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Celebrate World Breastfeeding Week: YOUR Breastfeeding Victories

Happy World Breastfeeding Week 2013!

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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 any mama who has breastfed her little one(s)!  Our photo contest winner will be leading off our post…..

PHOTO CONTEST WINNER: Beth

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This is my second son, Whitten, who is now 4 months old and this is my first time breastfeeding. I guess when his brother, Hayden, who is now 5, was younger, I was a lot younger too and didn’t see the importance of breastfeeding. To, my then 21 year old self, breastfeeding seemed weird and quite frankly I was more worried about what my breast would look like than my babies source of nourishment. However, now I don’t see how I will ever stop this daily routine of precious bonding time that I get from breastfeeding. 

Though I am only 4 months into it, I have overcome some major obstacles that would have caused a lot of inexperienced women like myself, to give up. Everything from clogged ducts, a bad latch, heavy letdown, and “beast fever,” have came our way but looking into my little ones eyes as he nurses has got me through it! I don’t know when we will wean but I am not looking forward to the day.

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Anjanette

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I have exclusively breastfed my three children and overcome new parent cluelessness, engorgement, mastitis, and a poor latch. The most difficult challenge by far has been nursing through a terrible case of thrush. This third time around the thrush hit my just a few days after my son’s birth and it lasted a full six weeks. For the first time, I contemplated giving up on breastfeeding. It was truly terrible. This photo is of my son just a week or so old, sucking on my finger for comfort because my breasts were just too sore to offer him. I am so thankful that with lots of support, a diet change, and strong probiotics, we banished our yeast problems and we are still nursing a year later.

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Justyn

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I had been sure that breastfeeding my second baby would be so much easier than my first. Not true. Although my first baby had a very rough beginning, my second little one was in a whole different category! From the beginning, it was excruciating. After a couple of days, I was bruised, bleeding and just thinking about breastfeeding made me cry. I knew that she needed to “flare” her upper lip, rather than tucking it under, but I just couldn’t get her to do it.

I called several lactation consultants, my midwife and the doctor. After no help from anybody, I finally talked with a lactation consultant who knew what was happening. She said she was sure that my baby girl had either an upper lip-tie, a tongue-tie or both. She told me to go to a dentist nearby who specialized in clipping the ties and then see a different lactation consultant who specialized in helping babies and mamas relearn breastfeeding after having ties clipped. Sure enough, my baby had a full upper lip-tie and a partial tongue-tie. The dentist clipped them both (which was heartbreaking to watch) and gave us care instructions to make sure the ties didn’t grow back. 

Next, we saw the lactation consultant who was so encouraging and helpful! After nursing with a tongue and lip-tie for her first week and a half, it took many weeks for my baby to learn to nurse better and it was months before she nursed well. Some babies have an instant improvement, but some are like my little one who needed a lot longer to get the hang of it. My milk supply suffered, but we eventually got to a point of an easy and painless nursing relationship. I am so thankful that I had such supportive family and knowledgeable professionals to get us through.

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Jackie

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This is my realistic breastfeeding picture. Yes, my son is drinking breastmilk but, no, it’s not from my breasts. When he was 2 months old, I very tragically lost my sister who was my best friend. The grief, trauma, and stress from her death took every bit of breastmilk from me and I was left with nothing. When he couldn’t stomach any formula and I was at a loss of what to do, a “village” of mommies came to my rescue. My son was on donated milk for more than 12 months (this is roughly 12,000 ounces of milk)!  I used to wonder if miracles still happen, now I know they do.

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Megan

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This sweet girl, Kaylee, is a precious gift from God. After the birth of our son It was discovered that I had a large cyst which lead to the removal of one of my ovaries. After that I was diagnosed with some pretty serious and concerning precancerous cells in my uterus which were removed via a LEEP procedure. My husband and I had to endure all this and knew it meant postponing our desires to have another child and could potentially mean we could not conceive or that i may have trouble carrying to full term. Finally after a long wait I finally  got a clean bill of health and we conceived Kaylee. God blessed me with a healthy full term pregnancy and Kaylee was born 6/28/13, 3.5 years after her big brother. I have struggled with her shallow latch Since birth but continue to breastfeeding through the pain and tears. I am guiding Kaylee at each feeding to a better latch and we will overcome. I thank The Lord every day for our two miracles. In this picture Kaylee is breastfeeding and it melts my heart. I am so grateful to be able to provide her with breastmilk no matter what it takes. And I just love the positioning of her hands. <3

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Hillary

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My son was delivered via c-section in late February of 2013. A short time later, while in recovery, I had a hemorrhage and had to have an emergency surgery. My husband and I thought that two major surgeries within hours of each other was all we’d have to overcome but we were wrong. On the day I was to be discharged, as we were getting ready to bring our sweet baby home, they discovered he has pneumonia and was brought immediately to the NICU. While in the hospital our little spit fire wouldn’t latch despite multiple attempts daily and the assistance of nurses and lactation consultants. I thought I would never breastfeed and I would have to settle with pumping. Well, I kept try and in early April I FINALLY got my baby to latch using a nipple shield. I was ecstatic! Then at a routine appointment, our pediatrician wasn’t 100% happy about our boys weight gain. So, I set out on a mission to discontinue the use of the nipple shield. After many attempts and breastfeeding support groups later, finally, finally, finally, my sweet baby latched with no shield, just us…and it was amazing! We are now on month 3 of exclusively breastfeeding and I couldn’t be happier. I am proud and amazed every day at the journey we have been thru to be where we are today!

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Sarah

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The best feeling in the world is cuddling up in the morning or anytime with my little Jackson. At 4 months old he is a healthy weight and growing big and strong. At first he had a little trouble latching on to the right side but with patients and persistence he figured it out. It gives one a sense of happiness know they  are able to do everything They can in order to give there  little one the best start in life.

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Tara

From the moment I found out I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to breastfeed. I knew it was the best start for my baby and I wanted to make sure she had it. After 36 hours of labor, Kristina finally was born via C-Section. I had wanted to try breastfeeding right after birth, but was unable too since I was in recovery.  As soon as I was able to sit up we tried breastfeeding. I struggled to get her to latch. We kept trying, she eventually got it. I asked to see the lactation consultant but she wasn’t available until the next day.  Later that night, after a few more times of struggling to get her latched on properly, a nurse came in and told me if she didn’t breastfeed for more then a few minutes the next time she was going to give Kristina a bottle. I told the nurse that she would not under any circumstances and that next time she woke up I was going to try feeding her again. I really wanted to try getting Krissy to latch, but the way things had been going, I was doubtful and I was afraid I would have to use a bottle. The nurses were less then encouraging.  Thankfully, Krissy latched on right away and she finally got her belly full. Unfortunately, we were back to square one in the morning. The lactation consultant told us to keep practicing, so practice we did.  Things didn’t get much better at home. Three days later I was so sore and miserable that I didn’t even want to hold Krissy for fear I would have to try to feed her. I was so full I had to pump a few ounces before I could even try getting her to latch. Even then it was only a slight chance she would latch. My husband would give her the pumped milk while I pumped some more.  Soon, I was pumping full time. Not being able to breastfeed had sent me into postpartum depression and I felt like a failure. I kept in contact with the lactation consultant and she encouraged me to keep pumping because Krissy was still able to get breast milk. Knowing it was okay for me to pump and I could still bond with Krissy through holding her, cuddling her, talking to her and reading to her made me feel much better, though I still had PPD.  I pumped exclusively for 3 or 4 months, even through returning to work. Then I needed to begin taking medication I needed for the pituitary tumor I have as it grown. But by that time, I had pumped and froze so much extra milk that Krissy had enough for another 6 weeks before we had to start on formula.  When I found myself pregnant again I worried that I wouldn’t be able to breastfeed again, but Amelia caught on immediately and I breastfed her for 15 months.

Thank you, Mamas, for sharing your stories!  What’s YOUR breastfeeding victory?


Leah blogs at Crunchy Farm Baby, where she shares her family’s journey of living, growing, playing, and eating as green as possible. She lives with her husband and toddler son on a small farm in Southern PA, and enjoys designing fun, crafty items and reading in her free time. You can also follow Leah on facebook and twitter.

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