There are 39 story posted.
Story told by Stacey Kannenberg
From
WI She has
2 children Her children are
7, 9 years old
I was determined to breast feed and I will be honest it was a struggle the first time around. I had to fight with a nurse in the hospital not to give our baby a bottle. I had to overcome some of my own family breast feeding objections and I had an unexpected close family member die while I was in the hospital awaiting Heidi’s arrival. My milk was even slower due to the grief of death and Heidi came down with nursing jaundice. But I was so determined and she nursed for 4 months and then she weaned herself off. I was battle worn and ready for our next baby, Megan. It was so much easier the second time around. Looking back I now realize that grief hurt my milk production with Heidi. I never had much luck pumping with either baby, but I so miss those feeding times holding those little babies and nursing them. It was such an awesome experience!!!!
Story told by Patricia
From
MA She has
2 children Her children are
11; 6 years old
I am still amazed when I look back 11 years to when my son was born--I had a terrible delivery that ended after 16 hours of labor and 4 hours of pushing in an emergency C-section...the hospital staff were wonderful in all ways but one.
I started breastfeeding, and had difficulty--my little baby wasn't latching on, and I was very worried that he wasn't getting enough nourishment. The nurses helped, and a consultant was called in. After three days, he became jaundiced, and had to be placed naked in a light box. I was only allowed to hold him for short periods of time--especially to breastfeed. I was traumatized as a first-time mom; my instincts told me to cuddle him, but the medical folks said no.
Because he screamed unless I held him, I asked my husband to bring in a pacifier (which really helped to soothe him). But no, the breastfeeding consultant insisted I dispose of it because it would interfere with his feeding.
As if this were not all difficult enough, he was having blood drawn 2-3 times per day.
The staff finally let me go home with him, a portable "bili-blanket" to continue "treating" the jaundice, an appointment with a breastfeeding consultant, and a promise to take him to the children's hospital twice per day for blood draws.
I was thrilled to be home, and to hold my baby (who was the color of a cheeto because of the jaundice), but extremely nervous about the jaundice that didn't seem to be going away. The breastfeeding was disastrous--he would squirm and arch his back. But I followed instructions and did not give him a pacifier OR a bottle, except with glucose water. After three more days of blood draws with no improvement and the doctor telling me they would need to re-admit him, I was at the end of my rope. I arrived with him for a blood draw (this time with an older nurse I had never met before). When she told me they would have to draw from his feet because there was nowhere else due to all the previous draws, I fell apart and started sobbing (very much not a me-thing to do). She gently asked me if I was breastfeeding, and I shared all the frustrations. Then, she said the words that changed everything..."I am not supposed to say this to you, but you know if you gave him a bottle or two, it would solve all this. He's just not getting enough into him."
My response was: "You're kidding, right?" She shook her head, no.
Now I am a well-educated person who is pretty good at advocating for myself, but somehow being on the unfamiliar territory of new motherhood, I had become dependent on the advice of the doctors and nurses to whom I had entrusted my son's healthcare. I was flabbergasted that in all the time since my baby had been jaundiced, through all the screaming in the light box, through my tears of frustration at his not getting better, but worse, NOBODY BOTHERED TO MENTION that simply bottlefeeding him would solve the problem.
I took him home that day, bought some formula on the way, and started bottle feeding. He went at it as one would expect of an infant who'd had very little nourishment.Within 12 hours, his blood was almost healthy; within a day, he was pink instead of orange, and we were told not to return for any further blood draws.
It was a very happy ending to a difficult time, and I have to say I still feel some bitterness when I look at the photo of him in the hospital bassinette. Displayed prominently on the bassinette is a sign that reads, "I'm a Breastfed Baby!"
Needless to say, I learned my lesson through that experience. When my daughter was born five years later, I began breastfeeding again. When she developed jaundice after a few days, I didn't wait. She got a bottle right away.
And, by the way, both my children are healthy and intelligent (thank you!).
Story told by Lisa
From
NJ She has
3 children Her children are
8yrs, 6yrs, 3yrs years old
I have 3 children and was only successful at breastfeeding 1. My first was very sick and could not tolerate my breast milk. We then had to feed her "gold in a can" a very expensive formula. Trust me, if I could have breastfed, I would have. My second was born without incident and I was able to breastfeed quite easily. The side effects of having babies made my breasts grow a cup size with each child and despite losing all of the baby weight they remained larger and larger. We decided to stop at 2 kids and so I decided to have a breast reduction because I was a 32E and my back hurt every waking moment. My 3rd blessing came as a surprise but unfortunately the surgery blocked my milk ducts and I was literally starving my daughter. Bottom line, my kids social and cognitive abilities do not seem to be dependent on the formula used. It's the environment filled with consistency and encouragement that my husband and I strive for.
It seems as though the breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding issue gives otherwise polite people opportunity to weigh in even though the decision should be left to the individual. A negative comment on a mother's choice to bottle feed with formula is like telling a smoker on the street that smoking is bad for you and that they should stop. My daughter was born with an omphalocele. This means that her liver, intestines and bowel were in a membrane outside of her body. She spent the first month of her life in the NICU and underwent 2 surgeries during this time. The first two weeks of her life I spent pumping and freezing breast milk as she was given nutrients through a central line. My daughter lay lifeless in a medically induced coma and the only power I had was to pump and freeze so that she would become nourished upon her awakening. The day came where I was finally able to hold my baby and feed her my milk. She was unable to tolerate it and began losing weight. They would not discharge her until she began gaining. This meant that we had to figure out what formula she could tolerate. Trial and error. Thanks to the samples in the hospital we were able to find the right formula for her, she gained weight, and was discharged 31 days after her birth. My daughter is now 8 years old, thriving, doing fantastic in school, and will always be my miracle baby. I believe it is the mother's right to decide what is best for her baby. Eliminating samples and creating an atmosphere filled with negativism because of your decision is not healthy. Life is hard enough without guilting people into submission. State of mind for the parents of a new baby is ultimately the best environment and if formula plays a role in that, so be it. Agreed. Don't ask me, don't make me feel guilty because you don't know the whole story.
Story told by Sue
From
MN She has
2 children Her children are
20 & 16 years old
I exclusively breastfed both of my children while working full time. With my oldest I had a daycare provider near enough for me to go there and nurse on my dinner break, with my second I was able to pump at work. Both children slept with us at night so they could nurse on demand and I didn't have to get up! I was completely committed to exclusive breastfeeding and never considered using formula. My older child nursed for longer than most American children ever do; my younger child weaned himself at around 3 years old.
I have to say it's hard for me to understand why it's so hard for some women to breastfeed as it was the easiest thing in the world for me. There is fabulous support from groups like LaLeche League. I continue to see the benefits of breastfeeding in my children--they are both intelligent, healthy, don't have weight problems, and haven't had to have orthodontia, all of which can be traced back to avoidance of formula and long-term breastfeeding, in my opinion.
Story told by Kelli
From
GA She has
1 child Her child is
8 weeks years old
I never imagined I'd be bottle feeding my first-born child, Cullen Patrick, when he was just 4 weeks old. But breastfeeding was doomed from the get-go. A severe reaction to the anesthesia used during my c-section left me unable to see Cullen for the first 36 hours, so he was given a bottle from the time he was born. When he finally learned to latch a few days later, my migraines decided to rear their ugly head.
I should have suspected they'd do so; after all I was tormented all my adult life with debilitating migraines that left me hugging the toilet and blind in one eye ... and my pregnancy was no different. I had to stop taking my migraine prevention medicine, Topamax, when I started fertility treatments, and couldn't take it during pregnancy either. During my 5 months of bed rest, 9 weeks of which was spent in the hospital, my doctors had to prescribe demerol and morphine and anti-nausea meds by IV to combat the pain and vomiting.
So, when my ob/gyn said that I might have to consider foregoing breastfeeding to go back on my migraine preventatives, I was flabbergasted. It wasn't an option I'd ever even considered. I thought I'd just suffer through them and pop a breastfeeding-compatible pain medication from time to time. That lasted for, oh, about 3 weeks, when 3 major migraines forced my husband to call in sick to to his new job several times so he could stay home and care for his son while mommy stuck her head under the covers and hoped her head wouldn't explode.
The decision to stop breastfeeding tormented me. Was I putting my health over that of my child's? Would he be cognitively deprived because I gave him a bottle instead of the breast? Everyone assured me that I had to cure my headaches in order to be a better mommy -- that I could not be a good mom if I had a headache, because Cullen would feel my frustrations. It took me a while, but in the midst of a bright blue aura I realized that they were right. When the umpteenth migraine was going on day 3, I threw my hands up in the air (don't worry, baby was in the bassinet), and called my doctor for some real medicine. I packed up the breast pump, bought a bucketload of formula, and blocked the calls from the lactation folks who just wanted to see "how it was going."
It's going more than fine. Cullen never had nipple confusion, and mother nature never punished me with engorgement. My husband gets to help with middle-of-the-night feedings now, and he's bonding with the baby more so than he did when I breast fed. I still get an occasion twinge of a headache here and there, but nothing that makes me want to hand the child over to my husband like a hot potato and go run and hide under the covers. I haven't had a migraine-inspired toilet-hugging episode in more than a month, and Cullen's going on 8 weeks. He's happy, I'm happy, and the doctor's say he's doing just fine.
