UPDATE: I've added a few things since I published this post last night (they are written in italics). I kept thinking of things I forgot to mention and being the perfectionist that I am, I couldn't leave them out!
Emily forgot to mention in her
last interview that she was all done nursing by then! I stopped breastfeeding her at about 10.5 months. I would have loved to make it to a year, but I'm still very happy that I made it this far.
Warning, this is another
long and
detailed post, mostly just written so that I can look back at my breastfeeding experience with Emily. It's been a roller-coaster journey -- many ups and downs -- but overall I feel proud of my achievements and hope that I did indeed give her the best start possible.
At the Hospital:
During the first few breastfeeding attempts at the hospital, Emily would latch on well but wouldn't suck, then she would let go and fuss. We tried many different positions, but nothing seemed to work. After 24 hours with no success, I started pumping and feeding her the breast milk (colostrum) through a syringe. Eventually though her weight went down so low that we had to start using an
SNS system and supplementing with formula. When we left the hospital I was still pumping after every feed and using SNS with the tube attached to my finger.
Weeks 1 - 2:
The day after we got home, we met with a lactation consultant. After watching me (attempt to) feed Emily, she suggested I use a
nipple shield. It worked miracles! Emily was able to nurse immediately using it. My lactation consultant explained that (
ahem) my nipples were probably too small, so they wouldn't trigger Emily's sucking reflex. Since our problem was solved, I was gradually able to stop pumping and the formula supplements. At this point, Emily nursed with the nipple shield for 20 minutes on each breast.
Like any new (a.k.a. worried, stressed, anal) mother, I started a spreadsheet detailing at what times Emily fed, how much time she spent at each breast, notes about the feed, as well as the frequency/sizes of her pees/poos. Amazingly I kept up the spreadsheet until Emily was 8 months old.
Anyways, it seemed like everything was going fine, but at her 2 week Dr's appointment, Emily's weight had not gone up at all in a week. We met with our lactation consultant again and she suggested I try
switch feeding and
breast compressions.
At this point I was SO ready to give up. Steve comforted me and told me to just keep going until the next weight check (a week away) and if things were still bad then, I could stop. Luckily she started gaining well and I kept nursing, forming a wonderful bond between me and Emily.
Months 1 - 4:
During the switch feeding stage, Emily nursed for about 5-10 minutes on the first side, then
5-10 minutes on the next side, then I would keep alternating sides (every 2-4 minutes) until she seemed satisfied. This means I switched her over an average of 6-8 times per feed, although some of the longest feeds had about 12 switches. It was exhausting and from looking at my spreadsheet, each feed lasted about an hour. She nursed every 2-3 hours, so needless to say I was spending most of my days on the couch, nursing.
Thankfully, I had this miracle nursing pillow (my "Breast Friend"), so Emily was well supported and my hands were free to do things like surf the web and eat.
After about a month, Emily was gaining weight well enough and my supply seemed good enough that I stopped switch feeding and nursed her for 20-30 minutes per side, plus more if she wanted more. It seemed crazy and long, especially since my friends' babies only nursed for 10-15 minutes
total, but I just went with Emily's cues. I assumed that my milk flow was slow and that she was a very slow/lazy eater.
Around Christmas time, when Emily was about 4 months old, things started to change. She was spending less time at the breast (only about 10-20 minutes per side), fussing/unlatching quite a bit, and being very distracted while nursing.
My milk supply was something that I constantly worried about during my entire breastfeeding experience. I never felt like I had enough milk for her and whenever she would fuss my gut reaction was "she must be hungry". She was having issues with her sleep as well (
probably the actual reason for her fussing), so all together this was a pretty stressful time.
Months 5 - 8:
We took Emily to the Dr. when she was 5 months old to have her weight checked. At 2 months she weighed 10 lbs, and at 5 months she was only 11 lbs 5oz. She was off the charts for her growth so her Dr. recommended we start supplementing with formula. I was determined to keep up with breastfeeding so we met with our lactation consultant once again
. She said my milk supply was low, so I started pumping for 20 minutes after every feed (in the hopes of increasing my supply) and topping Emily up with pumped milk and formula
(an extra 2oz per feed). We were also told to wake her up every 3-4 hours at night to feed her to get her weight back up.
Coincidentally, it was around this time that Emily stopped needing the nipple shield (I was thinking "I finally don't have to wash the shield after every feed!... But oh wait, now I have to wash pumping equipment". Blarg).
The plan was to keep this up until my supply was back up, then gradually decrease the pumping and top-ups and return to exclusive breastfeeding. Somehow that never happened and I pumped like this for 3 months straight. I honestly can't believe I did it for that long. I couldn't pump more than 1 - 2 oz each time, and I just felt like if I stopped pumping my supply would go back down.
Finally, before our
trip to Europe, I gradually stopped pumping. I was sure this meant the end of breastfeeding too, but amazingly my supply was at its best when we left. Then, of course, I got
very sick. Out of sheer determination I nursed while I was sick, but it pretty much went downhill from there.
Months 9 - 11:
After the Europe trip and my sickness, my milk supply was noticeably lower. I nursed Emily as much as she would take (5 min or less per side), then supplemented with formula throughout the day. She was especially fussy at the breast during the evenings, when my supply seemed the lowest, so eventually I started cutting out the evening feeds. The weaning process was very slow; I cut one feed out about once every week or two, until we were down to just one feed per day (in the morning). By that point, she lost interest and stopped nursing at 10.5 months.
I was surprisingly sad when it was all over. Having gone through so much effort to keep it up and loving the bond that we shared, I felt like I really wasn't ready to let it go. Oh well.
Nursing, 4 months old
Nursing and sleeping... Two things that go very well together
Next up on Memory Lane: Emily's First 5 Months
