Crystal's Story

As promised, I bring to you, my long-time mama friend Crystal from Discovering Me In Them to share her own breastfeeding story. Enjoy!

My Breastfeeding Journey

Nursing 7 day old Wes

Just as knowing that I wanted children, I knew that once I had children I wanted to breastfeed. It was a decision I found easy to make. This was something important to me. It felt natural to me. After the birth of my first born I immediately tried nursing him. I was fortunate, the little man took to nursing right away. Problem was that I had an emergency c-section which was inhibiting my milk to come in. When you have a c section it takes longer for your milk to come through. For me that meant 8 days. I was hospitalized for 5 days after my c section and my son was losing weight. I had not intended to use formula at all. Yet my baby needed to eat and I wasn’t making his food.

It was decided that instead of just giving him a bottle we would catheter feed him to not cause “nipple confusion” (you don’t want the baby getting use to a bottle or pacifier too early when trying to breastfeed exclusively). This meant I pumped like a rockstar for every drip and dribble of milk then mixed it with formula. I then had it in a syringe attached to a butterfly catheter and put it next to my nipple. When I would offer baby my breast he would suck and I would then feed him the contents in the syringe. This allowing him to nurse, get food, and help my supply to come in. It was a pain in the ass! I did this for 8 days. Then finally, voila! My boobies were full of milk. I was able to stop the catheter feedings and I nursed my boy for 18 months!

I was passionate about nursing. The beginning was hard, emotionally more than anything. I believe that having the emergency c section made me even more driven to make breast feeding my baby a must. I was not going to give up. I needed to do this for him! For me! For us!

I love, love, love nursing. I love the closeness, intimacy, bond, and extra snuggle time that I have been able to share with my children.

I also know I am fortunate. I know that not every woman’s journey with nursing is easy and that some are simply not able to. For this I am beyond thankful for two boys who are awesome at nursing. It definitely takes the child and the mother to make it work.

I am now nursing my 10 month old. He, like his brother, is a pro. I know I will never regret being able to do this. One thing is for certain, I know I will miss the day I get to hold my child, nurse them and look into their eyes. There is something magical that happens in these moments.