Breastfeeding Awareness Week- Petunia

I LOVE nursing my babies. There is nothing sweeter in my whole realm of understanding than being the sole provider of nourishment for my child. As we check her weight and see how tall she grows, I am proud to be responsible for that progress. But it isn't all roses all the time. My favorite nursing age has passed and now I have a bit of a rambunctious pre-toddler on my hands. She is much too busy checking out what Piggy is doing to pay attention to nursing, and therefore I get the raw end of the deal too often.

Petunia is a severe pincher, but she operates in stealth mode- gently rubbing the backs of my arms with her sweet fingers and going in for the kill after gaining my confidence. Her little pincher fingers are so strong that they bruise the backs of my arms making me look like a victim of domestic violence, causing me to defend my husband to all those who ask in horror what happened to them. It wouldn't be so bad, but that is the skin that is so soft and tender, shielded from the sun and elements as it snuggles closely to your body all day long. eeeek.And then Petunia is a jumper. She LOVES to be in her Jumperoo and I am convinced it is one of the best baby inventions on the planet. But it has convinced her little baby brain that jumping is her passion, and she chooses to jump at some inopportune times. A few days ago, she sat up in my lap, stood to her feet, grabbed tightly onto the straps of my tanktop, and began hopping up and down- all while latched on to me!!! It was quite a sight and I was laughing too hard to scold her, but thinking at the same time what this was doing to my poor breasts... let's just say, they aren't what they used to be... I don't have a picture of that, though. I'll leave it up to your imagination. :o)All in all, I anticipate nursing Petunia for a looooong time. Maybe until she's three. Maybe until she's five. But you won't know because I won't be broadcasting that information. It's just such a sweet time of loving and bonding and nourishment. Plus, I get to burn 500 calories each day just sitting there and holding my baby... a definite perk in my book. :)

Breastfeeding Awareness Week- Day 2- Challenges

I am a fan of breastfeeding and I am an avid supporter of women who choose to do so. While I understand that not all women will try or continue after trying, I am the go-to girl if you want that emotional support! I read somewhere that the primary reason that women stop breastfeeding is due to lack of support at home (any of you men reading, that means YOU). I have been amazingly blessed with a man who after reading and doing his own research, was going to move mountains to make sure that I nursed our children.

I had the privilege earlier this year to host a friend having nursing issues in my home, as Jennifer from the La Leche League came to figure out the problem(s). (Quick side note: Jennifer is not paid by LLL, and therefore had no obligation to sacrifice her lovely Sunday afternoon to come by. But she did. Because she LOVES to support nursing mamas. We are so thankful to this precious woman.) This sweet new mama had had a c-section after many hours of labor and reverse dilation and was simply having issues, but she was determined that she was going to nurse this baby. I had called her on the phone several times, each time ending in tears (from both of us) and went to drop off a meal to her house. After stepping into the living room and getting her usual bright and sunny "Hi, Mary!!" I felt free to ask how things were going. Her bottom lip trembled as she revealed a little baby at her breast and a feeding syringe draped over her shoulder gently placed into the baby's mouth. "She just...won't latch...on..." and a volley of tears ensued. I couldn't believe that within a week her entire tube of Lansinoh was gone- how much pain had she already experienced and worked through to nurse this baby?! I had brought her a book (The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding) but was immediately struck with my lack of working knowledge, feeling completely helpless to assist my struggling friend. She had called several resources and was always given some website or book... and I was doing the same. Sam needed someone to physically be there to see what was going on. I left extremely sad feeling useless and inadequate and as soon as I got in the car, melted down and called my husband asking for help. He recommended that we call Jennifer, and that is how both my friend and Jennifer meeting at my house (somewhere in the middle of their 45 mile separation) occurred.My friend Sam showed up and was renewed in her determination. The men left, taking Piggy, my elder daughter with them on a walk. And Sam carefully disrobed from the waist up and showed Jennifer what she was doing and how she had been doing it. The baby just didn't want to latch on to the nipple. Maybe she was too little, maybe she just didn't understand how. But Jennifer was oh so gentle in her assessment and encouragement and I just sat back and watched the interaction and exchange of ideas and information. Someone in the prior days had recommended a nipple shield for Sam and that was working better, though the baby initially refused to latch on to that either. Jennifer discussed weaning the baby off the syringe and helped to show Sam that her milk was plentiful and that the baby was getting it even if the syringe was empty, which was a huge relief. She told Sam to dribble a little milk on her nipple and asked her to encourage the baby to nurse straight from the breast each time, before she tried the syringe or shield. After several grueling weeks, the baby finally caught on. What has initially been a tremendous struggle has blossomed into a beautiful nursing relationship made even sweeter because of how hard it was worked for.

I don't get to hang out with Sam much, but I was so happy that she felt comfortable enough to come over that day. She is still nursing that sweet baby and after six months, has decided to introduce her first solids in a few days... so exciting!

I learned a lot from that day. Sam's husband was a bulwark. He knew how much she wanted to nurse this baby and he made it a point to diligently protect her from all the naysayers. I'm sure that he spent hundreds of hours praying over Sam and their baby, and never once did he even suggest that they just stop... he was present emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually... Plenty of folks would have had the chance to tell her it was okay to give up, but they never got that opportunity. And because of this man's tenacity and encouragement, Sam had all the support she needed to succeed in this endeavor. It was truly a beautiful testament to the strength and dedication of marriage.

Breastfeeding Awareness Week- Day 1

In honor of Breastfeeding Awareness Week, I want to share some of experiences with nursing two little ones over the last two years.

I always knew I wanted to breastfeed my babies. I was nursed, as were all of my sisters when breastfeeding wasn't the cool thing to do. In fact, there were very few women who were there to support my mom in her decision. But, she's a tough chick and did it anyway.

With Piggy, my first, I thought that the labor and birth were going to be the hard part. Everything I had read said that nursing should be painless and easy. Boy was I misinformed- labor and delivery (we had a home birth) were a cinch compared to breastfeeding. I guess I didn't realize that since my breasts had never been used that way before, it was going to hurt for a while even if she was nursing correctly, even though the books said otherwise. It took 5 weeks before I got the hang of nursing Piggy, and she received the moniker "Piggy" during that time because of her constant eating and rapid weight gain. In fact, she never lost weight during that first 24 hour period. I made a little mistake and woke her up her first night, latched her on to my breast and she didn't let go for over 7 hours! My nipples got extremely tender and Piggy ate every hour and a half to two hours and for over 45 minutes at a time, so I got all of an hour break for those first few weeks. It was torture for me. Right before she latched on each time I'd check her mouth one more time to make certain that she didn't have teeth, because I would have bet my left leg that she did. Then, I'd hold my breath and scrunch my eyes tightly shut as she latched on. It was agony for those first few seconds... and then the pain was gone. I remember thinking how nice it would be when it didn't hurt to nurse any more, and then being convinced that it was never going to get any better. But it did and by week 6 we were getting into the groove. I thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent together each day as our nursing relationship bloomed, and I completely and utterly fell in love with my child. It was a beautiful experience.

When Piggy was 8 months old, we found out we were expecting a second time. I had no idea until I began having that tender, somewhat excruciating pain while nursing again. Then I had one day that I needed to eat a container of peanut butter, and then felt nauseated afterward. Of course, I chalked it up to the container of peanut butter, but common sense would have made me question my desire to consume that much peanut butter. The next day I took a pregnancy test and confirmed my suspicion. I immediately began taking precautions to keep my supply up because I had heard that pregnancy can sometimes dry up the milk completely. I ate lots of steel cut oats, lactation tea, and various other things, but by month 4 it was totally gone.

I was disappointed and felt tremendously guilty that I could no longer exclusively breastfeed my child. I cried at the thought of giving formula to my baby and cried at the shopping center as I picked out the can of soy. My starving baby- I only realized that I had a supply issue when Piggy went a full day without a wet diaper- greedily gobbled up an entire bottle full of that milk. It was only then that I was no longer upset. In fact, I was thankful that there was an option... I didn't have any lactating friends that I would feel comfortable asking for milk, so soy was the only other option. We had made it to 11 months exclusively breastfeeding.

I plan on making it much longer with Petunia. More on that tomorrow!