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Getting to my goal – Erin’s story

Posted on October 26, 2008
Filed under: Expressing, Flat nipples, Latch problems, Nipple shields, Premature baby

My daughter was born 6 weeks early. I wasn’t prepared for how that would effect my efforts for breastfeeding. I assumed that I would have a normal birth, be able to put her to the breast and maybe have some of the normal difficulties that most mothers experience. I ended up have a c-section and having her whisked away after seeing her briefly and not to see her again till the next day. The nurse that night asked me if I wanted to pump then or in the morning. Not knowing how much it could affect my milk supply I said I would wait till the morning and get one last full nights sleep.

I started pumping the next morning and started off good. But pretty quickly it looked like I wasn’t going to have a large supply. The nurses said oh this person had the same problem but she has 20 bottles in the freezer now. When I was finally allowed to put her to the breast (I think around a week later) I have flat nipples and she had some difficulty latching on. Since she was a preemie they didn’t want her to use to much energy trying so they gave me a shield to use. I continued pumping after every feeding. Then they switched her to a 4 hour feeding schedule instead of 3 hours because she wasn’t drinking much. So not knowing what I know now I thought it would be too difficult to pump every 3 hours and feed her every 4 so I only pumped after her feedings which was every 4 hours. Now I know I probably should have pumped in between at every 2 hours.

She was sent home at two and a half weeks and she was doing good at just over 6 lbs (she was 5lb 1 oz when she was born) . I continued as usual and was even taking an herb recommended for increasing breast milk. I wasn’t told how long I should be doing this and giving her top up with formula or breast milk afterwards. So around 2 or 3 months I decided that I was going to get the breastfeeding thing down and just let her do it and learn how to get more when she was hungry. Sounds a little irrational but you aren’t always thinking straight that soon after a baby when you are sleep deprived. So by doing this she got the breastfeeding down but was crying a lot. I didn’t understand why and she wasn’t gaining weight rapidly but she was gaining. She had seen a pedeitrition and he said she was gaining and doing well but something told me there was more I could do. So around 4 months I got help. She was only about 10 lbs by this time. I finally got the help I needed. I went to see the breastfeeding clinic at the hospital. I was put on medication to increase my breast milk and still taking fenugreek (the herb to increase my breast milk). They weighed her weekly and accessed her feedings. She was weighed before each feeding and weighed afterwards to see how much milk she was getting at one time. Most time she would only get an ounce at a time.

My goal all along was to breastfeed her for a year. I really wanted to do at least that for her. After the medication started working and I no longer had to pump after each feeding, I fed her every 2 hours during the day on my own and every 4 hours during the night. Eventually I didn’t have to set the alarm in the night and I just had to feed her every 2 hours during the day making sure she got at least 8 feedings. So her one year birthday rolls around and I am now comfortably feeding her every 2 hours without pumping unless I wanted to and not having to wake her up through the night. I was use to the way things were and so was she. Neither of us were ready to stop but unfortunately I couldn’t afford the medication any longer and I needed to go back to work financially. So the day after her first birthday I started weaning her. I kept up as many feedings as I could for as long as I could on my own.

I was able to feed her once a day until she was 15 months old. I had reached my goal dispite having to wear a shield the whole time ( I forgot to mention she never did take to my nipple and was very stubborn and liked the shield) pumping, top ups and medication. I was very determined to reach my goal and very proud of myself that I could do that for her. That’s not to say there weren’t times I wanted to give up. I remember around 3 or 4 months when I just couldn’t get her to eat and I knew she was hungry I remember cry and saying to my boyfriend I can’t do it anymore. He point blank told me not to give up and to at least try since this was what I wanted. I could have never done it without his support. There were other babies in the family at the time and my daughter was the only one who was breastfed and my mother never breastfed so I didn’t have support that way. I was only ever around one other person who breastfed before I breastfed my daughter.

Stick to what you believe in no matter what obstacles you encounter. I now have a happy, healthy and very smart 2 year old to thank me. I would do it again in a heartbeat, but hopefully next time I’ll luck out and get a baby who’s a little easier to feed.

Filed under: Expressing, Flat nipples, Latch problems, Nipple shields, Premature baby