My breast feeding story...

[Annette7931]

So i'm hoping this will be a nice break from my therapy posts... but i'm a little emotional about it right now so we'll see :P

So my daughter was born Sept 2, 2009.  I was hoping for an all natural birth but opted for the induction when it was offered.  I would say that was a stupid mistake (induction for no medical reason that is), but my dd was 9lbs 10ozs and if i had let her stay any longer, i think it would have ended in a c-section... as it is i was barely able to push her out... but thats a whole other story.  So the point i was trying to make... the birth didn't exactly pan out the way i had imagined it.  But once she was here, i wanted to at least try breast feeding since "breast is best" is all i had heard for months.  i felt like i was producing NOTHING... baby cried 24/7... and i was just exhausted.  A nurse offered her formula and she drank up the 2 ozs like if it was chocolate :P  Luckily she still took to the breast fine and once we were out of the hospital and my milk came in, it was all good.  Before i knew how absolutely disgusting formula is (and it is... don't be offended at the facts) i gave her a bottle of it per day, never more than 2 ounces/day.  Its funny that i had to really try to remember this next part but i did... the first few weeks were painful... i cried at every feeding.  She had an awesome latch, but my nipples were still in the sensitive stage.  I think its funny that when people ask if it ever hurt, my immediate reaction is no, but when i flash back i remember the pain... i guess the good months way out weighed the bad :)  My daughters last bottle (of anything) was over new years vacation :)  From that point on it was all boob whenever she wanted it.  I got tons of bad comments and annoyed stares... not from strangers... but from my own family.  When she turned 6 weeks people started telling me i could give up because that was all babies needed... when she turned 2 months they told me it was all down hill from there... when she turned 6 months and that first tooth came out they told me it would be non stop bites... when she turned 9 months and started walking they told me i was raising a pervert... when she turned 11 months and could say "boob" they were horrified that i was still going... when she turned a year and everyone mistook her for a very smart 2 year old they finally shut up.  Having that lack of support and down-right evilness towards my BFing relationship with my DD was majorly hard.  It was to the point where if i was around them, i had to sneak around to feed her... which sometimes meant making excuses to go to the store but really just going to feed her. 

I was definitely a milk producing machine.  I was able to not only feed my daughter, but pump and store a "just in case" stash, which overflowed my freezer and was eventually donated to a beautiful adopted baby boy.  Granted it wasn't enough to sustain him for very long, but it was a little over 400 ounces though, so its not like it was nothing.  That was a super rewarding experience!

Back tracking a bit... when she turned 6 weeks i went on the mini-pill.  I thought i was one of the lucky ones who never got side effects, but in retrospect i was wrong.  After about 6 months they found an ovarian cyst that they wanted to treat with estrogen but that would kill my supply so she let me "wait it out"... she was really upset i wouldn't take the estrogen.  A few more other incidents like that came up where i had to choose between medicine and breast feeding and i always chose breast.  Finally at 1 year, 2 weeks, and 5 days i went to another appointment for killer back pain and i kissed out BF relationship good bye.  I got put on 3 new meds and i just reached the point where it wasn't worth the fight anymore.  DD was only nursing 2-3 times a day and she had been able to go a whole weekend without me, so i figured it was time to try to wean.  Technically i'm not sure if this is the end because this decision was only made yesterday, but i'm pretty sure about my choice. So i'm extremely happy to have made it that far and i can't help but look at my extremely smart and talkative baby girl and know i made the right decision.

So to all moms out there... give the breast a try... if it really can't work for you, well then thats your call, but it was the best decision i have made so far :)

I wish i had more nursing pics, but the only ones i have are from her very last feeding yesterday afternoon...  i've never nursed in public without a cover yet i'm posting pics here... how dumb is that? :P

[goatmom4]

Sep. 22, 2010 at 12:40 PM

wow hope your health gets better