World Breastfeeding Week

Happy World Breastfeeding Week, to all! 

Whether you breastfed for 3 days, 3 months, or 3 years it's amazing what you've given your baby.

This is my first year celebrating from the other side, a nursing mama. In past years I have done community outreach, been on the radio, and celebrated at events with local coalitions. 
After graduating with my degree in Nutrition I went on to become a Certified Lactation Educator-Counselor and did some work with the mother-baby dyad. So going into motherhood I had the knowledge portion but until you've actually done it, you don't know what challenges you could face. 

I'm so grateful to be where I am today with this journey, 11 months and going strong! But things for us started out pretty tough; like it is for many mamas.

Like I mentioned, I had all the information and it was time to gain the experience. From my education, one of the main things that really stood out was that babies are born with a high need to suck; that helps set up mom's prolactin receptor sites and moves the milk. So we did not offer a pacifier and tried to refrain from giving a bottle; until we had to for one day due to my injuries. Any time my husband was feeding her after attempting to latch I was pumping to make sure I still "requested" milk to keep my supply up.

Getting her latch down was the most challenging piece. Other minor things that have come up along the way like engorgement, over-active letdown, plugged ducts, and a mastitis scare weren't so bad once we got over the hump of the first month. It felt like we would take a couple steps forward and then one step back. In the hospital we did golden hour and a breast crawl; which was magical for me, babies are so amazing! But after that her feedings were hit or miss on getting a solid latch. We really tried to use all our resources available to make sure things went smoothly and that we got to a good place as soon as possible. Since I used a doula she was providing some support at my postpartum visits. We had an amazing local midwife come to our home one night to do bodywork on our daughter in case she was uncomfortable. We also had a couple appointments with the IBCLCs at Kaiser. I was going to make this work whatever it took!

Our first time breastfeeding in public 

I cried a lot. All I wanted to do was pick up my baby and breastfeed. Something I had waited years to do and helped others do was finally my turn. I was injured, so much so that I was told by our massage specialist who did some house visits early postpartum that 'they' needed a break for 2-3 days. 

A lot of her early feeding was us trying to latch and position and also doing "suck training" while feeding her my milk with a syringe. I am so thankful my husband never questioned me pushing towards my goal and would feed her that way while I hand-expressed/pumped. 

I was against trying a nipple shield, my injuries decided otherwise. I worked hard to get her off often before it became a necessity since I knew that it could be detrimental to extended breastfeeding.

I was against giving a bottle, but like I shared above we did that with pumped milk one day when she needed the volume but my body needed the healing. Then of course she never took one again until I was out of town a couple nights around 10 months old and she had no option, haha go figure.. at least we got to use some of my frozen milk at that time. Things won't always go how you planned but with support you can get to where you want to be. I am so thankful for my husband, available resources around me, and other mamas who made me feel not so alone.

Breastfeeding poolside in Kauai

Looking back I wish I stood my ground on my plan for minimal time with visitors and I see that it would have helped. For any future babies we will definitely have less visits in the beginning when there is such a crucial window for success. That time really needs to be reserved for mama and baby to work on breastfeeding. For any mamas-to-be it's ok to say "no" or be firm in what you want for those early days. My struggles didn't seem to matter to some and that's really not ok... what is OK is to make breastfeeding a priority! 

Gymnurstics!

I wish smooth sailing for mamas-to-be in their breastfeeding experiences. If that isn't the case, always know that support is out there; whether it's a doula, midwife, IBCLC, or friend... know that's it's OK to reach out. Happy breastfeeding!