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A tale of two kiddies – Stephanie’s story

Posted on May 21, 2009
Filed under: Donor milk, Engorgement, Exclusive expressing, Expressing, Nipple pain, Premature baby

I always knew that I would breast feed my children. My mom was a big advocate of breast feeding and it really seemed like the only option to me. I really had no idea that things would end up being as difficult as they were. My daughter was born 9 and a half weeks early, so from the get go things were rough. I had no problem producing milk, it was getting her to take it from the breast that was the issue. She wasn’t strong enough to nurse and when I would try she would asparate. I decided to express my milk for her so I bought a pump and went to town. I pumped every two hours the entire time she was in the hospital (2 and a half months). I pumped so much that the milk bank at the hospital had no more room for my milk and I ended up donating about 300 ounces to the Milk Bank in Austin. I tried to nurse my daughter again once she came home, but it never worked. She would always choke or throw up. So for the next 12 months I pumped for her. I never had to give her formula and I know that it was my milk that helped her thrive despite such rocky beginnings.

sh01 When my son was born it was a different story. He was also born early, but he was a bit stronger than my daughter. I pumped for him at first while he was in the hospital, but he didn’t dig the bottle at all. He wanted the boob and he wanted it CONSTANTLY. He woke up every two hours for a year so that he could nurse. The more he nursed, the more milk I made which meant battling with plugged ducts and cracked nipples. When my son was 14 months old my husband thought that for our sanity I should wean him. It was no fun at all. When I stopped giving my daughter breast milk all I had to do was put cows milk in the bottle, but with my son weaning meant taking me out of the picture. My son cried for me and I cried because I couldn’t be there with him. My husband had to step in and fill the void by calming him down everytime he woke up during the night. It took my son a month before he stopped waking up to nurse. Now he is two and every once in a while he will still ask to nurse. I don’t know if it was the right thing to wean him when I did, but I am glad that I had the experience of nursing him as well as giving expressed milk to his sister.

Filed under: Donor milk, Engorgement, Exclusive expressing, Expressing, Nipple pain, Premature baby

Comments

One Response to “A tale of two kiddies – Stephanie’s story”

Brenda on May 23rd, 2009 9:48 am

You should be very proud of yourself for sticking with it in both situations. Far less has made women I know stop breastfeeding, so I’m glad to see this story.