I could go on and on about this, but before I do (and I'm sure I will talk about this in other blog entries in the future) I just wanted to share MY Breastfeeding story.
I had Anthony 3 months before my 21st birthday. As most first time moms, DH and I attended Birthing class, read all the books and made soo many decisions before our little guy even go here. I was determined to breast feed my son, and that was that.
When he was born, I had him at my 2nd choice hospital (not by choice). He had some trouble regulating his body temperature, so they kept him in the warmer for a while, and kept taking him away to the nursery without even asking. I nursed him when he was first born, and he latched on with no problem. During the course of the night and the following day, when I tried to nurse him, he kept letting go, and had no interest in sucking...the was just not hungry.
As I was leaving the hospital, the nurse gave me a bunch of 1 use formula bottles and told me that's the kind they had been giving him in the nursery.....WHAT?????????? They were formula feeding my baby without my consent???? so yeah, I pretty much freaked, and checked myself out of the hospital after only 24 hours.
Got home and tried the whole nursing thing again....obviously the baby was fussy and wanted his quick fix with formula, but I persisted...until I got too sleepy and the pressure from everyone around me got to me and I gave in and started formula feeding so that people could "help"....after barely 6 weeks or "supplementing" my milk dried up and I gave up on the whole nursing thing.
When Matthew was born, I nursed him right away, went to a different hospital, and he did not leave my side the whole time at the hospital unless absolutely necessary, and even then, I sent Davide along to make sure no one fed him.
He was a great nurser, and gained weight quickly...unfortunately, he was born the beginning of June and I had to go back to work in September, so mid August I was forced to ween him, at the time I worked in an all boy school almost 1 hour away, and there was no way with the busy block schedule that I had, that I would be able to pump, so that is when we quit.
Christopher was my major breastfeeding success story. He was formula free for the first 9 months of his life, the only bottles he ever had were the occasional pumped milk bottles that he was fed when I absolutely could not be there. He was a happy boy and I believe he acquired his rather mature taste buds because of the variety of foods I ate while nursing.
Since DH and I were going to Las Vegas with friends when he was 10 months old, and his teeth were becoming a threat to my nipples, we decided to wean him, but I'm happy to say, we were both totally ready and there were no regrets.
Isabella is almost 3 weeks old now, and she like Christopher is a problem free nursing child, and I plan on nursing her for as long as it works for both of us, or if I end up going back to work in September. She has not yet needed a pacifier either...so I'm really happy with how things are going.
Ok I think this novel has gone on long enough...my next breast feeding entry will speak about those "pressures" that I've had to deal with in my nursing journey for the past 11 1/2 years.
