My daughter came into this world a little dramatically. Her birth wasn’t quite like I expected it to be and left me questioning lots of things. She was also a terrible sleeper until about 18 months. Add in working full time, and it felt like nothing was going to go right or be easy for us.
Somehow though, we were able to make one thing easy between the two of us: breastfeeding. I know this isn’t the reality for some, but I think it’s important to tell the good stories, and I am so very grateful it went as well as it did.
My Breastfeeding Story
Immediately after my daughter’s birth, the nurse placed her on my chest … and she pooped on me. Bet you were guessing something amazing happened, huh?
Okay, it did, but we had to clean up first.
After that, she was placed back and started nuzzling toward my breasts like she just knew what to do. I looked up at the nurses like, “what do I even do?” and they just beamed with excitement. They said, “Wow, after all that, look at her wanting to breastfeed!” Now she didn’t actually latch right away. We had to add in a nipple shield, but as long as we used that, the milk was flowing and the girl was eating.
A few weeks later the shield was getting annoying, so I consulted a local lactation consultant who came to my house. She taught me a few new techniques for perfecting the latch without a shield, and we did a weighted feed. This meant we weighed my daughter before feeding and after feeding to see how much she was consuming. Girlfriend actually was eating double what she “needed” to! I was so happy we were doing so well.
As the weeks went on we got more comfortable with everything and I transitioned to pumping while at work for bottles for daycare. She had no trouble taking a bottle – as long as I wasn’t around.
Fun fact: I never fed my daughter a bottle myself. I just breastfed her whenever we were together and it was eating time or comfort time or she was bored time.
That’s the other part of our breastfeeding journey to talk about: I didn’t feed her on a schedule. I chose to feed her on demand, as it’s called, as it worked well for both of us. Sometimes she ate every hour and sometimes she went three hours in between feedings. It didn’t matter to me, if she needed nourishment or comfort, I was there. And it made us all happier that way.
As my daughter got older I wondered if/when she’d stop. She hit six months old and began eating small amounts of table food. I thought she’d slow down on the breastfeeding, but that was not the case. When she turned 12 months old and was eating a lot more table food and drinking water or milk from a cup, I gently weaned from daytime feeding sessions, as we both felt ready.
After 12 months, I breastfed her to sleep for naps, bedtime, and any time she woke up in the middle of the night. I know the middle of the night feeds are torture to some, but it didn’t bother me too much. I had a cozy recliner, dim light, and short walk to her room. I’d change her, get her fed and back to sleep, then zombie walk back to my bed.
I kept hearing other moms say their kid naturally weaned at like 18 months or before, and I was waiting for that moment. Of course, that wasn’t my child. As she neared 22 months and was finally sleeping through the night 80% of the time, I decided I would like to be done breastfeeding altogether. Fortunately, my daughter seemed like she would be able to adapt.
I had to get the help of her dad to begin the process. We made a plan that I would exit her room and he would rock her to sleep each night. There really weren’t many tears, either. The real test came three weeks after when the milk was dried up and daddy was going out of town. Surprisingly, I rocked her to bed holding her close with no need to nurse her.
To be honest, I didn’t miss it. I was ready. She was ready. It was time. We had a good run at breastfeeding and I am grateful for that.
