. four of them breastfed. I guess as I have grown older I have learned better and have tried to do so much better by breastfeeding my babies.

My youngest child, Julia was born Christmas Eve of 2007. She breastfed like a champ right after she was born, but the following weeks were not so easy. At four days old she developed a very hoarse cry and started latching on very hard, she would pull away, latch on and bite down very hard. We didnt know what was going on with her. I visited the lactation consultant numerous times and my baby was losing weight fast. At 13 days old she was diagnosed with a life threatening virus that had covered her throat  with sores . She was hospitalized for 16 days. During that time I had to suplement and tried my hardest at every feeding to get her to nurse, I would pump as well. It was a very rough road. I wanted her to be healthy, and I wanted to be able to help her get better by breatsfeeding her as well. She prefered the bottle, but i kept on trying every time she would latch on after taking a bottle I was thrilled.

   Well today Julia is almopst 7 months old. Completely healthy and exclusively breastfed. It has been a long road, but everytime she looks up at me with milk dribbling down her chunky little face I am thrilled that she is doing so wonderful. We made it over all the hurdles and she is a wopping 18.8 lbs now too!!

                                                                                                     *Kristen R.

What I knew for Sure!

When I first found out I was pregnant I was a mixture of emotions, excited but nervous at the same time.  There were so many things to decide upon, where to give birth (Africa or the US), how to raise our child, etc... but the one thing I knew from the beginning was that I wanted our child to breastfeed.  I had heard so many of the benefits of breastfeeding and I wanted my child to have all of these. When my son was born I could not wait for him to latch on and I was so grateful that he knew what he was doing from the start. It was so natural. My son is 5 months old now and I still love this special time we are able to share together each day.

                                                                             *Sarah B.

Committed and Completely Content

I stayed committed to breastfeeding for two reasons - because I was lazy and because I was cheap.  I didn't explore the alternatives (i.e., formula, milk bank) prior to having my son, and didn't think breastfeeding would be problematic.  I could not have been more wrong.  The first two weeks of breastfeeding were more painful than the act of labor.  I had cracked blistery nipples even though my son eventually latched on correctly, the second or third days of his life.  However, by that time, the damage to my nipples had been done, and because my son fed all the time, there was no time for healing.  Had I brought formula to the hospital, I undoubtedly would've folded and given in.  However, I persisted and was committed to breastfeeding.  Once we got home, the pain that was supposed to go away, according to all the literature, stayed with me over the next two weeks.  In fact, the first month of breastfeeding did not bring moments of bonding or joy.  Instead, I breastfed out of necessity and laziness.  It was difficult enough for me to wake up in the middle of the night to feed my son; I didn't want to extend the midnight feedings by having to go downstairs to the kitchen, warm up the bottle and bring it up to the baby.  So, I stuck it out.  And in the end, I am grateful.  I now look forward to the minutes I share with my son, when he suckles at my breast and looks up at me adoringly.  I smile thinking about his excitement at being laid at my lap for his next feeding.  Although breastfeeding was challenging at first, I am glad I stuck with it.

                                                                                       *Wendy J.

Loving It

I am a huge fan of breast-feeding, it is such an amazing experience!  I breast-fed my daughter, who is now 3, until she was nearly 2!  We both loved it, so there was really no reason to stop.  She decided she was done on her own right before her 2nd birthday.  My son, on the other hand, didn't get to experience breast-feeding as long as either of us would have liked.  I got pregnant again when he was just 4 months old, a little sooner than I had planned!  I tried nursing him in the early weeks of my pregnancy, but noticed that all of my milk supply had diminished quickly.  So by the time he was 5 months old we had to switch completely to formula.  It is still a great bonding experience when I feed him with the bottle, but I wish very much I could have nursed him through his entire first year.  With the next baby, due in December, I fully plan to breast-feed again and hope to be able to nurse him or her for at least their entire first year of life! 

                                                  *Alyssa M.

Tips for the working mom!

Get support-the best advice

I have breastfed both of my boys until they were over 2 years old.  All I ever wanted to do was breastfeed my first baby.  He was in the NICU and was not able to breastfeed due to his illness.  I had to pump the first 9 days, but it was the best decision I ever made in the healthcare of my baby.  It took a lactation consultant and a lot of tears to get him on the breast.  Once there he never left!  Extended nursing was such a sweet time for me to help them go through their physical and emotional changes.  With my first one, the weaning was hard and I cried so much  I had just found out that I was pregnant with my second child and was not well enough to nurse both of them. With my second I took a more natural approach and just started distracting him in the evenings.  Eventually we went to every other night, then every third night, and then without thinking about it he just stopped.   My advice: when the nursing gets hard, get support.  Without support you cannot do it.  With support you can nurse for however long you want.  The first weeks are the hardest and after that it gets much easier.  I do not know anyone else like me, personally.  All of my friends barely made it to one year, if making it at all with some of their children.

                                                                        *Arizona Mom

The best is yet to come

Well, I am six months pregnant, so I don't have a breastfeeding story yet, but I have never looked forward to anything in my life as much as I look forward to breastfeeding my baby! There is nothing as tender as a mother lovingly feeding her baby and looking into the baby's eyes. I can't wait! In addition to the bonding aspect, and the fact that breastmilk is so much better for the baby's development than formula, I have to admit that I am also drawn to breastfeeding because I am...well...super-cheap! Got to love free food! Anyway, I am scared because I know so many people have a hard time breastfeeding, but it is very important to me and I plan to pursue it tenaciously. I am sure products like Blossumz will help me along the way too!

                                                  *Melissa W.

Not Quite There Yet

I have been trying to conceive for the last 11 months, so I haven’t quite gotten to the breastfeeding part yet.  However, after speaking to friends who have had children over the last few years, it seems like this natural event of life can sometimes initially come with challenges!  A friend, who now has a 3 week old, said that it is the breastfeeding she has been most surprised about with her journey into motherhood.  She didn’t anticipate the pain or the difficulty that she has.  She needs blossumz!!  Hopefully since it has been an uphill road to conception, I will have it easy when it comes to breastfeeding!

                                                  *Mandy E.

The Breast Crawl

I knew from the start that I wanted to breastfeed. Human breast milk is the most nutritional food for my baby, it's always ready, it's free...the list goes on and on. However, I was terrified that I would be unsuccessful at breastfeeding, because I have so many friends who fell into this category despite the fact that they had a strong desire to do so. I think this made me more determined to succeed, so I read a ton of books, talked to lots of breastfeeding moms, and attended a class. By the time I went into labor, the prospect of it not working never even crossed my mind. I was ready!

Elisabeth was born at home, and she rooted her way to my breast within minutes of being born. I remember hearing of babies who would do the "breast crawl," but it was pretty phenomenal seeing my own baby (who was merely minutes old) crawling her way to my breast and latching herself on. She nursed all night that first night as we dozed in the big bed together. I feel that her transition from the womb was made easier by being able to nuzzle skin-to-skin with me from the start.

One thing I've learned is that breastfeeding is a confidence game. If you believe it will work for you, it will! Our breasts were made to feed our babies. Have faith in your body, and it will perform for you!

Elisabeth is 9 months old now and continues to latch herself on. It's amazing to know that for the past 18 months, I've completely sustained her. I know the bond we've formed will last a lifetime!

                                                       *Becca C.

Breastfeeding is my chance to be a tree 

In one of the books we regularly read at bedtime, Runaway Bunny, the little bunny says he will become a bird and fly away.  His mother bunny says she will then become a tree that he will come home to.  With a 14 month old, I see him becoming that bird every day.  He's so busy and active, he'd rather be playing and exploring then cuddling up with me like when he was a little babe.  But there are still a few times a day when he needs and wants to be nursed.  It's my time to be his tree.  He comes home to me, he sits with me, soft and sweet and still and we can just be quite together and I can enjoy the last remaining days of this one special bond we've built since the first day he came into my world.  I know that as time progresses, I will become his tree in many other ways.  But our breastfeeding time will always be the first time I knew exactly what the mother bunny meant.

I was actually very lucky I think.  I had a c-section due to a breach baby, but my midwife was with me and made sure that before they whisked my baby away (another rant all in itself) we had time for him to nurse and rest with me skin to skin.  I actually had several obstacles over the past 15 months, and yes we're still nursing.  When my baby wasn't gaining weight fast enough, instead of telling me to supplement with formula, my midwives had me pump after each feeding and have my husband bottle feed an ounce of pumped breast milk from my last pumping to the baby.  We did this for only a week until his weight was increasing and so was my supply.  I pumped for a year at work, my supply dipped, I drank beer (half a home brewed dark beer a night) and took fenugreek and fennel seed.  Even with four tubs of formula in the house I only added a total of 8 ounces to my breast milk and that was at the lowest point of my milk production when I switched jobs two weeks after the end of my maternity leave.  I used a nipple shield, which made nursing in public even harder.  I was told to go the dressing room in Target and left the store instead of hiding away.  I have and still do nurse wherever I need to now and I'm comfortable enough and yet discreet enough to do it with confidence.  I had a blocked milk duct, sore nipples, and luckily a very supportive husband and family.  But I was always determined I would not give in.  I first pushed for 6 months and when 6 months came and passed I pushed for 10, and then 12, and now I'm looking at 18 but I'm sad knowing my nursing time is slowing now.

I am attaching 3 pictures of our little family, one right after birth, one at his one-year birthday party, and one family portrait. 

Thank you for my chance to tell my story.

                                              *Lesha

Next time around