Recently, I was approached about how feeding my 3.5 week old daughter was going. My answer: tears. 

The crazy truth about breastfeeding is that it’s the best and most challenging part of the newborn phase. It is such a gift to be able to feed your baby milk designed specifically for them by your body. But it isn’t always as natural as you think it is going to be. I have a 2.5 year old and I thought that all the nursing challenges she posed would prepare me for anything the second baby threw at me. Lies!  I start by sharing my journeys below, then by compiling a list of my breastfeeding must-haves that helped me get through a challenging time.

Breastfeeding Adventures with Baby #1

With our first daughter, we had to supplement with formula right away in the hospital because she simply would not latch. At the time, the lactation consultants (LC) in the hospital were so busy (she was born the same day as 9 other babies!). We were doing what we could to FEED THE BABY*. The dear nurses were trying to help us problem solve. But, this first time mom with all the hormones and stress of my baby not eating were not helping. Anyone else relate? The last day we were in the hospital, the lactation nurse was finally able to see us and discovered our little one had a really small palate which was causing her issues trying to latch. 

**I highly recommend seeing a professional if you are having issues. 

To problem solve, we would work on latching her (which was always incredibly frustrating for both of us) and unsuccessful. But luckily, she was gaining weight and had the energy to try. Then, after the teary episode of getting her to try to latch, I pumped (and pumped and pumped) to get a good milk supply and keep it up. I pumped for 20 minutes every few hours and took Fenugreek by Motherlove. 

**Baby’s saliva on your skin naturally helps keep your production up. So, if you have to exclusively pump, I would recommend looking at the Motherlove supplements. These can replace what the saliva is meant to do. They make a ton of options for your specific needs. 

And last, we would use a SYRINGE to feed her my breast milk while also sticking a clean finger to the roof of her mouth. This accomplished two things:

1.  A wide finger helped flatten out her palate to make latching in the future easier.
2. The natural feeling of skin would help her eventually latch to me as opposed to using a bottle. And it helps avoid getting her used to getting her milk from silicone.

After about 4 weeks of this three-step-feeding (latch, pump, syringe feed), we were able to get her to latch using a nipple shield. Followed by four more weeks of using a nipple shield. At 8 weeks old, my baby latched to me and nursed for the first time in her life (insert fireworks emoji)! We nursed like a dream until she was 14 months old and then naturally weaned her off.

Breastfeeding Journey with Baby #2

With baby girl numero dos, it was a completely different story. This little nugget came out of the womb sucking. Incredible! Immediate euphoria. She is a dreamboat baby and is so mild tempered. Sadly, she was a little too mild and sleepy right away… so she would latch, but not suck. Same story with a bottle. Latch, not suck (she was definitely not a fan of bottles initially). She kept losing weight instead of gaining.

Two weeks old is kind of the magic deadline doctors would like to see your little one back up to birth weight. And at two weeks, she was still half a pound below her birth weight. We needed to do something. Thus, I exclusively pumped for a week and we trial and error-ed with different bottles. We found one she liked, and she started becoming more energetic thanks to getting a larger volume of breast milk. Once she was over her birth weight (at 3 weeks), we were able to start to try to latch her to me again! I was so excited. However, my supply was too large and too fast for my little bambino to handle! This was due to exclusively pumping so often during the day and night and the combination of taking Motherlove supplements,

I realize this is a problem some mamas would love to have! But it is pretty frustrating to have the supply (and rock hard boobs) and have your sweet, precious tot not be able to relieve the sensation because they are literally choking every single swallow! Poor angel. To problem solve, we went to the nipple shield and used gravity in our favor.

The nipple shield makes it easy for her to keep her latch. I lay down and she lays on top of me so she can control the amount she takes. Now, I only pump for comfort. I hope that soon she will regulate the amount I make to cater to her needs. Then, I will be able to control the flow once she is stronger and it’s not gushing like the Mississippi during a downpour. This is where we are now. I know with patience and motivation this baby will latch soon and we will take off nursing like her big sis. (Hey, I have to keep the faith!) 

Luckily, with both girls, I have had an amazing and encouraging support team keeping me motivated and wanting to keep trying no matter the cost. Not everyone has the support, time, or right phase in life to do this, I realize…so again, FEED THE BABY.  

*FEED THE BABY is my mantra, ladies and gents. No matter what I had to use, formula, breast milk, goats milk, vanilla bean milk gathered from the original vanilla beans in Madagascar (I joke)…the most important thing to remember is simply that your baby needs to be fed. You are doing the best you can to ensure that. Don’t be hard on yourself. Do not be stressed if you have to supplement with formula. Don’t be stressed if you have to use formula exclusively! Do not be stressed if your baby never, ever latches and you have to pump all the time. Don’t think your baby won’t grow into a crazy toddler. THEY WILL 🙂 

DID YOU KNOW? Formula was designed by a man who’s wife had a low supply? They watched their babies suffer from hunger and did something about it? Perspective! 

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My Breastfeeding Must Haves

Some of the products I relied on 100% to keep my supply up and eventually nurse my daughters were:

I hope this article will help you test out some product that will help and encourage you to keep trying if breastfeeding is your end goal. Your baby is built to survive, and you were built to be their mama! Keep the mama love going, ladies. We all need it!!

WANT MORE?

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THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BY A GUEST BLOGGER AND EDITED BY RACHEL RISING.

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: P.S. This was a very personal account of my story as a nursing mom, and I realize it is not perfect and I probably didn’t do everything the way others would have. Go easy on me 🙂 All opinions are my own. I would LOVE to hear your stories and the way you made it out alive, too!