Comments on: Breastfeeding – One Year and Counting

By: menucha@outlook.com

menucha@outlook.com — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 03:02:10 +0000

In reply to Michele.

“Mother’s guilt”. We do our best, and the rest is out of our control… It’s impossible to know what would have been and worrying is a sign of a great mom 😉

By: Michele

Michele — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 00:57:40 +0000

My daughter would not nurse. She went to formula at a couple of weeks. Now at age 11, she has rarely been sick. My son (age 9) nursed for a year. He weaned himself. Starting at 9 months, his health just spiraled downhill. Countless ear infections (tubes put in just after he turned 1), countless bouts of croup (which has since turned into asthma), countless bouts of strep throat (pediatric ENT finally scared it out of him with the threat of tonsils coming out – only had it 1x in the past 2 years). Part of me feels really guilty for nursing when my daughter did not and has been so incredibly healthy, but then part of me wonders how much worse his health would be if he HADN’T nursed. *sigh* A mother’s worries never end.

By: menucha@outlook.com

menucha@outlook.com — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 13:14:08 +0000

In reply to Lauren Dragone. I'm glad you enjoyed!

By: Lauren Dragone

Lauren Dragone — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 21:26:32 +0000

Thanks for sharing your story! So very inspiring!

By: menucha@outlook.com

menucha@outlook.com — Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:34:48 +0000

In reply to Renee Smith. Renee, I'm so sorry to hear that! But you should be proud of yourself for coming this far! 2 years is amazing!

By: Renee Smith

Renee Smith — Thu, 13 Nov 2014 04:31:02 +0000

I’m breastfeeding my 6th child. We are coming up on two years and my husband is pressuring me to wean her. She wants to nurse and I still love that special time with her. I never thought I’d nurse this long, but I’m not ready and neither is my baby girl. I’m angry at my husband. He is being selfish and I wish he would just support me.

By: menucha@outlook.com

menucha@outlook.com — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 16:12:22 +0000

In reply to Bailly Herzog. Kudos to you for pushing through, and thank you, of course, for sharing your story!

By: Bailly Herzog

Bailly Herzog — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 16:06:31 +0000

With my1 oldest when he was a couple of weeks old I got a Breast infection that took time to heal and was very painful when I nursed I pushed through it and nursed until 13 months. Now my baby is almost 1 and I have 1 side that the nipple is cracked (for close to 2 months) nursing is excruciating on that side only nurse twice a day for 5 minutes so my milk doesn’t dry up. I too love nursing and push through the pain.

By: menucha@outlook.com

menucha@outlook.com — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 00:23:13 +0000

In reply to Alyssa @ Arts and Crackers. wow, thank you so much for sharing yours too :) I feel like with some o these challenges that are less tangible on of the best things we can do is to share our stories and give each other strength!

By: Alyssa @ Arts and Crackers

Alyssa @ Arts and Crackers — Sat, 13 Sep 2014 13:08:00 +0000

I always tell my new mommy friends who want to breastfeed to not give up easily. It can be a challenge. My oldest when he was a baby latched right after he was born (he didn’t cry at anything when he was born either and they let him try to nurse before they’d planned to whisk him off to the NICU but he didn’t end up having to go.) The first week though, he had more and more issues. We discovered the roof of his mouth was high so a good latch was difficult. I was accused of starving and abusing him—which was completely not true—so I know the feeling. He wouldn’t take bottles or formula so we kept with it, I breastfed just over a year, and he’s now a strong 4-year-old boy perfectly healthy.

My youngest, almost 11 months, is still breastfeeding; he too will only take breast and not bottle. I ended up getting an emergency C-section with him (my husband was deployed and everything went wrong) and he had the same problem of not crying and breathing poorly when he was born. They did not let me even try to nurse this time but instead took him to NICU. I pumped as much as I could the first day so they would not have to give him formula; he did not eat much. He really enjoyed sleeping–thankfully my nurses assured me that is completely normal for the first week as it is a transition stage and they do not need very much to eat at all; it is more for practice. I was able to start nursing him after a day or so and he did great, but I didn’t. I have D-mer–basically I get extremely depressed when the milk comes in. I’d know when he needed to eat and when it was going to happen because everything would go dark and I would get really sad and want to scream and cry. It was worse with my husband away and I could do nothing about it. Thankfully, it was only at feedings and not postpartum depression. I struggled with pain and depression during breastfeeding and still do often, but I know it is best for him and free for me so I keep chugging along. It’s not possible for everyone to breastfeed, and that’s fine, but I’m so thankful I have been able to stick with it for both of my children.

Thank you for sharing your story girl. I can totally relate to bf problems and persistence and know you will inspire many more mommies to hang in there. <3