Breastfeeding Stories

My #1 Breastfeeding Advice: If At First You Don't Succeed....

Share your breastfeeding journey


Women in all parts of the world have breastfeeding stories to share. This is my breastfeeding story.

It starts many years ago with my first daughter who was born in 2001. The nurses tried to help me in the hospital with positioning and latching. I thought I had it down until I got home. My baby started crying so much that it was nearly impossible to latch her on properly. Then I was in a rut. I needed to feed her, but she couldn’t calm down enough for me to feed her properly. Since this was my first time I was quickly becoming a wreck and didn’t know where to turn (after all, who’s going to be available to calm my worries at 3am).

I searched the diaper bag from the hospital and came across some instant formula. The only thing I had to do was add a nipple (which was in the bag too). I tried to forget I had seen it, but our situation didn’t get any better. My only hope seemed to be that little bottle of formula....so I gave it to her. Thus began our spiral downward away from nourishing my baby with my body. I wish I had read some breastfeeding stories back then.

My next three children had just about the same thing happen to them, except this time I had help.

With Friends Like These....

You know the rest of the saying. I had “help” from hospital nurses, pediatricians and even lactation consultants and I STILL couldn’t seem to get it. I followed their advice to the T...little did I know, that was my mistake. My pediatrician one day told me that my days old baby wasn’t gaining weight fast enough and prescribed formula to us. She didn't ask how I was feeding my baby or make any attempts to try to fix the cause of he problem. I figured, she’s got a degree hanging on the wall so she must know what she’s talking about. Later on I found out she was comparing my breastfed baby to formula fed babies on her chart. Breastfed babies gain weight at a slower rate than babies drinking formula. My pediatrician had killed my attempt.

Finally, with my fourth attempt, I got the right information and had the exact support I needed. I hooked up with a Mama who had come up with her own methods of solving feeding problems. My main problem was having babies fall asleep while nursing. Her solution was to let her baby sleep! That shocked me at first. Everyone else was telling me to wake the baby up to eat and "torture" my baby (taking off clothes, tickling, scratching and applying a wet cloth to their skin) just to eat. I would try all that and it would work for less than a minute. So I tried it her way and got results! I realized that my babies were still sucking even while they were sleeping. That sucking would influence let down and my baby would have to wake up enough to swallow. They were getting all the milk they needed after all! Problem solved! That Mama saved our breastfeeding experience.

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