Breastfeeding Stories

My sister-in-law, May, recently had a baby. She was asking me about my breastfeeding experience, which I gladly recounted to her.

I was able to nurse my son for a year. However, starting nursing was trickier than I anticipated. I remember right after pushing Ari out, Dr. K. put him on my belly. My amazingly supportive doula, Cori, attempted to help me get Ari to latch on, but he was pretty out of it, and I couldn't get him to recognize my breast as a potential food source.



Eventually, with the help of a wacky Upper East Side lactation consultant, who wore scrubs and pearls, I was able to nurse my baby. For more on that story click here.

When May was asking me questions about nursing, I thought about how many mothers have nursing stories to share! I wanted to invite all you mamas out there to share your breastfeeding stories.

Post a comment below with your story about nursing. How did you start? Was it difficult to begin nursing? Did you have any help getting nursing going? Please share your experiences below!

What Lovely Teeth You Have!

I have been writing this mom blog for some time now, and I cannot believe that I have never addressed the issue of teething! It's such a common annoyance that both babies and moms alike have to deal with.

Lucky me, my son began teething at 3 months old. His first two teeth (the bottom ones) emerged at 4 months of age. At the time, I was still nursing. After dealing with mastitis (a breast infection) now I had to contend with teeth on my breasts.

Many people questioned my devotion to breastfeeding at various points:

"When he gets teeth you're going to stop, right?"

Depending on my mood, and my energy to deal with the particular person asking the question I would respond accordingly. Sometimes I would say:

"Yes! I don't want to deal with that." Because clearly that is what the person wanted to hear. Or other times I would attempt to passively explain my cause.

"Well, I'm planning on nursing him for a year. So hopefully he won't have too many teeth along the way."

The funny thing is, it wasn't the actual teeth that bothered me while I was nursing; it was when the teeth were getting ready to emerge from my son's gums that was the most irritating. For two reasons:

1. When he was nursing and the teeth were emerging at the root, my breasts would itch like crazy!
2. My son was irritable all day and night during this time.

I am proud to say, I toughed it out and nursed for one year through ten baby teeth. Go me!

As always, I solicited the advice of many veteran mothers to try to cope with the teething process. Here are some tricks that actually helped me and my son along the way:

1. Freeze a washcloth. Once it is frozen offer it to your baby when he is cranky due to teething. He can munch on it and it will ease the teething pain.
2. Freeze a bagel. Same principle as the washcloth, but there is a bonus! If little pieces of the bagel break off, your baby gets a snack! But try to buy bagels that are not crumbly. The mini bagels are a bit flimsier and break off enormous chunks causing your living room floor to be quite the mess. Go for the real deal, big bagels are best.
3. Pedialyte Freezer Pops or the generic Electrofreeze pops. Essentially they are like frozen Gatorade. Older babies (six months plus) love to suck on these.
4. Essentially freeze any plastic baby toy. They will munch on them and it will comfort the teething pain and your pain from dealing with the teething pain.
5. Cold drinks. Give your baby a cold sippy cup of water. This will make him/her feel better as well.

Here is what many people do NOT tell you about teething. Teething can be just as hard on you as it can on your child:

• If your baby wakes up during the night because he/she is teething, you're awake too; trying to find a way to deal with his pain.
• It's hard to see your child in pain and know that there is only so much you can do to help. You can offer home remedies to them, but in the end, this is just a developmental phase they are going through. This can be frustrating for YOU.
  

Here are two facts that you may not know about teething. I didn't know them, and I'm glad I do now:

1. Teething may be accompanied by a fever. Do not be alarmed! Just give your baby the age appropriate dose of Infant Motrin (read the back of the box) to cope with the fever.
2. Teething also may be accompanied by diarrhea. This apparently is because the gums are slightly infected. The loose stool is a result of the infection. Just feed binding foods such as bananas, apples, rice and toast.

To all those who are dealing with a teething baby at this very moment. I'm sorry! It will get better. My son is actually teething right now. I feel your pain.

The End of a Nursing Era

After 12 1/2 months I am sad to report that I have stopped nursing my son. I am proud of myself that I was able to successfully nurse him for a little over a year. But now that I am working, it was the most practical thing for me to wean him and start him on organic whole milk.

I was sad when I stopped nursing him. I thought he would be the one going through withdrawal symptoms and sadness. But you want to know something? It was me looking longingly at the Boppy pillow given to us by his Aunt Kimberly.

I missed the bonding associated with nursing my son. He still puts his hand on my breast when I carry him around, taking some sort of ownership of it. But all in all he has been able to function fine without nursing.

I remember how difficult it was to start nursing. I was in the hospital trying desperately to get him to latch on after my 20 hour labor. I was so exhausted that the first two days of his life I ended up reluctantly supplementing with formula. Finally, I went to a breast feeding class, which I thought was ridiculous sounding at the time- I mean how hard could it be? But it saved me a lot of frustration.

The lactation consultant was slightly insane. She was a typical Upper East side looking woman in her mid fifties. Her hair was brown with blond highlights and blow dried in a 1950's bob-like style. It looked as if it couldn't be moved no matter how hard you tried. She was wearing dark blue scrubs and pearls. I wanted to laugh out loud when I saw her. But you know what? She was amazing!

I sat in an intimate room in the hospital surrounded by new mothers in stark white hospital gowns. We were all still drowsy and/or drugged up from our labors. The lactation consultant went around the room addressing each mother.

"You! You breasts are pointy! Try this!....You! You breasts are round, do this!...It doesn't matter if you're flat chested!! Everyone can breast feed. And don't let anyone tell you differently!"

I loved this woman.

She came to me and saw that I was having trouble with my son. So she leaned over and said

"Ah! I think I need to use my magic potion on you!" I have to say, I was slightly afraid of what she was referring to, but I was so desperate she could have handed me a crack pipe and said "smoke this!" and I would have been like "Okay! As long as it makes my baby latch on!"

Anyway, she squirted a bottle of formula on my boob, and my son latched on immediately. Normally, being the perfectionist that I am, I would have been like "But...that's cheating!" But at this point all that mattered was that my son was nursing. I was thrilled.

And you know what? From that day on, I never needed formula again. I will always remember that nutty lactation consultant. She enabled me to have a year old love affair with nursing.