My Nursing Stories
All my adventures in nursing
DS 1
My first child was born in 1998. I knew I was going to breastfeed. Honestly, I never really considered it a choice. It was simply how babies are fed I had no idea what a hot debate topic it was. I had 3 days of prodromal labor but I did give birth naturally at a free standing birth center. It was almost unassisted, as the midwife came running in the room as he was crowning! He latched on very shortly after birth and nursed a good long time. He did develop jaundice but I was given very good advice for treating it. I was told to sun him through a window several times a day and nurse him as much as possible! No one ever mentioned supplementing. I had the typical sore and cracked nipples at first, but after a month or two that went away. Right around 4 months, he began refusing to nurse on my left breast. I talked to his pediatrician about ir and his advice was to "force" him to nurse from that side. I knew there was no way I could actually force him. Nursing had been such a positive, loving exchange so far, I had no interest in3turning our nursing sessions into screaming, crying, not eating sessions. So, I nursed him just on the right side and began supplementing with bottles of formula. I recall feeling a bit disappointed but I was still nursing lots and our feeding relationship continued to be very loving and positive. Shortly after his first birthday he started not nursing as often or as much. Then at 14 months he just stopped. I clearly remember the last time he nursed. It was first thing in the morning, he latched on for a few minutes, pulled off, smiled, and got up and walked out of the room. Although I had planned on nursing him for longer, I knew it was done and he was moving on. My breasts stayed uneven for about 6 months and then the right side was finally the same size as the left.
DS 2
My second son was born in 2001. I had a rather difficult labor with him. It was 18 hours of hard, painful labor. He was large and posterior and did not want to turn. Again, I was at a free standing birth center and was determined to have a natural birth. Finally he turned and was crowning, and then his shoulder got stuck. I know our shoulder dystocia didn't last very long, but that was a terrifying few minutes. He was bruised, purple and screaming, and it was soon apparent that he was not moving his left arm. It took him quite some time to settle down, but then he latched on great and nursed for over an hour. We were shown massage to do for his arm, and arranged follow up with his pediatrician. We were finally ready to go home. We put the baby in his car seat and started gathering up the rest of our stuff. We noticed that in the car seat he was turning a dusky color. We took him out, checked his breathing and heartbeat, all was fine, so we put him back in the seat. He started turning blue again. We were advised to take him to the hospital for a period of observation. After much discussion, we decided to head over to the hospital. We arrived at the NICU and the first doctor to see us was wonderful. he didn't order any invasive tests, just put some monitors on him. I asked the nurses for a chair next to his bed so I could be with him and nurse him often. All was going well until the shift change. The NICU doctor that saw us next was horrible. He immediately started by telling me I had to give my baby formula because he was so huge, that my body could not possibly provide for him because of his size (he was 9 lbs 12 oz, BTW). I stood firm, telling him that I was going to breastfeed my son. He ordered hourly blood test to check his sugar levels and again told me not to breastfeed. I told him I was going to nurse my son and he got very flustered and ordered a visit from the LC to show me how to dropper feed him formula. The LC showed up and was very wonderful. She did show me how to feed with a dropper and a cup, but it was just a dry run, she never even opened the container of formula. She then watched me nurse him and said his latch looked perfect and I obviously knew what I was doing. Her advice, nod and smile, and when the doc leaves the room, nurse my baby. So that is exactly what I did. The last visit and blood check with the doctor showed his blood glucose levels were just fine, but he grudgingly signed the release forms with a very sarcastic "Well, if there's anyone determined to breastfeed, it's someone like you". They never did discover the cause of his duskiness, I think it was from the persistent posterior position and the shoulder dystocia. He has been just fine ever since. He recovered full use and mobility of his arm in just a few days. He also had jaundice, but it cleared up quickly with lots of nursing and some time in indirect sunlight. He never took a bottle and self weaned at 22 months.
DS 3
My third son was born in 2005. He was born beautifully at home in a planned home birth with a midwife. Other than my getting a bit dehydrated from excessive vomiting, the birth went perfectly. His apgar scores were 10/10 and he latched on within minutes after birth. We spent the first 24 hours just napping and nursing. My milk came in 3 days after birth and I experienced some engorgement but it dissipated quickly. I also had some nipple soreness for a few weeks but that also was tolerable and eventually went away. I was very proud when my midwife came for our 3 days pp visit and told me that I do postpartum very, very well. Like all my babies, he had some jaundice, but again we treated it at home with near constant nursing and sessions of sunlight. We tried offering him a bottle of EBM at around 6 weeks, he wanted nothing to do with it. He has completely refused bottles so I just had to make sure to time my times away from home around his feedings. We introduced solids around 7 months. He was very tentative about it. My other two boys were much more enthusiastic about solid food, so I decided to back off and try again a bit later. Right around 9 months he became very interested in solids, but he didn't want pureed baby food, so we went right to well mashed up table food. And now at 11 months he is eating a wide variety of solid food but also still nursing many times a day and once or twice at night. Nursing is such an important part of his life, still going strong with no end in sight!
DS 1
My first child was born in 1998. I knew I was going to breastfeed. Honestly, I never really considered it a choice. It was simply how babies are fed I had no idea what a hot debate topic it was. I had 3 days of prodromal labor but I did give birth naturally at a free standing birth center. It was almost unassisted, as the midwife came running in the room as he was crowning! He latched on very shortly after birth and nursed a good long time. He did develop jaundice but I was given very good advice for treating it. I was told to sun him through a window several times a day and nurse him as much as possible! No one ever mentioned supplementing. I had the typical sore and cracked nipples at first, but after a month or two that went away. Right around 4 months, he began refusing to nurse on my left breast. I talked to his pediatrician about ir and his advice was to "force" him to nurse from that side. I knew there was no way I could actually force him. Nursing had been such a positive, loving exchange so far, I had no interest in3turning our nursing sessions into screaming, crying, not eating sessions. So, I nursed him just on the right side and began supplementing with bottles of formula. I recall feeling a bit disappointed but I was still nursing lots and our feeding relationship continued to be very loving and positive. Shortly after his first birthday he started not nursing as often or as much. Then at 14 months he just stopped. I clearly remember the last time he nursed. It was first thing in the morning, he latched on for a few minutes, pulled off, smiled, and got up and walked out of the room. Although I had planned on nursing him for longer, I knew it was done and he was moving on. My breasts stayed uneven for about 6 months and then the right side was finally the same size as the left.
DS 2
My second son was born in 2001. I had a rather difficult labor with him. It was 18 hours of hard, painful labor. He was large and posterior and did not want to turn. Again, I was at a free standing birth center and was determined to have a natural birth. Finally he turned and was crowning, and then his shoulder got stuck. I know our shoulder dystocia didn't last very long, but that was a terrifying few minutes. He was bruised, purple and screaming, and it was soon apparent that he was not moving his left arm. It took him quite some time to settle down, but then he latched on great and nursed for over an hour. We were shown massage to do for his arm, and arranged follow up with his pediatrician. We were finally ready to go home. We put the baby in his car seat and started gathering up the rest of our stuff. We noticed that in the car seat he was turning a dusky color. We took him out, checked his breathing and heartbeat, all was fine, so we put him back in the seat. He started turning blue again. We were advised to take him to the hospital for a period of observation. After much discussion, we decided to head over to the hospital. We arrived at the NICU and the first doctor to see us was wonderful. he didn't order any invasive tests, just put some monitors on him. I asked the nurses for a chair next to his bed so I could be with him and nurse him often. All was going well until the shift change. The NICU doctor that saw us next was horrible. He immediately started by telling me I had to give my baby formula because he was so huge, that my body could not possibly provide for him because of his size (he was 9 lbs 12 oz, BTW). I stood firm, telling him that I was going to breastfeed my son. He ordered hourly blood test to check his sugar levels and again told me not to breastfeed. I told him I was going to nurse my son and he got very flustered and ordered a visit from the LC to show me how to dropper feed him formula. The LC showed up and was very wonderful. She did show me how to feed with a dropper and a cup, but it was just a dry run, she never even opened the container of formula. She then watched me nurse him and said his latch looked perfect and I obviously knew what I was doing. Her advice, nod and smile, and when the doc leaves the room, nurse my baby. So that is exactly what I did. The last visit and blood check with the doctor showed his blood glucose levels were just fine, but he grudgingly signed the release forms with a very sarcastic "Well, if there's anyone determined to breastfeed, it's someone like you". They never did discover the cause of his duskiness, I think it was from the persistent posterior position and the shoulder dystocia. He has been just fine ever since. He recovered full use and mobility of his arm in just a few days. He also had jaundice, but it cleared up quickly with lots of nursing and some time in indirect sunlight. He never took a bottle and self weaned at 22 months.
DS 3
My third son was born in 2005. He was born beautifully at home in a planned home birth with a midwife. Other than my getting a bit dehydrated from excessive vomiting, the birth went perfectly. His apgar scores were 10/10 and he latched on within minutes after birth. We spent the first 24 hours just napping and nursing. My milk came in 3 days after birth and I experienced some engorgement but it dissipated quickly. I also had some nipple soreness for a few weeks but that also was tolerable and eventually went away. I was very proud when my midwife came for our 3 days pp visit and told me that I do postpartum very, very well. Like all my babies, he had some jaundice, but again we treated it at home with near constant nursing and sessions of sunlight. We tried offering him a bottle of EBM at around 6 weeks, he wanted nothing to do with it. He has completely refused bottles so I just had to make sure to time my times away from home around his feedings. We introduced solids around 7 months. He was very tentative about it. My other two boys were much more enthusiastic about solid food, so I decided to back off and try again a bit later. Right around 9 months he became very interested in solids, but he didn't want pureed baby food, so we went right to well mashed up table food. And now at 11 months he is eating a wide variety of solid food but also still nursing many times a day and once or twice at night. Nursing is such an important part of his life, still going strong with no end in sight!