Breastfeeding :: Overcoming the Struggles and Enjoying the Benefits

When my first child was born, I was determined to handle everything as naturally as possible. No pain medicine, thank you very much (until after she was born, then I was all about that!). Rooming in, check. And breastfeeding, absolutely. I had waited a long time for this moment, and I was determined to try my hardest. I had heard too much about the benefits — the bonding, the nutrition, the convenience — not to make it work.

As it turned out, I needed that determination, and more where that came from. Breastfeeding started out great. She latched on quickly, and although my milk didn’t come in right away, we were reassured by the hospital’s lactation consultant not to worry, in a few days we would be fine.

A few days later, she called us at home to see how it was going, and we blissfully told her we were doing just fine and no, she hadn’t had a lot of wet diapers. In fact, her last one was kind of orange-colored. Well, that set off all kinds of red flags for the lactation consultant, who immediately had us come to her office at the hospital to check things out because orange-colored diapers was a sign of dehydration.

It turned out that our newborn daughter was not seriously dehydrated, but at the lactation consultant’s office we found out, by weighing her before and after a feeding, that she was not getting enough milk from me. I was crushed. My body was failing me and our daughter. But that determination kicked in, and we came up with a plan.

Overcoming the Struggles

For the next several weeks, I became very familiar with the route to the hospital and the lactation consultant’s office. I learned what a supplemental nursing system was, as I used a large syringe and tube to slowly feed formula to our daughter at the same time that she was latched on and nursing, all to encourage her to suck more effectively. I started eating oatmeal for breakfast and oatmeal cookies for snacks. I took so much fenugreek that I smelled like maple syrup. I found out about “Mother’s Milk Tea” and even tried a prescription called Reglan that is known for helping women with low milk supply. I also pulled out the pump I had bought for when I returned to work and started “power pumping” to increase my supply.

For about a month, I felt like little more than a milk factory, but you know what? It worked! Eventually we were able to put away the syringe and the extra formula, and move to exclusive breastfeeding until we introduced solids at her six-month birthday, and then I continued to breastfeed, even through several serious medical issues and two pregnancy losses, until she was nearly two years old. My second time around, with my son, was even smoother from the beginning, and he is still going strong at nearly three years old.

Key Things That Helped Me

When I look back at what helped me in those early, difficult days, there were a few key things that helped me.

• Access to a lactation consultant. This was something provided to me by Lexington Medical Center, and they were incredible. They were available and willing to help, and never made me feel silly for my questions or concerns.

• Time. I was able to take a lengthy maternity leave, which helped me to feel less pressured to “get it” right right away.

• Access to information. There is a wealth of information about breastfeeding on the Internet and in books, all of which helped me greatly to sort through the facts and the myths. Two of my favorites were What to Expect: The First Year and the website Kellymom.com.

• Support at home. My husband was incredible that first month. In addition to my breastfeeding challenges, I had excess postpartum bleeding that put me on partial bedrest for the first couple of weeks. He totally took care of our home, washed breastpump parts, set up the most comfortable chair in the living for me, and let me know how proud he was of what I was doing for our daughter, even if others wondered why we were putting in so much effort instead of just using formula.

• Support from other moms. I had this in my best friend, who was six months ahead of me with her baby. We would spend time together and feed our babies together, and she would tell me what had worked for her. I did not know about local La Leche League leaders at the time (you can find them on the La Leche League of the South Carolina Midlands Facebook group), but when I was newly breastfeeding my son four years later, I attended some LLL local meetings that were also helpful. With my son, I also found support online in some parenting forums I had joined. All of these helped me by letting me know that there were plenty of other moms out there working through breastfeeding issues.

Was all this worth it? Absolutely. Those benefits I had heard of all kicked in, leaving the struggles mostly behind. Though neither of my children will consciously remember those days, I have great joy and satisfaction when I look back on that special time and realize that some of my best memories of both of my children’s early years is the nursing relationship we shared.

Did you struggle with breastfeeding initially or was it an easy process? Share your experience in comments.

Photo credit: jcarter / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA