In honor of #nationalbreastfeedingweek and #worldbreastfeedingmonth, Id like to share my breastfeeding story: My son, Bennett, was 6 weeks premature due to severe ICP. I was diagnosed at 16 weeks with a BA of 43, and 18 weeks later I gave birth to my son at 34 weeks + 2 days. He was 5lbs 10oz, and had feeding problems initially. To get him out of the NICU as soon as possible, we resorted to bottle feeding him. But I knew I wanted him to be exclusively nursed, it was something I didnt get to experience with our daughter (she had horrible latching problems, I pumped for 6 months...ugh!). It took me THREE exhausting MONTHS, lots of meetings with lactation consultants, some tears, and lots of hard work to get him exclusively nursing, but we did it! For the first several weeks he would pull away completely, screaming whenever he wouldnt get a bottle. I completely gave up from 7-10 weeks. It was awful. But eventually, he got it...and Im so glad I never gave up! He will be 1 next week, and were still going strong. If you want to breastfeed and youre having problems, especially with a preemie, hang in there! Everyones advice can be overwhelming (and irritating), but just follow your instincts, you can do it. I think I save an hour a day between pumping & bottle-washing. =) ((Oh, and I encourage any nursing momma to post a photo (covered or not) of yourself nursing to your newsfeed. If guys can post pics of half-naked women, surely we can empower ourselves and be proud of feeding our children. #takebacktheboob #eatbabyeat.))
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 13:58:43 +0000
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