It’s time for some more stories. Important stories. Hard stories.
From Heather, also know as the blogger “Baby Slime”:
First child: Bad latch. Blisters. Blood. Tears. Nipple shield. Healing herbs. Infection. Mastitis – 12 times. Hospital. Antibiotics. Thrush. Abscess; massive. Surgery. Low supply, no supply. Weight loss. “Periareolar surgery should not have been done on a woman of childbearing age”. Mangled, scarred, shamed.
Second child: DOA.
First child: six week nursing strike; she won’t drink “his milk”. Mastitis – again. Pumps and cabbage. Tears.
Third child: One working breast. Wrong side preference. Mastitis: 20 times. Help. Recanalization! Slowly. Surely. Recovering.
Fourth child: Two working breasts… sort of. Tongue tie; severe. Weight loss and pain. LLL, IBCLC. Too much in it to quit now. Success all three times.
From Rosa:
March 1, 1997. My first child. I put him to my breast, as I had seen my mother do with so many of her babies. It hurt. For a month. I cried, but couldn’t fathom giving up. I persisted. We succeeded. July 3, 2011. My sixth child. I put her to the breast, l as I had done so many times before. It came naturally, easily. My 14 yo son, who I learned so much from, stroked her cheek and smiled. I hope he will encourage his wife, because of what he has seen his mother do.
From Jacqui:
A young CNA brought my baby to me seven hours after I delivered. She told me he was hungry, to read the how to papers and walked out of the room. After trying for over an exhausting hour, just me and my baby boy in the middle of the night, I fed him formula. I pumped the next day and continued to pump for four months. I tried and felt as if I failed. With my second, I did my research! I immediately put her to the breast, with my friend was assisting us. My beautiful daughter took to it after some hard work from both of us was able to pull my flat nipple out. I experienced thrush four different times until a mid-wife took the time to look at my nipples and help me. I remember banging my head on the wall as my daughter latched because of the pain during my thrush episodes, but it always stopped hurting after a few minutes. My daughter gave me 18 beautiful months of nursing and I wouldn’t change any of it. I am grateful for both experiences and count my blessings.
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I want to hear your stories. No matter the outcome. How would you describe your breastfeeding journey. 100 words…forcing you to edit and tweak and use only the most essential. I’d love to share them with others. Please email me at amber@ambermccann.com.
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