Breastfeeding Success Stories - Post yours here!

So inspired by the above stories.... here is mine.

DD#1 BD: June/02
Issues:
Born 4 pounds 12 oz. full term (5 dys early)
Knew nothing of BFing
Supplimented once at hosptial

DD#2 BD: April/06
Issues:
Born 6 pounds 9 oz. full term (5 dys early)
Hemorage after labour
Jaundice
sleepy baby

My main reason for wanting to breast feed was because I have severe allergies and asthma. I was formula fed. I spent most of my childhood in hospitals missing school, undergoing tests and not being able to do a lot of things kids do. I knew I wanted to give my kids the BEST advantage over what I went though - so when I was pregnant with DD#1 I read many many books on babies and breast feeding and decided that was the way to go, come hell or high water, I wanted to breast feed.

DD#1 was born a small baby but that had no effect on her - she latched right away perfectly like it was second nature - I never had problems with her having gas, crying, latching or eating enough. She was supplimented at the hosp. once during the night, I didn't know any better, the nurse told me its "what they do so the mother can get rest" I was scared to protest, I wanted only the best. Course now I know supplimenting is not needed. I successfully BF DD#1 until she was about 2 yrs and 3 months and so far my wishes of her having a better childhood them me have came true. She has not been sick but for once when bronchitis when she was 2 and a half years old, and the odd cold. She never peaked a fever with her shots and never got the colds or flues that came and went in the house. She is only allergic to walnuts and coconut, and suffers from mild hayfever, which just developed this year. She does have slight exercise enduced asthma, but nothing compared to what I went through. To me, I did all I could to prevent allergies and asthma... I did my job and feel so proud to have breast fed her as long as I did.

DD#2 was born 6 pounds 9 ounces and didn't cry when she came out. She was healthy and strong and perfectly healthy. I made a point this time to remind all the nurses I wanted her exclusively BF - they listened to me and she was allowed to stay in my room all night - I fed her frequently throughout that night - she was a drowsy baby, hard to get to feed for very long. On day 2 she developed Jaundice, I was freaked as I knew nothing about this and felt it was my fault somehow. Dealing with guilt and worry I called LLL in my area, they reassured me she does not need supplimenting just frequent feedings - it was a battle for the first 2 weeks getting her to eat enough. Many sleepless nights, trying many different things to keep her awake. Since she only ate little at a time I was feeding her every hour on the hour. She developed a gas problem, spit up more then I thought was normal, got the hickups alot... we are still battling these issues to this day but the jaundice has cleared up without having to go to the hospital for phototherapy. ((thanks LLL for the strong support and info.))

I am proud to have BF DD#1 bm eventhough my family was a bit shocked, they were and are fully supporive and think its a fantastic thing, esp. since they see how well DD#1 is doing. I plan on doing the same with DD#2 if god is willing... she is gaining weight now after a pound drop in her weight during her jaundice time. She is now thriving and eating well even though we are still on a battle with her gas. LOL!

:D

Issues
Jaundice
Weight Loss
Refusal to nurse
"Natzi" lactation consultant

When I was pregnant with my oldest, I never had any doubt about breastfeeding. I just knew I would do it. I took a class and knew it might be difficult, but just figured it would be fine.

After he was born and I tried to nurse him, he would latch on, pull off and scream his head off. I had plenty there...I could express colustrum. He could latch fine because he would, but then he'd be royally ticked when something came out. I had wonderful nurses! They came in every time I tried to feed him. They would check his blood sugar to make sure it was okay so we didn't have to give him formula. They encouraged me that I wasn't doing anything wrong, but some babies just are stubborn. He cried all of the time.

The day after he was born, the lactation consultant came in to see me and try to "help". I was wililng to start pumping and giving him a bottle. She told me again that I wasn't doing anything wrong and his latch was good and he just was refusing to nurse. She also told me that I gave him a bottle, he would NEVER nurse. And she left. The pediatrician had told me that he would probably be jaundiced because of his skin being so fair. His bili level was between a 17-18. The jaundice lasted for 2 weeks, and he was REALLY yellow. He slept a lot and that contributed to it lasting so long I'm sure.

The day we were going home, Joshua had lost a pound from his birthweight of 7#5oz. They said that was only about 9%, so it was higher than they like but it was still okay. That day, the lactation consultant brought a pump for me to use. She reiterated again that I was not to give my baby a bottle because he would never go to the breast. We were to only tube feed him. As I pumped for about 30 minutes, my colostrum turned to milk. I have no idea how on day #2, especially since my baby had never nursed.

We tried the tube feeding, and that just really made him mad too, and he would never take more than half an ounce. He was born on Sunday and by Thursday, he had barely had anything to eat. My husband had gone to work, and I called him bawling my eyes out that the one thing I should be able to do for my baby, I can't do. He told his boss he was leaving and came home. He said we needed to make a decision and that the finger feeding/tube feeding was not working. So, he went and bought bottles and we went and rented a pump and I pumped and bottle fed Joshua. From the get-go, he drank 4 ounces. By two weeks, he was drinking 8 ounces. He was a hungry little boy!

I was so petrified that my baby wouldn't nurse, and I wondered where I went wrong. My Mom tried to comfort me. She told me that when I was born 22 years prior, she was very ill after her c-section. They couldn't figure out what was wrong with her and they wouldn't let her see me because of it. I was bottle fed formula for 12 days until she got well, and still went on to breastfeed. So told me it would be okay.

I would try to nurse Joshua several times a day, but usually it was just a frustrating experience. Finally, the day he turned 2 weeks old, he latched on and chowed for 45 minutes. He never looked back and wouldn't touch a bottle after that. We nursed for a week shy of 35 months.

When Zachary was born, I was still nursing Joshua who was 27 months old. Zachary latched right on and was a pig. He only lost 6 ounces of his birthweight and my milk came in in no time. When the lactation consultant came in that time, I kicked her out. I had such a bad taste in my mouth after my previous experience with them. The only issue we had was he really preferred my left side and would fight me on the right. We used the football hold for a couple of weeks on the right side, then he was fine.

When Sarah was born, she didn't have a single issue. When the lactation consultant came in, I told her my history and that I thought I had it pretty well figured out. She agreed and offered a lot of encouragement. I think if she would have been the one to help me with my first child, my experience would have been different.

Issues:
Poor Latch
Weight Loss
Slow Weight Gain
No one around me had been bf
Heavy medicated delivery

I was induced and did not have the delivery I had imagined. At birth Miranda was a little jaundiced, but not enough for the lights, though knowing what I know now, I wish I had put her under for a little bit. Her latch was very poor and I was getting very sore. She was not sucking hard enough to get what she needed and I did not realize that. After a month, she still had not regained her birth weight. Almost everyone around me had horror stories about bf. I did not hear one positive story. When we went to get help from the hospital I delivered, they were very quick to tell me everything was fine, but they were too busy to spend some quality time with me. Had they , they would have known that things were not fine. Went to a different lc through another hospital. They scared me, but were very helpful. I pumped for a week and Miranda gained like a mad woman. Then we used a supplemental feeder. It only worked once. We were both frustrated. I was tired of pumping one hour and then feeding her the next. I was chained to my bedroom. I thought I would put her on just to see and it worked. We have never gone back. I ws very fortunate that there was no nipple confusion. She is 8 weeks now and is almost three pounds heavier than her birth weight- 6#4oz then and 9 now. I love bf now and I tell everyone I can about my positive story. I want people to know that there are success bf stories. I tell everyone about my biggest mistake- I should have gotten help earlier. So if anyone is reading this- GET HELP IF YOU NEED IT! BF is such an organic experience. I have never felt more like a woman than I do when I feed her. I seriously think people need to talk about bf more. Motherhood is not a list of do's and don'ts. It is an intense soulful journey that truly gets better each day.

I just wanted to post my happy news...

Gen was born 4 weeks early but weighed 7lbs 10oz. Of course she dropped weight before we left the hospital and it's been three weeks. The first two weeks she wouldnt breast feed, but then she finally picked it up after much determination on my part and getting her over jaundice.

Last week at her 2 and half week check up she had only gained 7lbs 6.5 oz. Doc wanted to see her this week. I have been nearly 100% bf/ebm with her all week. Today she got weighed in and she is up to 8lbs 1oz!

Doc was very happy with her progress and is looking forward to seeing her at her 2 month check up.

here goes my story, i need to put it down in text before i forget all the details..........

ISSUES:
POOR LATCH
JAUNDICED
SLEEPY BABY
WEIGHT LOSS
BULGING DISCS
TMJ OUT OF ALIGNMENT
ARCHING BACK
SCREAMING AT THE BREAST



Lucy Violet Thomas was born on January 25th, 2006, 3 weeks early. Her due date was February 14th, 2006. Thank goodness she came early because she was born at 8lbs 5.5 ozs., 21 inches long. The birthing process was quick, probably because she is my 3rd and my son was over 10lbs. Basically 2 pushes and she was out. I had gestational diabetes while pregnant, so the pressure was on to nurse immediately. They gave us only 20 minutes of nursing time before Lucy needed her blood sugar tested. I thought we did ok, but her blood sugar level came back at 17 which is drastically low, they need it to be around 40. So the lab tech came up to draw more blood to get a more accurate reading, but in the meantime, they cup fed Lucy formula. I was devastated that she needed formula, but at the same time i knew she needed to get her blood level up. So after 33 mls of formula her level came up and they were satisfied that she wouldn't need anymore formula. We co slept in the hospital and nursed around the clock, which the nurses kept telling me was normal. I didn'tn have a good feeling because she never seemed satisfied and she seemed to fidgity for a newborn. The LC came by just before i was being discharged (it was the only visit in the hospital), and said we were doing great from what the nurses had told her. I just wanted to go home to be with my other kids so i didn't mention anything to her.

My milk came in 2 days later with a vengence and now lucy couldn't latch. So i pumped and kept trying, but she was getting more and more disgruntled and I was getting more and more frustrated. I knew i could breastfeed, i'd done it for a year a piece with my other two kids. So day 4 Lucy was jaundiced and not nursing and losing weight fast. i started expressing and fingerfeeding, this went on for a couple of weeks and all the time i was still trying to nurse and it was unsuccessful. I was seeing the pediatrician daily doing billiruben checks and seeing the lactation consultant 3x's a week. At about 4 weeks old, i had tried fingerfeeding and the sts taped to my boobs and still no luck with breastfeeding. The whole time pumping and giving her breastmilk. The stress was getting to me at everyfeeding having to find the tape and tape tubes to me , i caved and started her on the bottle. Which i noticed she couldn't keep the breastmilk in and the LC kept saying she had a poor suck. At six weeks old, i couldn't deal with Lucy not nursing, one of the moms on this board suggested i take her to a chiropractor. I thought they were nuts, but lucy had been still arching her back and seemed very disgruntled at every feeding even with the bottle. so i figured i had nothing to lose, her latch was pathetic, and she had barely gained any weight back at 6 weeks old. Would you believe Lucy had 2 bulging discs and her TMJ was out of alignment. Holy Crap!! One disc was in her mid thoracic area which was telling her brain she wasn't hungry, and the other disc was in her neck that affected her swallow, not her suck. and they adjusted her TMJ ( jaw joint) . The chiropractor said try to latch her, and at the beginning of the appointment she couldn't , but after the adjustments (whick took 2 minutes of the dr.s time ) Lucy latched on!!! no arching of the back, no screaming before latch, I thought the situation was cured. We kept trying to latch, and she would, but then fall asleep.... I couldn't keep her awake,a nd she still wasn't gaining weight. I was beginning to think that pumping and bottlefeeding were our only options. Which i was ok with, i figured i'd be a full time pumper for a year. my other kids got breastmilk for a year, so will Lucy. My only goal at this point was to plump lucy up. So i pumped every three hours around the clock even while lucy was sleeping and bottle fed for the next 6 weeks. We comfort nursed whenever we could, but she would just fall asleep. I never stopped trying to breastfeed. My milk supply had issues( the minipill caused my milk to plummet , so i had to pump every hour and a half for 2 days to build it back up.)

By the time Lucy was 12 weeks old, she was up to 11.5lbs, and my milk supply was double what she was taking in for daily consumption. One night ( the day before she was 12 weeks old-April 18th to be exact, Lucy nursed for about 30 minutes on both side, and was satisfied!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was thrilled to say the least. And from that nursing session , i have not given her a bottle. She is 100% nursing at the breast for over a month now. She does take a bottle when i'm at work and it is only EBM!!

We had so many bumps in the road, you can see why it took me so long to post as a success story. But we made it!!! Our perseverance paid off. Lucy will be 4 months old in a couple of days and is a very efficient nurser now, she goes about 20 minutes on each side every 3-4 hours and sleeps through the nights. She has an appointment this friday (april 26th) and we will see how much she has gained. She has plenty of soaked diapers and poops that i'm not worried. It's been a long time coming but we did it.

Thanks for reading, and all the support you ladies have given me. You all have been my sanity and saving grace. My DH and older kids were a huge support system, but they didn't have the suggestions or knowledge that you ladies have . So thank you from the bottom of my heart!!!!!! Colleen!

Date posted: August 2, 06
Baby Birthdate: March 21, 06

ISSUES:
ff'd first child due to tounge tie
c-section
tounge tie/poor latch
gerd
family ff'd
jaundice
formula supplemented
large baby

When my first son Elliott was born i was told (by a lc) that i would never breastfeed a tounge tied baby! He would never latch properly and as an almost 9lbr i probally should supplement as i wouldnt have enough for him to eat. so heartbroken i went home and suffered trying to get my son to latch, crying during every feeding and resenting the times when he would get hungry again. my dh tol dme i was "doing it wrong" and thats why he cried cause i was "starving him" ... sadly i gave up on our thrid day home. I pumped for days after that hoping to establish a supply and ultimetly gave up, excepting defeat that i quite possibly would never live up to my expectations as a mother. Then I became pregnant with our now four month old son Ethan. My whole pregnancy i read books about breastfeeding, read information that you COULD breastfeed a tounge tied baby and with the growing support from my wonderful sister in law who bf her children for 3 and 1 year each, her mother & a wonderful group of supportive women here on pregnancy.org, i anticipated his birth and a second chance to nurse again, i thought for sure i had this thing beat and i would breastfeed our son if my very life depended on it. I even insisted him be brought to my bedside in recovery from my csection so he would have the best chances of nursing. I watched him being born in a tiny mirror as the doctor pulled him from my swolen belly, he was born on the morning of March 21, 06 weighing in at an astonishing 9lbs 15oz, more than a pound bigger than his brother despite his early arrival. They rushed him upstairs to the NICU stating we had undiagnosed gestational diabettes and he was to have his blood sugar level checked and given glucose water immidietly, i was in shock! What I had invisioned as my perfect day was unfolding before my eyes. An hour later he came to my room, upon his arrival i didnt focus on his beautiful grey eyes, his perfectly shaped fingers, toes, ears and lips but his tounge which was fused to the bottom of his mouth just like his brother before him. I was heartbroken, ready to give up. Everything I read and knew had gone from my mind, I was nearing tears as the LC reminded me that I could breastfeed a tounge tied baby, it would be more difficult than a baby without his tounge tied but it was possible especially if i had my heart set on it. I lifted my gown and held him close to my breast and sure enough he latched. Through the horrible morphine allergic reaction my vision fixated on his tiny face suckling, and my world became clearer as if all at once. While I did supplement while in the hospital Im happy to report were exclusivly breastfeeding, wuth no bottkes. We have successfully overcome his horrid tounge tie, in fact we had it clipped not a month ago, breastfeeding has become that much more enjoyable since then. I look forward to many more month milestones in our breastfeeding journey.

i do make milk & it is my super power!

Issues:
DS had breathing problems
Pumping in hospital/1st week
Supplimented in hospital
thrush
colic

My delivery with James went very smoothly until the very end. When my water broke at 10cm(yes, at 10 cm) we discovered he had meconium in the womb(means he had his 1st BM before he was born.) The respitory therapist came in for his birth and he was taken away to have his lungs suctioned. He was then sent down to NICU. DH and I were devastated. You don't expect your fullterm baby to end up in the NICU. I was not allowed to nurse him for the first 4 days after his birth due to his breathing problems b/c of the meconium. He had to stay in the NICU and I had to leave the hospital without him. :( So I pumped and brought him as much as I could but they also supplimented his feedings with formula. He ate through a tube the 1st few days.

Finally, the 4th day I was allowed to try and nurse him. Luckliy, he had a strong suck and a great latch. He caught on quickly. YAY! I was also finally allowed to take him home on the 5th day. Even bigger YAY! All seemed to be looking up.

I took him to his first doctor's appointment the next week only to find out he has thrush. The antibiotics he was on in the NICU have most probably caused it. So we got him some Nystatin and we both used it. I don't really have it yet, but I rubbed the medicine on my nipples after each feeding to prevent it. It seemed to work and I bolied all his pacis and blah blah...

Then the next week I wake up feeling so sick. I have a fever and my joints ache. I have mastitis. Yuck. This seems to come and go for a week and I start to get frustrated with the whole nursing thing. I don't dare give up though. So we get through the mastitis and then...

I start to wonder what is wrong with James. He cries ALL THE TIME. Every night he screams to the point of making me want to cry for him. I know he is colicky, but I can't figure out what to do for him. One night I have a huge glass of milk. This sends him over the edge. He breaks out in tiny red bumps all over his skin. He butt is already red, but it becomes even redder. He screams and screams. I decide cutting out dairy is a must for his sake. I was sad about that though. No more ice cream is a bummer. This seems to help tremendously though and that makes it worth it.

Ok so things seem to be working out until I notice that it is really starting to hurt everytime he eats. It hurts so bad that I cringe at the thought of him latching on. Someone suggests that it might be thrush. Go figure... it is AGAIN. Turns out this crap is hard to get rid of. This time I have it as well as DS. So I get on some Diflucan and DS gets back on the Nystatin. Boil the pacis again and all that stuff. Oh and this time, DS seems to have thrush on his butt. Poor guy.

Ok ok things start to get better. Oh and while all this stuff is happening, I should add that nursing him was totally worth it. No pain could match how wonderful it was, BUT just as soon as we get rid of the thrush again, it comes back to bite us in the butt! :roll: This time I take him to me Pedi and beg him to get rid of it. I do everything the girls on here tell me to do and we both take diflucan again and FINALLY it goes away for good! (I hope :lol: )

I have to add that I have never supplimented with formula since he left the NICU. I vowed to myself that I would do it without formula no matter what the circumstances were. I did end up having to throw out the cans they give you at the hospital at 4 in the morning once b/c it looked so tempting. Nursing my son has been a wonderful gift for me as well as him. I never knew how much I would enjoy it and just how close it would bring us. I feel like we can get through anything now. All the support and info I got from this board made a huge difference too. :D Thanks for reading and for your support!

ISSUES:
Flat nipples
Poor Latch
Sleepy baby
Jaundice
Large Baby
Screaming at the breast
TOO much help from the LCs and nurses

Francis and I just had all sorts of problems to start with. I saw him for 3 seconds after he was born because he was whisked away for oxygen (cord around the neck). I didn't get to see him for 4 and a half hours after he was born. I kind of feel I would have had more success had they let us have our bonding time. His problem hadn't been serious.

When I did get him I tried to feed. He could not get a latch. He would not open his mouth... and that was if we could wake him. I got him to nurse once that day. The nurses told me this was alright on the first day.

The next day if we could even wake him to feed he would SCREAM bloody murder if we tried. This made me really depressed. The pedi on call said he wanted me to formula feed him to get rid of his jaundice. I freaked. NO FORMULA AT ALL EVER. He got a little annoyed with me. He talked to the OB nurses and they brought me a pump. They didn't think I could pump! Ha. I impressed them with the amount of colostrum I could get out (about an once and a half) at a time. He would not wake even if we got him butt naked (I wish he slept like that now phew).

Finger feeding wasn't working and the pressure was on to get food in him. I made a choice. To bottle feed him the pumped milk. I refused to let myself feel bad about it. I was a power pumper after all. I had two LCs come in all the time to help. One was very over bearing and it was hard for me to relax around her. I felt harrassed.

Once we got home he still cried at the breast. I was pretty much at this point going to give up... Pumping seemed to work.

The pushy LC came over for a PP visit. Again with the pushy. She gave me a nipple shield and an SNS feeder. We put a bottle of breastmilk in it and tried. I had three people trying to help. Francis still wouldn't open his mouth. It was closed tight. Both Francis and I freaked out. This was just too much. I gave up.

A few days later the other LC came over. She was so nice. She was like "Lets try it one more time before we give up if its okay with you." We tried. Francis cried a little at first but magically latched on after that (with no nipple shield). He ate fine for 10 minutes. Longer then ever before.

I regained confidence. I tried again later. Same thing but he nursed for 20 minutes. I ended up nursing him 4 times. The next day 6, and the next day for every single feeding except at night.

It was a bit harder to learn how to nurse him at night when I was asleep but since then we have figured even that out on our own.

Now Francis hates the bottle. He tries to nurse the bottle and cries because you have to suck on a bottle and nothing will come out for him. Now the only thing that makes him stop crying is to nurse. He loves being close to me and falling asleep at the breast. I am so happy we did not give up and gave it that one more try because we are old pros at it now (we have done it in public even and at other people's houses).

If you are having trouble nursing don't give up!! It will happen for you :D

Issues
c-section
large baby
10% weight loss
flat nipples
poor latch
nipple shield
supplimenting during hospital stay

advantages
great lactation consultants
supportive dh
determination

Spencer was born by c-section at 40 weeks 2 days after an induction and 2 hours of pushing. He weighed 9 lbs 5 oz. During the first feed he seemed to latch well, but for the rest of the morning I couldn't get him to suck, although I could get the nipple into his mouth. I was seen by a lactation consultant immediately. After 2 days of trying, and after Spencer had lost more than 10% of his weight, I was given a nipple shield and told to pump every 2 hours.

The process of actually getting him to suck was quite comical! I would pump for 20 minutes, then put the nipple shield on, position the baby and then use an eye dropper filled with either breast milk or formula to 'fill' the nipple shield with milk (this required the help of another person...anyone I could get, dh, friends, mom, nurses...LOL). Once the milk started leaking into his mouth from the nipple shield, he would suck. After about 2 days he'd suck right away and we no longer had to use this long process.

It took almost 6 weeks to get him to nurse without the shield, but he eventually did it!

We've had other problems along the way. Too fast of a let down, sore nipples, prolonged feedings, but overall our breastfeeding experience has been a wonderful experience. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I am so thankful that I choose to stick with it!

A couple of things that REALLY helped...

#1 Telling family/friends about my choice to breastfeed long before giving birth. This helped them (most of which didn't breastfeed) get used to the idea.

#2 Taking a breastfeeding class WITH my dh. It helped him realize how important it is and gave me a lot of valuable resources.

#3 Choose a hospital that advocated rooming in and breastfeeding.

****UPDATE****

We breastfed for 15 months and weaned after I became pregnant with #2. I'm am soooooo thankful that I stuck with it. I pray that I am able to breastfeed our second for just as long!

Issues:
Relatively small baby
Poor suck reflex
Sleepy baby

Miriam was born at 5 lbs, 12 oz. She wouldn't latch on for more than a few seconds at a time. Never having done this before, I thought that was normal. But then, just before we were discharged, a nurse became concerned because she had dropped down to 5 lbs 3 oz. (losing about 13% of body weight) and didn't seem to suck anything, including a finger. She was seen by a neonatologist, who said that she had "premature suck," even though she was full term.

We were sent home with instructions to wake baby to feed every three hours. We had to give her a certain amount by bottle -- if she breastfed in addition, that was bonus, but we couldn't rely on her sucking. The first night, we had to give formula because the pump rental place was closed, but the next morning, I got a pump and we were able to ditch the formula.

The first two weeks were torture. Miriam would have slept 24 hours a day if we had let her. We woke her every three hours to get food into her -- she didn't want it, so it usually took an hour for my husband to get 1-2 ounces in her by bottle (I pumped while he fed her). Finally, by two weeks, she had regained her birth weight, and we could relax a little.

On week 3, she actually latched and sucked! We were still using a nipple shield, but that was enough to lose the bottles. We continued with the nipple shield for two more weeks. At week 5, she began latching and sucking without the nipple shield. That was torture on my nipples -- tears came to my eyes every time she latched. I wanted to give up, but my husband pointed out we had worked too hard to give up now. By week 6 or 7, my nipples felt much better, and now breastfeeding is going great at week 10!