BF; from failure to success.

[campn]

I've posted here before asking and crying out for help, and now I'm happy to say, BF is going good! After 6 long hard weeks!

My son was born tiny at 40 weeks, 5 lbs 4 oz, at the hospital I got zero support from the nurses and we left the hospital with latching problems. By day 3 he has lost 12% of his birth weight, my milk wasn't there yet and I had to give him formula. I pumped with a manual pump til I got all my colostrum out and until my milk came in. I fed him that and the formula, his weight gain begun to pick up but he still didn't want to latch, he preferred the bottle at this point, I saw a LC 4 times at the hospital and she tried helping so much but every time I try to get him on the boob he'd scream and cry and I'd cry and give him a bottle of expressed milk.

I pumped every 2 hours around the clock... my inlaws were pressuring me to feed him themselves which broke my heart cause I'm the mommy, I've the breasts and the milk... my MIL shouldn't be feeding him!

My dad went into the hospital for 3 weeks due to liver failure... I had to be with him almost everyday, giving my son even more bottles, I was pumping in my dad's hospital bathroom... I got thrush from my bleeding nipples and my nipples would burn so bad it'd make me cry.

Every time I pumped I cried, I hated being stuck to a pump and putting my son down to cry... the pump was beginning to talk to me I thought!

I got pneumonia and double ear infections and I still persisted with trying to get him to latch and pumping. I'd wake up at 4 am with a fever and pump and feed him...

I tried every advice I got... I went to leche league meetings. I tried SNS, tried nursing in the tub...

People kept telling me to just give him formula, I thought about it and bought a box but couldn't bring myself to give it to him. I wanted to BF so bad it was causing me tears and stress. I tried nipple shields and failed badly.

I decided to bring a LC home, she was my last resort, I was planning to give up after that. She came and showed me right on my bed the right posture... tried to get him to latch and he screamed for 30 minutes! Only latched with a nipple shield (a different size than the ones I've been trying)

The next feeding I tried to get him to latch and he kept fighting me... I dropped milk from a bottle into his mouth and he latched!
I tried latching him on without the shield whenever I could and he did it!!

He's been latching on for almost a week now, no bottles at all!

I couldn't be happier about it!! I did it!! Took so many tears, patience and prayers but it happened.

If you have any problem BF, keep going on, keep trying, don't ever give up, those who persist succeed!!

 

[shinona]

What a struggle you have had but what a determined lady you are. I'm glad you've made it to this point and I hope you can now enjoy bf-ing properly.
Well done!
Xx

 

[greenpear]

Wow! I struggled a lot too, but not nearly as much as you did. Great job hun!

 

[pachamama]

Wow! What an inspirational story! Good for you and your lovely baby.

x

 

[kerrie24]

Wow what an amazing mummy to get through all that and still be bf at the end!Well done for your determination!

 

[Reno]

What a great success story! Your LO will thank you for your efforts when they are older and thriving from all of your hard work!

 

[Darcydoodle]

What a lovely outcome. Such a determind wonderful lady! Well done!

 

[charlie15]

well done you!! lots of gritty determination in that tale, i just hope if i have any of those problems i can take some inspiration from you!

 

[kissesandhugs]

Good job momma!

 

[Miss Broody]

Well done!!

I am pumping and trying to.get Lo to take the breast currently, its very stressful! Only day15 too. How long did it take you to get patching going? X

 

[Babbs34543]

amazing story!! I am having some problems right now and this is super motivating to hear!! Thank you!!

 

[Bevziibubble]

Yay! Well done! Great job

 

[campn]

We are STILL successfully breastfeeding at 6 and half months!! We do it most of the time, 6 or 7 times! It is SO easy now and so natural! I feel our bond is so strong because of this! I'm so thankful and so blessed and so glad I persisted with it!

 

[Sproglet]

Fabulous! I can't believe I missed this post the first time round, I was trying desperately to get Robyn to latch at the time and was feeling such a failure. She did eventually latch on too.

 

[campn]

That's awesome mama! I want as many women as possible to read this so that they'd keep trying! Now if I'm sitting up and my son is sitting in front of me he WILL try to latch!

 

[Janers]

Well done!! Its so rewarding to try so hard and succeed! My LO didn't drop bottles till she was almost 10 weeks old! I was pumping for her and bottle feeding, i cried everytime she took a bottle, I so desperately wanted to breastfeed.

Your story is wonderful! Very inspirational!

 

[campn]

I wanted to post about my experience dealing with biopsy during breastfeeding cause I found SO few information about it online and even doctors didn't have all the answers.

I've had a breast lump since I was 16. My doctor told me it was normal right before every cycle to swell and cause soreness and it was benign. I got pregnant at 24 and it got bigger. After I had my son my doctor asked me to wean my son at 2 months old so I could do the biopsy. I didn't want to wean him, so I researched online and read horror stories about biopsies during lactation. The risk of milk fistula (milk leaking from the needle incision of the biopsy) and that it'd never heal until I weaned. Abscess forming and getting infected and it scared me so much I didn't know what to do. Everyone kept telling do not wait, get it checked out! I went to a better doctor who told me I don't have to wean my son.

I had the biopsy and it was very scary, I was shivering, but didn't hurt TOO much. I was expecting to leak milk and that'd get infected but NONE of it happened. I kept pressure on the incision with gauze and medical tape while I nursed and I didn't leak at all, I changed the gauze a lot so I'd avoid infection and I kept it very clean.

After a week of me being a nervous wreck, I don't have cancer! It was fibrocystic changes that changed after pregnancy. It will never turn to cancer, no treatment needed or removal. I will have another ultrasound in 6 months to see if it changes after I wean my son.

My breastfeeding story is so full of bumps but I'm very thankful I was able to breastfeed for this long! My son will be 9 months on June first and I have no plans of weaning him any time soon!

I hope this helps anyone that is going through what I went through, just trust your instinct and even if you had to wean, don't feel bad, your health is more important than breast milk. The most important need of a baby is his mother, not the breastmilk.

Thank you everyone!

 

[rose.]

Wow I thought we had a hard time!! Well done you, that's certainly persistence!!

 

[Lady H]

Thanks for sharing. I'm tied to the pump and LO screams until she gets it in a bottle. Im trying Biological Nurturing and it's good to see you can have success after the first few weeks. You've inspired me o keep going!

 

[Aimee4311]

Congratulations! I'm glad y'all are still going strong after all the obstacles!