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Story of the Week


Do you have a story to tell about how you made your choice to feed your baby? Another mom who supported you? A sister who filled you in on the age-old remedy of ace bandages to ease aching breasts? Maybe you remember how you handled the disapproving look or comment from someone who didn't like your choice. Or you found a particular article or Website helpful. Who or what encouraged you? How about when you went back to work? How was your decision impacted then? Did your baby have an allergy or some other special nutritional need?

We can all learn from and support each other. The following stories have been shared by moms who have generously agreed to tell us about their experiences. If you'd like to share your story, simply click on the "Tell Us Your Story" button below.


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There are 40 story posted.

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Story told by carrie perry

From Pennsylvania
She has 3 children
Her children are 8,6,6months years old

I am a mother of three who has breastfed and bottlefed. My older two children were breastfed exclusively for 6 months and then I introduced the bottle with breastmilk, later adding some supplimental formula. Currently my now 6 month old will begin to experience the same. I truly believe that we as mom's need to have a choice. We need to first do what we are most comfortable with and what is best for our children. I would have gladly fed my older children breastmilk, but I don't respond well to continuous pumping. I need to suppliment my milk. While I am home more often, I am simply introducing breastmilk through a bottle as a means of "just in case" precaution. I would love to be able to give her breastmilk exclusively until she is 1 year, but my track record is pretty bleak. I have never been made to feel as though my decisions have been wrong. I've been questioned as to "how will I handle" breast feeding for so long, which I find rather comical, but never been chastized for my decisions. I find it ridiculous that women actually insult one another on the decisions that we make knowing full well what adversities women face daily raising children. People need to focus on their own lives, become well informed and be more helpful to other moms. It's the hardest job any of us will ever do--why make it more complicated!

Story told by Debbie

From Virginia
She has 2 children
Her children are 3 and 2 years old

My mother breastfed all of her children over 30 years ago when the rates of breastfeeding were low. She still has the La Leche League book - first edition.

My sister breastfed her daughter. I watched her struggle the first few days and then watched her as it became the easiest thing in the world for her. She was my inspiration to commit to breastfeed my own children.

My son and I also struggled at first. I didn't know that I should wake him to eat. My mother told me that I should let him sleep as long as possible. Then, he would wake up so hungry that he was unable to latch. My husband and I worked hard those first few sleepless nights. And we bought some formula, fed it to him through a syringe while he kept trying to latch. After about three days, he got the hang of it and we happily nursed for the next 12 months.

My daughter - with an experienced breastfeeding mom - started nursing within minutes after being born. The nurse commented that she seemed to know what to do. "Like she's been doing it all her life," I joked in response.

At about 3 months, she went on a nursing strike. She still would eat breastmilk from a bottle, but refused to latch. With a supportive husband, lactation consultant and employer, I took two days off of work, lay with her skin-to-skin nearly all day. Eventually, she decided to start nursing again and we continued until she was about 16 months old.

We nursed in public whenever and wherever. No one ever said anything negative, but I did receive many positive comments. A stranger once looked at my son, noted his size, and exclaimed, "Well, that's a breastfed baby if I ever say one!" I'm happy to say they both were breastfed.

Story told by Dorothy

From Virginia
She has 9 children
Her children are 17,15,13,11,9,7,4,2,9 mo years old

With my older 5 kids I had no problems nursing them. Each re-gained their birth weight by 2 weeks old. Then came #6. He took 3 weeks to get back to his birth weight. If I wasn't an experienced mom, I would have believed the pediatrician who thought I should supplement with formula.

# 7 and 8 were also easy babies. I went back to work after being a stay at home mom for 16 years, when #8 was 11 months old. At that point, she was only nursing 2 or 3 times during the day, and a few times at night. No biggie, we co-sleep, so I could feed her easily.

# 9, I had 8 weeks off after my c-section and bought a good quality double electric pump before I went back to work. He has only had a few ounces of formula in the last 7 months. I found out he (like his mother) didn't tolerate cows milk. He threw it all back up and broke out in a rash. It's hard and time consuming to pump at work. Who said being a parent was easy?

Story told by Jennifer

From Ohio
She has 3 children
Her children are 3, 6, 9 years old

Like many first time moms, I read all the books and information about anything and everything baby related. I was certain I would breastfeed and even took a series of classes with my husband on breastfeeding through a wellness program his employer offered. I was prepared and committed as we awaited the birth of our son. I tried to nurse him within 10 minutes of him being born because I was told it would help both of us with the breastfeeding. I told the hospital nursery no formula and no pacifier because it might hinder the breastfeeding process. Even with the help of the lactation consultant during our hospital stay, breastfeeding was a struggle. The lactation nurse said our son wasn't latching on right and recommended we have his tounge clipped though she caution most pediatricians wouldn't do it but some dentists would. I had serious concerns with this approach especially given that pediatricians weren't in favor of it. We opted not to do that and continued to struggle with the nursing when we got home even though we again consulted a lactation nurse through the hospital. We waited for my milk to come in and it did but barely. Our son cried non-stop because he was starving. His wet and soiled diapers weren't what they were supposed to be according to the info from the hospital. We called our doctor who gave us additional tips on nursing but then added we could nurse him and then offer a bottle just to top of the feeding in case he wasn't getting enough. We were worried that would cause nipple confusion and opted not to because "all the books said not to." But two days later we were at the pediatrician after our son's wet and soiled diapers fell further away from where they were supposed to be. Our son was diagnosed as very jaundice and had dropped to 6 lbs. 4 oz from his birth weight on 7 lbs. 2 oz. We were so scared and worried. Our doctor said we really needed to offer the bottle because clearly, nearly two weeks after his birth, our son was starving. My milk had come in as much as it was going to. It was a serious health matter at this point for our son. He was being considered a "failure to thrive" baby. We decided to supplement like our pediatrician said. Thank goodness we had the sample cans of formula from the hospital to get us started. The first time we supplemented I nursed him for 45 minutes and then offered a bottle with 2 oz of formula in it. He drained the entire bottle very quickly. Next time we put 3 oz of milk in it. He drained that too. It was clear that I wasn't producing hardly any milk and we switched to formula. When we had our second child, I was very worried the same thing would happed again. And it did only we didn't wait for our daughter to lose nearly a full pound from her original birth weight before we switched to formula. Three years later we welcomed another son. Knowing this would likely be our last child and feeling more confident as a mother I decided to try the breastfeeding again. Surely, I would be able to do it this time! I really wanted to provide breast milk because of the benefits to the baby. Knowing I didn't produce enough with our first two children I thought I figured out the perfect solution. I would pump so I would know how much breast milk he was getting and then simply add an extra ounce or two of formula to the bottle. We shared my "plan" with the hospital's lactation consultatnt before our son was born and they agreed it was worth a try. We rented the "industrial strength" pump from the lactation center at the hospital. I pumped like a mad woman--every two hours around the clock as the consultant recommended. The most I ever produced from both breasts was 3/4 ounce--not even a full ounce--and this was at three weeks postpartum! Usually it was less than a half ounce. Again, I called the lactation consultant who was very sympathetic and assured me I was doing everything I could but that "some women simply don't produce enough milk to feed their babies." She noted that some 13 hormones need to be working correctly in the right amounts for a woman to be able to produce enough milk. Having been a hyperemesis patient (I needed IV hydration throughout the first 17 weeks of my pregnancies)she thought that could clearly be my situation and that my children were lucky that I had tried so hard but also made sure they were getting the proper nutrition they needed by giving them infant formula. I really don't know what would have happened if I didn't give my children formula. They literally would have starved. My only regret is worrying to much about what the "books" said and not listening to my mother's instinct. Infant formula provided the nutrition my children needed in that critical first year.

Story told by Erin

From Georgia
She has 2 children
Her children are 2 years; 11 weeks gestation years old

When my daughter was born, we initiated breastfeeding right away. I had read up on breastfeeding and attended an intensive series of childbirth classes (a 12 week series) and had learned that breastfeeding was not only optimal, but normal and possible for nearly all women, provided they had the support. So I was determined to give my baby only breastmilk, "straight from the tap."

Well, at first, my daughter was not latching on well. I had sore, cracked, nipples and was advised by an LC to use a nipple shield. I ended up using it completely for 3-4 weeks, and intermittently until she was 2-3 months old. It was inconvenient, but doable. The pain gradually subsided as we learned to nurse and as I just got more used to it. My milk did take about 4-5 days to come in, but I knew this was not unusual, and I was thankful to have the support of my mother, who told me to not worry; that soon it'd come in and I'd have plenty.

Just about the time that breastfeeding was starting to get easier for me, we began to notice something disturbing: Our baby was having bloody/mucousy stools starting around 4-5 weeks old. I went on an elimination diet under the guidance of a pediatric GI, who told me that breastfeeding was the best thing I could do for her, and that any formula would probably just make it worse since breastmilk is the most gentle on the system. My pediatrician's first response had been, "Well, you may have to switch to formula," at which I told her that I wanted to explore all the options, and that is when she referred us to the pediatric GI. He thought that she must be allergic to something in my milk that was a result of my diet. So I was on the strict elimination diet for over a month (all dairy for 2 months), then began adding things back one week at a time). Nothing seemed to help. I ate barely any variety at all (I couldn't have dairy, wheat, soy, nuts, fish, beef, pork, corn, tomatoes, berries... and that included all "hidden dairy" - the casein and why that you find in nearly all products - and nothing with corn syrup or starch... I basically spent lots of time reading labels!) and she still had blood. When I added soy back, the blood didn't appear as much, oddly
enough. And then it came back more, and would go away mostly again later... there was no pattern.

So I had no idea what, if any, foods she was sensitive to. I was convinced it was just overactive letdown (which you can find some sources referencing with regard to bloody
stools, but not many). My LC even emailed Dr. Jack Newman, who responded that blood in the stools is not as worrisome as most doctors think, and that made me feel so much better, since Dr. N is quite a reputable authority on bfing.

Long story short, I told the pediatric GI doc that it couldn't possibly be caused by allergies to anything I was eating (I kept an extremely detailed record of everything I ate and every time she pooped - which was sometimes 12-14 times a day!). So he did a scope in her lower intestine (called a Flex-sig procedure) to take a look inside. She had no drugs for it, although he said if
she squirmed too much they'd have to stop and give her a mild sedative to make
her groggy. Well, she hated it (who wouldn't?), but it was worth it to find the cause of the blood. She was 3 and a half
months at the time. The doctor looked for specific irritations in the intestine
that signal an allergic reaction and could find none, so he ruled that out and
said she just had an immature digestive tract and would outgrow it by her first
birthday. So I went back to eating
everything (which was quite a relief!), and gained back the weight I'd lost, which was the only downside! But we watched her
stools get less bloody, then occasionally more, and then less again. It finally cleared up once she neared a year old.

She went on to be exclusively breastfed for nearly her first year. She had no interest in solids until she was almost a year old, and she thrived on breastmilk alone. When she finally got her first tooth at 13 months old, she began to really be interested in eating solids. The late appearance of the tooth made her diagnosis of "immature digestive system" even more understandable! She continues to nurse at age two, although I think she may be getting close to weaning, as she nurses only 2-3 times a day and for only a couple minutes.

So all this to say, it was a frustrating time in those early months, especially the strict diet, but it was so worth it in the end. I want to share my story to give other moms hope - if they really want to nurse their babies without using any formula, it is possible in many cases. I was glad I had done my research and thankful for good support and reputable sources to which I could turn. My daughter is healthy, only having had a few viruses in over two years, and I attribute that in part to being able to continue nursing through all the circumstances that came up. I am glad that I made this choice.

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