My breast feeding story

Before I got pregnant I would totally make fun of my mom when ever she would say "breast feeding is the most beautiful natural thing." I was so clueless never having had a child before. Oh my how I was wrong. She was right. It is so hard but so worth it. When I was pregnant I knew I wanted to breast feed. Once Charles was born via c-section I got so see him after about and hour or so.

 That was really unfortunate but that's just the way it is. I started attempted to breast feed him on my left side he latched on and went to town. He did so good on the left side. The right side which is  my larger breast was not easy. I felt like I was going to smother him. My amazing nursing staff at the hospital said not to worry about that he know how to breath. Well I was not comfortable feeding him with the right he was so tiny and he just couldn't get a good latch on the right nipple. So until we got home 4 days later he didn't get milk from the right side. I got my milk 2 days after he was born. I took a little longer then I hoped because of the c-section but it did come in.

 Your breast will feel engorged and look like you just had a boob job. Snap a pic of them so if you ever want to have them done you can be like look doc like this! When we got home that monday I started to use my breast pump. I had a lot of milk on my right side I put it in a bottle and he drank it. Pumping was great but so hard. I would need to wake up at crazy hours in the middle of the night and hope that the baby wouldn't wake up until I had enough milk to give him. I would pump for about 15 minutes on each side. During pumping I would  down a bottle or two of water. Tip keep a lot of water by your pumping station that way you have it right there and ready to go. I would also keep protein bars and pretzels to munch on while you pump. After pumping at home and in the car and at my parents housed every where you go Charles decided that he no longer wanted to drink from bottles. He was about 2 months old at the time. We switched exclusively to breast. The down side is that daddy couldn't feed anymore.

Daddy & Charles

 This is when the his weight started becoming a real issue since I couldn't see the amount of milk he was drinking. I actually did everything I could to produce more milk I drank Earth Mama Angel Baby Organic Tea and that helped with my milk production for a while. But then Charles wanted to start eating more and more and I just couldn't produce more. It was a combination of improper nutrition and stress. I went to the my amazing OB and he gave me a prescription for reglan. It made all the difference in our breastfeeding story.  I would feed him on both sides till he didn't want to drink anymore. Charles started seeing a gastroenterologist around 6 months. He was not gaining weight he was eating solids by this time and still drinking bobbie milk.

I am sure he got some food in his mouth

 He had fallen under the 10 percentile.  Also he is really tall, Davis family is really tall and lean. They just had us monitor him. His doctors were concerned  about it we had a ton of blood work done. It totally sucks. I felt like a failure and a awful mom. The told my to start using formula. I didn't want to but if this is what he needed I was going to do it. Charles hated it. I cried so much when I gave him the formula even before feeding it to him. It was really tough. He wouldn't drink it I would sit with him with and a straw feeding him drop by drop 2 ounces took half and hour. It didn't work for to long he just cried and cried until he got the boobie milk. We even have a song for it. "Boobie milk, boobie milk, you are the baby and you drink boobie milk." He loves it. Once he got his teeth he started eating more and more. He can throw it back. Doesn't matter because is metabolism is crazy.

Charles with my 11 year old brother who is almost 5'5

 At this one year mark he was 29 inches and only weighted 15.2 lbs. That put him in the .01% tile. I don't know how I managed to keep it together when I saw the stats. I felt terrible. But on the other hand I knew we were doing everything we could do and he was getting all this vitamins and meeting his milestones two months ahead of time so they weren't so concerned. This is when he got put on pediasure. Now he has gained 2 lbs in a little over a month. We couldn't be happier. Next step is to get him to 20 lbs. In the end he is healthy and I am so glad that I was able to breast feed for over a year. I am still breast feeding him at nap time and bed time he drinks his pediasure through out the day. If you are struggling with breast feeding talk to your doctors, family and supportive friends. Stick with it and do it if it feels right to you. Good luck and please share your stories I would love to hear them.

My little prince baby. I love you so.

Long and Lean

Best times when he would sleep on my chest.