im not one of those "im an advocate and will force it down your throat" kinda people. i have my facts in order, im make educated decisions and choices and all i care about are healthy babies.
i have a beautiful 3 year old son who i breastfed for 11 months with a helluva lot of trouble. he had a complete lingual tongue tie. as a naive new mother i thought "hes perfect the way he is!" and didnt clip it (frenotomy) until he was 3 months old. damage had been done, and nursing had already begun to deteriorate. i went back to work at 4 months postpartum and it further crumbled. by 6 months we were supplementing some formula along with breastmilk, and shortly after i stopped producing milk in the evenings. I had lactration support for one month post partum, but didnt know who to call or where to turn for help when i needed it, and my dream of Exclusively Breast Feeding (EBF) for one year were replaced with a cruel reality i didnt know how to change because i was uneducated.
my daughter was born 02.15.2012
it was only 1 day before my Lactation Consultant (we'll call her T), noticed she also had a tongue tie, while not as full it was tight, and we clipped hers at 2 days post partum, but by that point, my nipples had taken a beating. she also did not know right away how to use her tongue, and we began a regimen of pumping on a loaner pump from the local health dept (thanks T for helping!) and feeding her through a syringe. i craved her at the breast and wanted a functional relationsip with nursing her. we eventually went to finger tube feeding (more on that later) and i tried everything under the sun for my nips: lanolin creams, hydrogel pads, breastmilk applied to the nipples and let air dry, purchased a Latch Assist to help with my inverted nips, and started lookingat different creams online to try. Im sure they worked for many, but pumping every 90-120 minutes put a cramp in the healing process. more on that as it unfolds and hopefully the story ends in EBF to one year at least!
No comments:
Post a Comment