I'd like to share a personal accomplishment of mine in regards to breast feeding. It's a lengthy read, but I'm so proud of myself.
At 9:54 am yesterday, my daughter turned 1. I am happy to report that we are still going good in the boobie department.
Before I had her, I set a goal of one year to breastfeed. I would be staying home with her permanently and knew it should be feasible. I had a natural childbirth and when Stella was born that morning, she latched on right away. But in the middle of the night she had trouble latching back on. We tried for over an hour to get her back on and tried several nursing positions, however, nothing worked. I was getting stressed as I'm sure she was. My nipples were super flat, so Lactation suggested a nipple shield later that morning. We used it for about 3 weeks full time and once I felt comfortable with my ability to nurse her, I started weaning her off of it. We quit using it around 6 weeks.
The first 3 months were beautiful, but highly demanding. She typically nursed every 45 min - 1 1/2 hr during that time. She also went through a period of spitting up/projectile vomiting which was discouraging to me as a new mom because I felt my efforts were being wasted. This didn't require any medical intervention and thankfully didn't last long.
I pumped 1-2 times a day for the first 4 months. I wanted to have a small supply for when we traveled the 3 hour trip to see our family and if I needed a little time away for errands or personal things. I ended up having way more breast milk than I knew she'd ever drink since she only took a bottle a few times a month. I'd heard about breast milk donation long before I was pregnant and it interested me. I found out about Eats on Feets and found a mom whose son had had a rough delivery and been in the NICU. I donated roughly 70 oz of breast milk to them. She emailed me a few days later to say he thoroughly enjoyed my gift. I never met her or the baby as the grandmother picked up the supply, but I was elated to hear this news. It was an amazing feeling to know that not only was I turning my sweet baby girl into a chunky boobie monkey, but I was able to help someone else.
Every night I would get up 2-3 times to nurse Stella in our super comfy La-Z Boy. Some nights I'd fall asleep rocking her and wake up hours later only to start back over again. Thank goodness I listened to my mother in law and got something that was comfy for both of us (instead of the antique heirloom family wooden rocker I wanted to use). Those first few months I think I slept more in the recliner than I did in our bed.
When she starting sleeping through the night (4-5 mo or so) and waking between 4-6 am to nurse, I decided to start bringing her in the bed to nurse. She'd latch on and go immediately back to sleep and unusually would too. From that moment on, I've done this each and every morning. I LOVE the 3 of us all waking up together in the morning. As I write this, both of my loves are snoozing next to me (can't figure out why I've been awake since 5:30 am the day after her party!!)
There was a time not too long ago when I didn't know if I would make it to a year. Around 8-9 months she'd get so upset when I tried to nurse her during the day. I'd always nursed her on the Boppy for each feeding, but she would freak out when I tried to lay her down. For a few weeks , she'd only nurse once during the day. I knew she wouldn't take a bottle since it had been months since she'd had one. I worried about her getting dehydrated, but her diapers continued to fill the same as before.
One day I just got frustrated and sat her up facing me. She had her legs around my waist and I patted her head onto my chest. She laid there for a few seconds, then starting rooting around for my nipple. I popped it in her mouth and that's how we've nursed during the day ever since then. I think she was associating the Boppy and laying down with nap time and she didn't always want to go to sleep. This way she was upright and so, so much happier. I'd never seen a baby nurse this way but she loved/loves it. Sometimes she falls asleep only to drool all over me and somedays I feel as though she's playing Whack a Mole with my boobs because she goes back and forth between them so fast! Now all she has to do to let me know she wants to nurse it pull my shirt up or down. We do this 3-4 times during the day, the night feed (on the Boppy) and the bed feed early in the morning.
She's always been very independent and when she started walking at 10 1/2 months I figured she wouldn't want to nurse much more, but since finding this position, we can keep it up for as long as she likes.
I'm curious to see how long Stella will want to nurse as she's been an enormous fan of actual food since we started Baby Led Weaning at 6 months. I've never seen a kid shovel in food the way she does!
I've rocked her to sleep for almost each nap and bedtime since the beginning. I figure she's only little once, so I want to do it for as long as she'll let me. She'll fall asleep on her on soon enough. Some nights I play on my phone to keep me awake. Other times I just stare at her beautiful face and reminisce about when she was so tiny (which feels like yesterday) and some times I recline back and snooze with her.
Sometimes I set goals that I know I'll never make. Most are trivial and don't matter, but this was something I was dead set on (much like wanting natural birth). I went back to the hospital twice for lactation help during the first 6 weeks. My insurance covered it 100% and they are there to help, so why not use it. I had one breast which produced a lot in a short amount of time and another who produced half that amount in twice the time. Both nurses reassured me that I was doing great and to keep on keeping on. At the 2nd and last visit my worries that my daughter wasn't getting enough were put to rest when she was weighed after nursing off of my slower producing breast. The nurse was shocked that she had ingested so much in a short amount of time. Up until that point I had been keeping a log of when, how long and what breast she fed off of, but put it aside after that day. Lactation helped me believe that was I was doing had been fine all along and everything was going to work out . I am so thankful to have wonderful family and friends who were a great support, as well as the support groups on Facebook.
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