Happy World Breastfeeding Week 2013!
Happy World Breastfeeding Week 2013!This week, we will be celebrating by sharing real-life breastfeeding victories that you, our readers, shared with us! We were so thrilled to see all of the wonderful photos and heartwarming stories, and we cannot wait for you to read them all. Each day this week, we will be celebrating a different “category” all in the theme of “Breastfeeding Victories.” Any of you that have breastfed know that it is never a smooth-sailing ship, so each and every story is worth a celebration!
Today, we celebrate victory stories for mamas who have exclusively pumped or are working mamas! Our photo contest winner will be leading off our post…..
PHOTO CONTEST WINNER: Patrisha
When the time came for me to have to go back to work, I was concerned about the whole pumping thing. Some of the girls gave me tips on what helped them when they had to pump at work. Relax & look at pictures of my little one 🙂 It’s a lot easier said then done. Pumping is so unnatural and is not something I enjoy at all, but I had to for Ari. Besides if I didn’t my girls would probably pop. Lol. Being that I work at a Veterinary hospital finding a nice, clean, quiet place was going to be tough. But my bosses are pretty awesome and allow me to use there office. I put a little sign on the door just in case someone would need to come in, it has a cow on it 😛 cows make milk, you get it from there. Lol. I can sit in there and pump until I’m done with no rush at all. They know how important it is for me to do this. Plus I LOVE sitting there looking at old and new photos of her! Looking at how my breast milk has made each and every little roll on her body, her chubby little cheeks and how shes more then doubled in size since birth! As long as my breast keep producing milk I will breastfeed at home and pump at work. The photo attached is of my daughter a couple weeks after birth, I just nursed her and she was sleeping on my chest. I managed to get this picture of her and its one of my favorites!
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Anna
I gave birth to triplets (BGB) on October 7, 2012 at 32 weeks and 3 days. The babies spent the next three weeks in the NICU. I wanted to provide breast milk for the babies so I immediately started pumping. I pumped for 4 days every 2 hours for 30 minutes without producing any milk. On Day 5 my milk started coming in and by Day 12 I had built a supply. The NICU I was in supported breast feeding but I wasn’t often allowed to try nursing them. When I brought the babies home I continued having difficulties getting them to latch as they had great difficulty sucking. I am a first time mom so I didn’t have any skills on how to get them to latch. Eventually as time passed they got proficient at sucking but by then were so use to the bottle that they refused to latch. I still had a goal of providing breast milk so I have been pumping for 9 months now. The babies are on 100% breast milk and have never had to be supplemented yet even though it is getting increasingly difficult to keep up with them. This is a picture in the beginning of all the milk I had pumped in a day and the bottles I made with it.
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Ashley
This is my second child, she was born asleep after a 2 hour delivery and labor with her arms spread wide reaching for mama. This daughter is an excellent communicator. She has told us that she prefers mama’s breasts to bottles, making it very difficult for mama to work (part time marriage and family therapist). This has been a difficult transition as our two year old took bottles while I worked. This means that I can only go to work for 2 hours/2 clients at a time, daddy and big sis have a tough time soothing baby sis while mama is gone, but we know that this is worth everything for our baby’s emotional, spiritual, mental and physical health and sacrificing for her is worth it to all of us. Orianna needs mama’s touch, she needs mamas skin and heartbeat, she needs mama’s breath and voice while she eats because breastfeeding is so much more than just giving your baby milk, it fills their soul and their body. And my little baby won’t settle for anything less.
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Mandy
Before my son was born I knew I wanted to breastfeed but I didn’t know how much. My milk came in about a week after he was born and he has some jaundice so he had some formula his first week but once my milk came in, that was it. He was exclusively breastfed until we started him on solids when he was about 7 months old. He nursed still too until he was a little over 14 months old. He had some issues with teething and a growth spurt and ended up weaning himself from nursing but he still is getting breastmilk every day. I pump and give him expressed milk mixed with organic whole milk every day. And did I mention I work full time? So I pump 3-4 times a day and I make all of his food. He hasn’t had a single meal of processed, premade stuff-ever! He is the healthiest, happiest most wonderful baby and we adore him. I am now a HUGE supporter of breastfeeding and looking forward to doing it again in the future with other kids we may be blessed with.
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Thank you, Mamas, for sharing your stories! What’s YOUR exclusive pumping or working mama victory?
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