Breastfeeding Memoirs

Breastfeeding Memoirs: Third Time's a Charm

In honor of World Breastfeeding Week 2015, we are sharing inspirational stories from breastfeeding/working moms.  

Today’s story was written by Lilly Penhall.

_____

Being a freelance contractor has its benefits to a work-at-home mom, that’s for sure. Flexible schedule, control over your workflow, and a certain sense of freedom comes with working for your own business instead of someone else’s. However, when it comes to maternity leave, freelancers don’t have the advantage of six weeks of paid leave that some employers offer. I returned to work two weeks after the birth of my daughter, who is now 18 months old, and started working only ten days after my son was born in June. To complicate matters, I was determined to breastfeed my babies.

,

Breastfeeding... It has to get easier, right???

,
Breastfeeding... It has to get easier, right???

When I started working with Galit 10 1/2 months ago, I knew immediately that she would be one of the most dedicated, hard-working, and comedic mothers I would ever encounter.  Her breastfeeding journey has been wrought with painful nipples, engorged breasts, and twins who had difficulties transferring milk.  It has also been blessed with sweet moments of tandem nursing, gaining an abundance of milk, and confidence to overcome any challenge that lay in her path.  Happy 1st birthday to your adorable boys, Galit, and happy 1st nursiversary to you!  You continually inspire me!  

Here is Galit’s story, in her own words!

_____

I had twins at 37 weeks 3 days who were 5.5 and almost 6 lbs (FRIGGING AMAZING) after preterm labor at 23 weeks and 4 months of bed rest!  I wanted nothing more than to provide for them and ensure their health. Breastfeeding started out pretty rough.  My colostrum was hard to obtain and milk took forever to come in.  We were told to supplement with formula to keep them out of the NICU (they lost weight after birth, as all babies do), so we obliged. We went home with two healthy boys after 4 days and they were with me the entire time!

Breastfeeding My Type 1 Diabetic Daughter

Almost 2 years ago, a dear friend of mine found out that her 19 month old daughter had type 1 diabetes and was fighting for her life.  Here's Theresa's triumphant story of how she was able to preserve her breastfeeding relationship while healing her daughter.  

_____

About a month ago a friend alerted me to a Facebook post that brought a wave of memories flooding over me from a day that changed my life forever as a parent.  A day that I will never forget, even though I wish I could.  It was literally the worst day of my life, but one that I will always be grateful for because it was the day my daughter’s life was saved.  

My Village of Breastfeeding Support

My Village of Breastfeeding Support

 Over the next few weeks we will be sharing stories of triumphant breastfeeding mamas and their biggest supporters who helped them reach their personal breastfeeding goals.  If you would like to share your breastfeeding story and thank your biggest breastfeeding cheerleaders, check out the details in our recent blog article.

_____

Here is Stephanie's story.

It has truly taken a village to help me be successful in nursing both of my babies!  I knew I wanted to breastfeed, but, after the birth of my first son, my passion and commitment to it were a surprise to even me.  I was also caught extremely off-guard by the difficulties both of my boys encountered as we began our breastfeeding journeys together.  Tongue ties, lip ties, low weight gain, low supply, poor latch, pain/cracking/bleeding, overactive letdown, and more were all hurdles we had to cross.  There is absolutely NO way I could have made it to 13 months formula-free with my first son and still going strong and formula-free at 6 months with my second without these amazing people.

Breastfeeding in the Operating Room

Over the next few weeks we will be sharing stories of triumphant breastfeeding mamas and their biggest supporters who helped them reach their personal breastfeeding goals. 

_____

This story is from Dawn.

I have to thank my hospital TEAM for my breastfeeding success! 

When I gave birth to my son 5+ years ago, it wasn’t what any first time mom would like to experience. I was having problems with maintaining my blood pressure and when my little boys’ heart rate dropped too low, I was rushed into an emergency c-section. It was an extremely frightening process that didn’t even enter my mind as a possibility. The months that followed were hard. We struggled at finding a proper latch and feeding became such a difficult task, I dreaded it.

It never occurred to me that our difficulties at latching could have been because of the birth experience .

Breastfeeding with Hypoplasia

Today, on the San Diego Breastfeeding Center blog, I'm honored to share Fakiha Khan's memoir about her battle with Insufficient Glandular Tissue.  If you would like to submit your story as well, please email me at robinkaplan@sdbfc.com.  Thank you so much, Fakiha, for sharing your story with us!  It's stories like yours that make me want to be the best mom I can be! 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When my son was born 2 and 1/2 years ago, I wanted nothing more than to be able to breastfeed him.  He was in the NICU for a week after he was born, and I really did not get to nurse him until he was a week old.  By that point, he had trouble latching on, and my milk just was not coming in.  For the next five weeks, I did what I could.  I tried to nurse him every hour and a half, I pumped, I took herbs, and I finally went to see a lactation consultant.