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My Journey
Before I had my
darling little girl, I went to three Laleche
meetings and
read two breastfeeding books. I knew
breastfeeding was
for me and I couldnt WAIT for the little girl to come and begin
nursing. I felt prepared.
In the Hospital
Even though the
first 24 hours after my water broke took place at a maternity center (I
wanted
to have a waterbirth) I ended up having a
cesarean. Im a very natural, holistic
kind of person
I still cant believe I ended up in a hospital.
I never dilated and they arent sure why. They
gave me enough pictocin
for 4 pregnant women and still nothing.
So, both my baby and I ended up in the hospital for 10 days to
fight off
infections. She was in intensive care
and I was down the hall.
I
breastfed within an hour after being glued (literally) back together. She latched on pretty easily.
I fought long and hard with the nurses not to
give her a bottle and for the most part won.
I wheeled myself down there every time she woke up and nursed
and nursed
and nursed. Now, they kept checking her
blood sugar levels to see if she was getting enough to eat and her
blood sugar
levels were so low that they threatened to put a tube into her stomach
since I
was so against giving her a bottle.
STILL, I prevailed and they gave her a little sugar water
through her
IV, which gave me more time for my milk supply to come in.
My
baby would
latch on and nurse, literally, for 3 hours strait before falling asleep
and her
blood sugar levels still wouldnt go up.
Everyone in the intensive care unit had a different opinion. They didnt support breastfeeding moms
because it went against their schedule.
But I continued to battle. They
said that I was the 2nd mom in the history of the intensive care unit
to
strictly breastfeed.
After
the fourth
day, I started suspecting something was wrong.
Even though I breastfeed all the time, and pumped after
breastfeeding,
my breasts never grew. Im pretty small
(B cup) AND I never felt the let down experience.
But I was new to breastfeeding and the
support group I belonged to continued to say, youre doing it! Itll get better!!!
In
the hospital I
did finally relent and let them give her a total of 3 bottles of Pedialite and 3 bottles of breast milk. They had convinced me that I needed a
breastfeeding break so my milk supply could build up.
Homeward Bound
When
I came home,
after having her for a week, I finally started seeking help. My husband had threatened to take the baby to
the hospital because he was convinced she was starving and I wouldnt
let him
give her a bottle. I kept thinking in my
head, this is normal; I just have to wait it out a little bit longer. My well meaning Laleche
leaders words ran through my head as I remembered how she explained
supply and
demand and assured me that I would make enough milk if I stuck to it. I was going to stick to it!!!
So,
I went to my
midwife who set me up with a lactation aid and a few bottles of another
girls
milk (which started making me feel like I wasnt enough of a woman to
produce
enough for my baby). My baby latched on
and drank my milk and sucked the tube of this other womans milk. I watched her tummy grow, get full and then
watched her fall into a deep contented sleep.
A first.
I
didn't like the lactation aid, so we went to a professional lactation
consultant and she started me on a
weekend of supplementing with formula because by this time my baby
weighed the
least she had ever weighed. She was born
full term at 5 pounds 10 oz and when they weighed her she was 5 pounds
2
oz. It was the end of the third week.
They
taught me
how to do this switch nursing thing, where I nurse her, than give her
some
bottle of formula, then nurse again. It
didnt work, and my baby grew to love the bottle where she could get a
full
belly and easy access to food.
Domperiodone
By
the end of 6
weeks, my baby hardly nursed and I was in a panic!!!
I felt so rejected because every time I put
her to the breast she screamed. So,
after a bunch
of research, I found a medication, Domperidone,
which
had few side effects and waited patiently for it to come in. All the while, I continued to offer her the
breast and sometimes she would take and other times she refused. When she refused, I pumped with a
hospital
grade rented pump, determined not to give up.
Once
I started
taking the medication, Domperidone, she was hardly nursing at all.
Thats when a lactation consultant suggested that after she goes
to
sleep at night, put her to the breast every hour. From
midnight to 8 am, I nursed every
hour. (Like were not
suffering greatly from the lack of sleep already!)
I did this for two days and she started to
nurse again during the day! Ive had to
do this 3 times in the last 6 months.
With
the products I sell on this website, and the few tips Ive given, my
baby now loves to nurse! Please look at
the photo album. We now cuddle tummy to
tummy and I nurse her to sleep and when she wakes up and all through
the
day. Its soo
awesome and was definitely worth the fight.
I feed her on demand (dont even think about a schedule if you
have a
low milk supply because your milk supply will dry up if you dont nurse
on
demand).
She
has started
to eat real food now, and I do offer her a bottle once during the night
and
twice during the day about 12 oz. Even
with all the
work, I still dont produce enough.
However, Im happy with the situation.
Now daddy gets to feed her, and so does grandma and close
friends.
Final Tip
One final tip. I
found that if I skipped the middle of the night feedings she nursed a
lot less
during the day. Those one or two feeding
are super important so even though you are too tired, nurse anyway. During the night, I always nurse and by about
6 am, after I finish nursing she needs a little more so then I give it
to her
in a bottle.
I
still grudgingly offering her the bottle. Usually I make my husband feed her or someone
else. I just cant stand giving her
protein shake (I have a hard time saying the f word, formula) and I have to
watch myself from saying, Here, drink this nasty stuff.
I, undoubtedly, have issues that Im still working through!
Also,
some people
may be wondering why I didnt continue using the lactation aid. I found that she was smart enough to just
suck on the straw without sucking on me.
And, to be honest, I hated it. It
was the one thing I wasnt willing to do.
It just felt too foreign to me.
The tape and plastic next my skin felt terrible.
It wasnt what I wanted. But for some it works wonderfully.
If
you have truly
been diagnosed with low milk supply and have been encouraged that you
did
everything right, youre probably asking yourself the same question I
asked
myself over and over. WHY???
Why do I have low milk supply? In
my case, Ive had several endocrine
problems including Polycystic Ovarian
Syndrome. I've read that 33% of women with PCOS don't create
close to enough milk. I'm assuming
that's the cause, however, at this point it's not proveable.
So
please be
encouraged! Even if you have a low milk
supply and have to supplement with a little protein shake, you can
still have a
cuddly breastfeeding relationship that will last as long as YOU want.
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