My breastfeeding story begins the same way that (I think) a lot of peoples story begins. When I found out I was pregnant—I knew that I wanted to breastfeed. In fact, I couldn’t tell you why anyone wouldn’t breastfeed. I mean what kind of selfish mothers wouldn’t give their child the best food they could eat? Yes, I was that person—the judgmental person that judged (in their head) people that formula-fed their babies. I was judgmental because breastfeeding is easy, right?
Well, let me tell you right now—breastfeeding is NOT easy. And I will never judge anyone again. My little guy had a rough start, so the first 24 hours after he was born I had to pump and the nurses had to give him a bottle—this scared me (a lot), I didn’t know if he would be able to latch on correctly. When I was finally able to feed him—he latched on like a champ and I thought 2 things (1) my baby is a GENIUS and (2) I am so lucky. Things were able to go downhill from here (good news—they go uphill again).
First, I had sore nipples…like REALLY sore nipples (both of them had crazy scabs on them). It was extremely painful. Then, the Saturday after he was born, I found out that I had my FIRST breast infection. Breast infections are terrible—it feels like you have the flu (my fever spiked to 101 degrees in the middle of the night), and your breasts are on fire, AND they hurt horribly. Thankfully, I had an on-call midwife who got in touch with Lavawn and she was able to call in a prescription and tell me what to do to make it better. We also made an appointment for the following Monday to meet with Lavawn. The medication helped over the weekend, but my nipples were still in terrible pain. I felt like an awful mother, and I felt like a failure. Since this moment I have been able to talk to several other mothers who say the same thing (“I feel like I am failing my child”) and it’s nice to know that I’m not alone.
Monday brought me several important pieces of information. First, my son was a bit tongue-tied, which is what was causing the nipple pain. That meant, it wasn’t my fault—I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I also found out that I had oversupply, which meant that my little guy was jumping on and off the nipple all the time, further causing the sore nipples. He was getting too much milk, which caused him to gain an entire pound by his two week doctor’s appointment and a very gassy baby (it also caused me to have severely engorged breasts that REALLY hurt).
So, the infection was in my right breast, on Sunday my left breast started hurting terribly. This is the one where my little one had always had trouble on, there was also a lump in this one as well, which means another clogged duct. So, I called the Lavawn and made another appointment.
Lavawn and the nurse practitioner felt the lump, watched my little guy eat again and they decided that they thought it was an abscess. How do they treat an abscess? They have to do surgery and remove it. I was devastated, so I started crying in the room, like a crazy fool. Then, she said I needed to have an ultrasound, and I called and was able to go straight there. I had to get both a mammogram and an ultrasound. Thankfully, it wasn’t an abscess, which meant that it was another infection. I thought that things were getting better, but there is even more…because of the two infections that I had, my oversupply turned into UNDER-supply. My sweet little boy lost about 3.5 oz. This made me really sad and really upset., and even more like a failure.
On Lavawn’s suggestion I began taking two supplements (Blessed Thistle and Fenugreek) to increase my milk supply. That's right the milk supply that caused several clogged ducts, two infections, and the crazy day when they thought I had an abscess...that milk supply is now under-supply. I also began pumping during the day.
Honestly, I almost think that this was worse than the excruciating pain of the sore nipples and breast infections, because those didn't affect my little one—this does.
I went back to see Lavawn on Monday and (thank goodness) he had gain 4 ounces (PERFECT!). I am still continuing to struggle with breastfeeding, BUT it IS getting easier, MUCH, MUCH easier.
Without Lavawn’s help, I am 100% sure that I would have quit weeks ago. My advice to other mothers who are struggling would include two things (1) talk to someone who has breastfed (and SUCCEEDED!)—the first six weeks are supposed to be the most difficult, and the first three sometimes include pain, crying and fear. (2)GO TO A LACTATION CONSULTANT! Doctor’s are great, but a lactation consultant really understands and helps. A doctor told me to stop breastfeeding (followed that thought up by telling me that breastfed babies have a lower instance of cancer—that made me feel great); doctor’s told me a lot of wrong information—but Lavawn was there for me through everything—she never yelled at me when I called her on the weekends (yes, there was definitely more than one weekend), and was always patient and helpful.
Well, let me tell you right now—breastfeeding is NOT easy. And I will never judge anyone again. My little guy had a rough start, so the first 24 hours after he was born I had to pump and the nurses had to give him a bottle—this scared me (a lot), I didn’t know if he would be able to latch on correctly. When I was finally able to feed him—he latched on like a champ and I thought 2 things (1) my baby is a GENIUS and (2) I am so lucky. Things were able to go downhill from here (good news—they go uphill again).
First, I had sore nipples…like REALLY sore nipples (both of them had crazy scabs on them). It was extremely painful. Then, the Saturday after he was born, I found out that I had my FIRST breast infection. Breast infections are terrible—it feels like you have the flu (my fever spiked to 101 degrees in the middle of the night), and your breasts are on fire, AND they hurt horribly. Thankfully, I had an on-call midwife who got in touch with Lavawn and she was able to call in a prescription and tell me what to do to make it better. We also made an appointment for the following Monday to meet with Lavawn. The medication helped over the weekend, but my nipples were still in terrible pain. I felt like an awful mother, and I felt like a failure. Since this moment I have been able to talk to several other mothers who say the same thing (“I feel like I am failing my child”) and it’s nice to know that I’m not alone.
Monday brought me several important pieces of information. First, my son was a bit tongue-tied, which is what was causing the nipple pain. That meant, it wasn’t my fault—I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I also found out that I had oversupply, which meant that my little guy was jumping on and off the nipple all the time, further causing the sore nipples. He was getting too much milk, which caused him to gain an entire pound by his two week doctor’s appointment and a very gassy baby (it also caused me to have severely engorged breasts that REALLY hurt).
So, the infection was in my right breast, on Sunday my left breast started hurting terribly. This is the one where my little one had always had trouble on, there was also a lump in this one as well, which means another clogged duct. So, I called the Lavawn and made another appointment.
Lavawn and the nurse practitioner felt the lump, watched my little guy eat again and they decided that they thought it was an abscess. How do they treat an abscess? They have to do surgery and remove it. I was devastated, so I started crying in the room, like a crazy fool. Then, she said I needed to have an ultrasound, and I called and was able to go straight there. I had to get both a mammogram and an ultrasound. Thankfully, it wasn’t an abscess, which meant that it was another infection. I thought that things were getting better, but there is even more…because of the two infections that I had, my oversupply turned into UNDER-supply. My sweet little boy lost about 3.5 oz. This made me really sad and really upset., and even more like a failure.
On Lavawn’s suggestion I began taking two supplements (Blessed Thistle and Fenugreek) to increase my milk supply. That's right the milk supply that caused several clogged ducts, two infections, and the crazy day when they thought I had an abscess...that milk supply is now under-supply. I also began pumping during the day.
Honestly, I almost think that this was worse than the excruciating pain of the sore nipples and breast infections, because those didn't affect my little one—this does.
I went back to see Lavawn on Monday and (thank goodness) he had gain 4 ounces (PERFECT!). I am still continuing to struggle with breastfeeding, BUT it IS getting easier, MUCH, MUCH easier.
Without Lavawn’s help, I am 100% sure that I would have quit weeks ago. My advice to other mothers who are struggling would include two things (1) talk to someone who has breastfed (and SUCCEEDED!)—the first six weeks are supposed to be the most difficult, and the first three sometimes include pain, crying and fear. (2)GO TO A LACTATION CONSULTANT! Doctor’s are great, but a lactation consultant really understands and helps. A doctor told me to stop breastfeeding (followed that thought up by telling me that breastfed babies have a lower instance of cancer—that made me feel great); doctor’s told me a lot of wrong information—but Lavawn was there for me through everything—she never yelled at me when I called her on the weekends (yes, there was definitely more than one weekend), and was always patient and helpful.
Lavawn is the greatest!! If it wasn't for her and her confident words of wisdom and care for me, I would have gone into a depression because my little guy wasn't gaining enough on just the boob and so he had to go to a bottle and me pump. I was devistated. All my others were 100% breastfed, and would very, I mean very seldomly take a bottle from anyone. So this bottle feeding was new to me and painful(still is on some days) but he is getting the best milk ever in that bottle, mine. And Lavawn made me see that. Love ya gal
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