Sean is our third child. I was unsuccessful in nursing my first son - now almost 15 - because he would not latch. I had lactation consultant after lactation consultant coming in and out of my room, along with a couple of home visits after his birth, and it just wasn't happening. So I pumped exclusively for about 2 months before switching him to formula. He had so many issues making the switch that, in hindsight, I wish I would have kept pumping. We spent probably 4 months trying to find a formula that didn't make him wretch and cause him extreme pain, which ended up being Nutramigen.
When I became pregnant with our second child, I did everything I could to prepare to breastfeed and was very blessed that she latched right away and we had a wonderful nursing relationship for a little over 7 months before abruptly weaning. Unfortunately, my husband was deployed and I starting to experience severe post partum anxiety and no one told me that I could have kept nursing with the medications I was given. I've always been a little sad about that, but grateful that we nursed as long as we did and look back on that time fondly.
The little guy I am pictured with here is Sean. He has been my super nurser! He was born 3 weeks early at 5lbs. 14oz. but weighed 9 POUNDS by the time he was 1 month old! He continued to gain weight beautifully and was quite the rolly polly little baby. We didn't have too many problems with supply (I have an oversupply but learned to manage it) and he was exclusively breastfed until 8 months old before we added solids. However, my milk continues to be the only milk he receives. Sean will be 2 on October 8th and still nurses for naps and on & off overnight - we bedshare. On his own volition, he rarely nurses during waking hours anymore and I will continue to follow his lead.
There is one thing I would like to bring attention to that I wish I had known about with my daughter. I knew what I felt but didn't know it had a name. Although we had no problems nursing, with latch, supply, strikes, etc., I suffer from something called, D-MER. That stands for "Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex". Basically put, the moment baby latches until let down, your brain's dopamine (one of the 'feel good' hormones) takes a temporary nosedive. The exact experience is different for every woman but during that brief time before your milk lets down, you may experience an overwhelming urge to cry, have severe anxiety, anger or any other range of negative emotion. As soon as your milk lets down, the feeling completely disappears so this is not the same thing as nursing aversion. Here is a link for more information: http://www.d-mer.org/#2753
Lastly, I need to give a huge shout out to the KellyMom website and to the Infant Risk hotline (http://www.infantrisk.com) for figuratively holding my hand these past two years. A lot has happened in that time and, without these resources, I may have weaned on several different occasion. I have a very painful bladder disease (IC), needed several iron infusions, have had teeth pulled and have panic anxiety disorder. Every time I was unsure about a medication, they walked me through whether it was safe or not and how to proceed if it wasn't. It is headed up by Dr. Sears and they even have an app called, MommyMeds. They are amazing!
Unless God says otherwise, Sean will be our last baby and I am so grateful that I got to experience the bond and closeness that comes with nursing. I never understood the importance of doing my part to normalize breastfeeding until having Sean and even plan on going to school to become a lactation consultant at some point. I hope that my story helps in some way and that women feel brave enough to stand up for their right to do what our bodies were designed to with our breasts, feed our babies! It's literally the only biological reason they exist.
Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
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Heather's Journey
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