I'm happy to share Becky's story today. She overcame lots of obstacles to make breastfeeding work, including one of the toughest - breast refusal. If you have a story to share, please email me.
My story is probably more common than I know.
I had my first baby with a few complications, in spite of the fact that I was 36 and high risk. The doctor had to use forceps, which I was against, but we were at a dire moment. The baby would not breastfeed after that. I am sure that her little head was very sore.
The pediatrician said not to worry, that she was a big baby, and that everything would be fine. Not the same story the next day when she still wouldn't latch. I had the lactation consultant come up the second day and she gave me a lesson without the baby. When the baby got there and she kept pushing her head onto me to get her to breastfeed. Needless to say, she wanted none of this.
I was released on a Wednesday. By Saturday I was back at the hospital buying a session from the lactation consultant. We went home, and I cried when she wouldn't eat. I held out for a day and gave her formula, just to get some food in her. I called La Leche League. A woman came to my house within half an hour. I was frantic. She tried to help, but I did not see results. I would try to nurse, give a bottle, then go pump. It was a 3 hour process.
My aunt, who works in a hospital in the next city over recommended her lactation consultant. I went after two weeks. The baby was accepting the formula, which I hated. The new lactation consultant gave me nipple shields that fit, and a finger feeder. She was the one who kept me going. She gave me some positive feedback and made me feel like I had done the right thing by sticking with breastfeeding. The next week I went back and had a yeast infection on my nipples. For any of you who haven't experienced this, it's like glass slicing you when the baby nurses. I also later found out that they make pump shields in different sizes. I had the smallest size and need the x-large. I later struggled to get my baby off of the nipple shield. In the middle of December, the thing fell off, she didn't miss a beat and kept right on going. Soon after, we never used those again.
I had the baby in August and went back to work in November. I am a teacher and the first thing I did when I got back was to ask my administrator if I could pump twice a day and once on my lunch break. He said it was fine if I arranged it. So, I went about finding someone to cover my class for 10-15 minutes in the morning and again in the afternoon. Apparently, people didn't like this, and there was some talking behind my back - all of them women. One mother/teacher called me to her room and told me that she hadn't been allowed time to pump when when she was nursing, and that I shouldn't be allowed to either. She then yelled at me in front of students that she was going to go to my supervisor and report me. This was to my back as I walked out of the room and went straight to our principal.
I told him that I had been verbally attacked, and he asked if I could cut back on the pumping. He didn't want to rock the boat with his staff. Needless to say, I called the teacher's union. They returned my call and said that from the superintendent's office the word was to acomodate me in any way they could. The union rep also said that the teacher who had confronted me should be told to mind her own business. I later found out that this woman did not want to breastfeed and gave up. After all that I went through to be able to breastfeed, I was not going to give it up.
My daughter is now 19 months old and I'm so glad I stuck with it. She still nurses 3 times a day. I am proud to be a breastfeeding advocate and always will be!
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