A Breastfeeding Journey

Can I tell you how much I have enjoyed this journey?! (Thanks, then I will.) I tried with my other two. *E* my first born was a colicky-mess… or maybe it was just me that was a mess? But he would cry for hours and at about six-weeks old consistently had blood in his diaper. I /tried/ to cut out all cow’s milk from my diet at the recommendation of my pediatrician but my discipline is lacking for this cheese lover. (That was the first time I ever had to have a restricted diet and THAT, my friends, is hard to do!) So after a couple weeks we switched to Nutramigen, a special-formula that is worth it’s weight in gold… and costs that much too. So *E* made it a little more than a two-months on the breast.

*C*, my second-born son, was doing beautifully, I thought. Until his two-week checkup. We did the weight check and he had lost weight when he should have gained. He was such an easy infant I had no idea there was a problem… but after working with a lactation consultant it was determined he had a ‘poor suck’. His palate was too high and he was having a hard time getting enough suck to pull in milk. So for three months I pumped milk, put him on the breast, and took a syringe with a tiny tube attached and slowly pushed pumped-milk into his mouth. After three months I was done and he became a formula baby.

So today in my email box I got one of those regular parenting emails and it started:

Congratulations! You have nursed your baby for six months, as recommended
by the American Academy of Pediatrics. You and your baby have enjoyed the many
benefits of a nursing relationship, and can continue to do so.

Wow! I know some moms have done it for multiple children for at least a year if not longer. My hat’s off to you! But for me this journey hasn’t always been easy BUT it was worth it for me. Now, as a polar opposite of his brothers, Baby *L* thinks a bottle is more for playing then drinking… a bottle of water offered when we have cereal usually equates to water running down his chin and big grins. *We* still aren’t sleeping through the night. I haven’t been separated for more than three-hours for nearly six months! Oh and I saw recently he was 17th-percentile for weight. (Although my boys are not big boys. Hubs AND I are 5ft 6… not overly tall nor overweight.) But even with all that I wouldn’t change this journey for a moment and am so glad that my last-born has given me this gift!