Breast feeding success stories

[MantaRay]

I am constantly amazed at all the wonderful, inspirational women on bb who have bf their babies, often overcoming all sorts of hurdles in the process. Everyone here is a success story IMO, no matter how long you have fed for. And I love hearing all your stories.

Please share your bfing experience here. I am hoping that by sharing our own unique bfing journeys, we can inspire others who might be just starting out and having difficulties. Plus the stories are so heartwarming to read!! Even if your journey was a short one, you should be proud, and I hope you share with us.

[Beach Mama]

Oh MR - great idea! I have tears just reading your post and looking back to where Isabelle and came from, until today. So here goes me!

Isabelle fed beautifully (or seemed to) from day dot, even though my milk was slow in coming in we topped her up once at home before it came in. For a few weeks things seemed to be ok, feeding was a bit painful, but after a bit of time went on I realised it really shouldn't be so painful. One side in particular was agony and every feed was preceeded by tears from me, and literally toe-curling pain throughout. She fed from one side only each feed so every second feed was dreaded! I was seen by the MCHN who gave me a few suggestions for lifting up my booby with a towel, holding it and shaping the nipple into her mouth. A few weeks later, still in pain, so we saw a LC at the hospital who thought it might be thrush, so we treated that. A few weeks later another LC at the CH centre- still in pain, in the meantime we tried nipple shields and expressing which both didn't really help. My DH was gorgeous the whole time, saying, look if you want to stop that's ok, but you REALLY want this, so we perservered!

After 4 mths of playing around with attachment, positions etc we finally had pain-free feeds It was fabulous! I still don't know what the difference was, it may just have been that she was bigger and older and able to take in more nipple!

So from 4mths onwards we had lovely feeds, no pain, in lots of public places, including a packed tram, restaurants, parks, markets and shopping centres ( change rooms are smelly! it is much nicer to find a private cafe and enjoy a nice drink and chat at the same time!). I loved feeling that little head snuggled in to me and seeing her satisifed face after a feed. I now hold her in the same position when giving her a bottle and spend her whole feed kissing her forehead and stroking her hair.

Since becoming pregnant and working, we have now ended our breastfeeding journey but I have no regrets about any of it, I LOVED every minute of feeding my girl, even when I was crying through the feed and I can't wait to do it all over again in a few months time with our new precious baby!

[MantaRay]

DS1 -
Jack self-weaned at 14 months when I was pg with DS2. While I was devastated that our bfing experience ended so quickly, I am glad that he chose the time.

We had a rough start to bfing - he was born with a tongue-tie and was unable to attach at all. After long days of trying to feed a screaming, hungry baby, getting conflicting advice, expressing and giving him a bottle, washing bottle and expressing again, walking milk to the fridge, coming back and trying to feed screaming, hungry baby etc etc, they allowed me to stay in hossy for an extra night to try and get bfing working, and thankfully on that last night, night 5, he attached using nipple shields. That night I also felt like I'd been hit by a bus, and when Jack woke for a feed in the night I was shivering. My right bb was red but the midwife said it didn't look like mastisis. I was discharged and later that night ended up with a fever over 39. This was the first of two bouts of mastitis in the first 3 weeks.

When he was 2 weeks old, we finally discovered that the tongue-tie was the problem. A week later it was snipped and Jack immediately latched on. It took another 3 weeks to totally wean him from the nipple shields.

Following that, I went through weeks of pain, cracked nipples, crying during feeds often. Then that settled and we had the odd period of breast refusal and intermittently sore nipples again. The next hurdle was returning to work when Jack was 7 months - full time at first but after a month I reduced down to 4 days a week. With a lot of advice from the ABA (and their great booklets), I was able to continue bfing with Jack drinking only EBM and water until 12 months. At 11 months I fell pg and Jack started reducing his feeds one by one until self-weaning at 14 months.

DS2 -
This time it was a much easier start to bfing. Despite being nearly 4 weeks early, Tom was able to attach straight away. I didn't have the same problems with pain this time around either. Our major hurdles were an entire weekend of breast refusal, my return to work at 8 months and an occassional spell where DH thought that bfing was causing some of Tom's problems and that I should give up. But we got past all that and have now been bfing for 18 months. We are down to one feed a day now (except this week when he was sick and wanted an extra feed - and boy was DH glad that I'd continued bfing ), and I think he will self-wean soon. I am hoping to make it to 2yrs, but I will cope if he finishes earlier.

[morgan78]

DS - Was born 6 weeks early and spent 18 days in SCN. He spent just over a week in and out of lights for jaundice and most of that time i was not allowed to BF. As i was very naive about BF at that time we allowed them to give him formula when i was unable to express enough for the feed. Noone at the hospital showed me how to use a pump and i thought i was doing it right so didn't ask for any. When we got to take him home i hired an electric pump and tried to fully BF, of course my milk had not come in properly and as the hospital had him on 4hr feeds when discharged i was trying to stick with it. I ended up with lacerated nipples on both sides from incorrect pumping, he didn't attach properly which caused more damage and even with a LC visit things weren't improving. He had lost around .5kg by 6 weeks and we thought we made the right choice and switched to FF. I still feel guilty about it now but he is a very happy healthy 2yr old which is all anyone can really ask for.

DD - This time around i knew a little (and only a little) bit more about BF and I swore to BF for at least 12months. She was born 38 weeks at 2.8kgs (a little small but so am i) She attached beautifully within a couple of minutes of being born and i was left in peace by the hospital for nearly an hour, the entire time she was suckling and cuddling - was the most beautiful experience of my life and i will treasure it forever. I decided to discharge the same day and went home that arvo. Had midwifes visit every day for a week and everything was good. then at about 3 weeks old things deterioated (sp?) rapidly, she wasn't sleeping - i didn't know about sleep cycles, wasn't feeding properly as she was too tired, we were sharing the house with my mum & SF at the time and they would have the TV blaring until 11pm every night and did very little to help me out with Alex - i was actually asked to keep him quiet at times so they could watch TV and my darling girl was struggling to gain weight - GP told me she was failing to thrive and we gave it a couple more weeks and at 2 months she had only gained 900g. I felt terrible and felt pressured by DP, GP's & other family to FF. We did and she instantly picked up but i couldn't cope with the guilt & feelings of failure - 2 weeks into FF i inquired here on "FANTASTIC BB" whether i could relactate and yes it's possible so at 11 weeks we started - we still aren't fully BF as with absolutely no support i cant give her the few days we need to completely boost my supply, but we BF morning & night & BF off to naps and she is starting to sneak the odd one or two feeds in during the day. I am hoping that we will one day bin the bottles but if we dont i am at peace with things and am so thankful to all the lovely ladies here on BB for their support

[sushee]

DD: I had my first child at the day after I turned 20. I had no family here and no friends, and I didn't know much about children to be honest. While I was pregnant, I read everything I could get my hands on, and realised early on I wanted to breastfeed. When DD was born, I put her to my breast, and felt an incredible surge of love for her as she latched on. She was very adept, my little girl, and despite the pain of the wear and tear on my nipples, I persisted because it felt right. I bought cabbage leaves on the advice of the midwife who came to visit me at home, and when baby was asleep, I left her with her dad and went to sit in our car in the driveway with my boobs out, allowing them some fresh hair and soothing sunlight. Breastfeeding hurt a lot to start with, I didn't expect that, but not having anyone around to tell me what I should and shouldn't be doing made me think it was just something I had to bear, like childbirth, and I was sure it would get better. And it did. I BFed my daughter successfully for 9 months, and when she self-weaned onto a sippy cup, I cried for days.

DS1: DS1 was born 19 months after DD and I assumed BFing him come naturally too. He was born with a kidney defect so avoiding formula seemed vitally important to me. Again my breasts took a beating, but I kept persisting. He gained weight (apparently) very slowly though, and I was breastfeeding often, sometimes every hour, but my MCH was never happy with his weight. At 5 months, I introduced DS1 to solids (as was done in those days) and this was when my MCN suggested I move him onto formula. I agreed because I thought he was underweight (she made out like he was) and that since he was taking solids anyway, he might as well move to formula. She told me I'd done well to persist for as long as I did, but my milk was obviously not sustaining him. So I put him on formula and DS1 proceeded to gain weight and become chubby, just as she said he would. In hindsight, though, knowing what I know now, he was getting enough from me, he was just a BFed baby, and a BFed babies are not going to put on the kind of weight FFed babies do. I look at his baby charts now and he was consistently in the 25th percentile for his age - perfectly normal for a BFed baby!

DS2: After having experienced both FF and BF I was this time determined not to FF - it was such a hassle and so expensive too! The bottles and the formula and the fiddling around in the middle of the night to make up a bottle when I used to just whack bub on the boob - I swore with DS2 I was going to do whatever it took to BF.

Back when co-sleeping was not 'the done thing' I moved DS2 into our bed, and had him sleep between me and his dad. I BFed him on demand all through the night, and all through the day, and we quickly established a great BFing relationship. He BFed until he was 18 months old, when my mum and aunts came to visit, and basically were shocked I was still BFing. I was harassed into weaning, and unarmed against the onslaught, I caved and weaned my son cold-turkey, with my mum and aunt watching me like a hawk so I wouldn't relent. They believed my co-sleeping and BFing was 'lazy' and that I was spoiling my son by choosing those methods. I mourned the end of my breastfeeding relationship but believed I was being a bad parent at the time.

When DH and I started TTC in 2004, I'd found BB and realised that the things I used to do with my older kids were gentle, instinctive parenting methods, only I didn't know it. I found support for the way I had chosen to raise my children, a place where BFing was not looked at with disdain, and where my inclinations as a mother were encouraged, not derided. I'd found validation for my parenting style, and I knew that armed with information and support, I could BFed if I was lucky enough to fall pregnant again.

DS3-Charlie: when Charlie arrived, I felt confident in my ability to breastfeed. So I was very shocked when he didn't attach well and within short order, my nipples were cracked and bleeding. The pain was excruciating, and I started to realise how easy I'd had things with my three older kids. This time I was plagued by cracks and blisters on my nipples, and mastitis felt like my constant companion. I cried in agony every time Charlie attached, and had I not known how fulfilling a breastfeeding relationship could be, I might have given up. But each time I wondered if I could go on, I'd remember how it was between me and my older kids, and I just couldn't give it up. My DH begged me to move to a bottle, he would watch me crying in pain whenever our baby attached and could not understand why I would do that to myself. But I kept at it, my idea of how it could be kept me focussed, and despite 4 bouts of mastitis over the course of that first year, I exclusively BFed my beautiful, much awaited son, Charlie, for 6 months, and continued to BF him until he was 11.5 months. I weaned him at the advice of my fertility specialist when we were thinking of going back to IVF, but I regret that decision and have done pretty much since we made it.

But in the end, I BFed all my children, and in my eyes, that makes me a BFing success story. I actually consider Charlie's BFing journey my biggest success, because it was so much more difficult than the others, and I overcame so much to establish it. But it was very much worth it.

DS2's BFing journey was the easiest, and that was because I trusted my instincts, allowed it to all happen organically, and that was the best thing for us in the end. After BFing 4 children, for a total of 42 months, I only now feel I've learnt some leassons about trusting my body, my instincts and having faith that I could do it even if it's hard, even if it's painful, even if everyone is telling me I just couldn't do it. I also realise how difficult society makes it for a mother to find the support she needs to keep BFing, and how easy they make it for her to stop. I know if I'd been a new mother when I had Charlie, I would likely have given up - help and support to keep going should be readily available, but it's not, and as a new mum you feel so alone. So I hope with my story it helps someone out there having trouble know you're not alone, that you can be that BFing success story, and there are those of us here who will always be willing to help if you need it.

[monnie]

We've been breastfeeding for 8 months now.

I so wanted to breastfeed, especially after finding out I was having a c/s. It was really important to me to try and get the breastfeeding happening.

The first few days were pretty tough. My milk didn't come in until day 6 or so...I had to do FF syringe feeding with a little tube attached to my nipple for a few days (can't quite remember the official name for it). It was pretty tough as none of the midwives felt confident to help us with it, so after an initial demonstration from the LC, we were on our own. DH would do the syringe whilst I would try to get Felix to attach to my nipple + tube. It was tricky but it was actually a really bonding experience for us all...

Thankfully, that only lasted a couple of days and it helped my milk to come in...and pretty much from then...it's been fantastic!

When Felix was about 4.5 months old, I went back to work part-time (I have my own business) and have managed to keep breastfeeding through expressing...

Breastfeeding has been such a joy...I knew it would be hard...but the rewards are just so wonderful!

[Beatrix]

My story is only a small success atm but am aiming for bigger and better things.

With my first DD i stopped breast feeding at 10 days due to cracked nipples and to me basically lack of information. I didnt know it was the norm for a bay to feed every 2hrs and just thought i was starving my child.

With me second DD again made it to 9-10 and threw in in cause i just coulndt cope (suffered from PND with her)

When i fell pg a third time i new that this was my last chance to have that bf relationship!! So i researched and read up on everything and with the suport of BB i knew i could do it.

Well DD is only 3 weeks and 3 days but we are still bf!! which to me is massive. We havent had a single cracke nipple or graze and i demand feed. while its hard with the older two climbing all over me i know i can do it. I know things will get even easier and quicker as she gets older

[beckles]

such lovely stories ladies. Here's mine:

Josh latched on within about 5 minutes from birth. i didn't feel like a first time mum as i have a VERY large family all of whom breastfeed until about 2-3 years old, so i had grown up around babies and breastfeeding. Whenever he opeded his mouth i would put a breast in it... when Josh was 5 weeks & 5 days i felt really unwell, he had an appointment with the MCHN and so took him, he had not gained much weight and had certainly not returned to his birth weight. she advised me to weigh him, feed him and then weigh him again (pre/post feed weigh) which i did and he 'only' gained 50grams (considering the stress and fear of failure was a fantastic gain), she told me i was starving my son and handed me a box of formula to give him. i ended up in hospital on IV antibiotics with severe mastitis. Josh was diagnosed with a kidney dilatation and infection. i rang nursing mothers (aba) as it was called back then and organised a supply line (a tube to place on your nipple whilst feeding your baby), i expressed and fed 2 hourly to try and increase my supply. i was feeling very depressed and like a failure but refused to give my baby formula. i had lots of wonderful support from the aba and continued. Josh didn't reach his birth weight until about 7 weeks and only gained small amounts every month. i had to wean josh off the supply line and eventually did at 7 months. he was gaining an ok amount of weight and i lied to the MCHN and said he was having formula so she would get off my case. she ended up saying that he was just a lean, long baby well der! he is now 170cm and weighs 45kg. i continued to breastfeed him until he was 2 when he decided he just didn't want to feed anymore. i did struggle with nipple thrush throughout the whole time he was breastfeeding.
Zak latched on straight away also, i felt more confident about his slow weight gain as i had been through it with Josh - neither ever lost weight but woud sometimes only put on 50 grams. i feed him to need which was about 2 hourly. he was a very high needs baby and lucky the breast comforted him. i got mastitis again when Zak was 5 weeks & 5 days (exactly the same time as Josh) but knew what it was and how to treat it so it didn't get bad at all. he weaned when he was 3 years and 10 months. again i had nipple thrush on and off throughout our breastfeeding relationship - ouch
Oscar latched on after a very difficult birth. the only thing different with his first attachment was he licked the nipple for about 5 minutes before i actually couldn't stand it any more and attached him (probably not the gentlest of ways but it was started to freak me out), he did not reach his birth weight until about 6-7 weeks like his older brothers and was slow at gaining weight but it just didn't bother me because i knew that my babies just did that. i had lots of trouble post birth needing a blood transfusion etc but really i just breastfed to need and we got on with it. i did have mastitis once when oscar was about 5 months and had 1 lot of nipple thrush which finally they made a cure for and took the diflucon 1 for 3 days under the instructions of the breastfeeding friendly pharmacist (my hero) and i never got it again - argh relief. oscar is still breastfeeding and doesn't look like he is anywhere near weaning yet. i have really enjoyed my 3 different breastfeeding relationships with my babies and am amazed how differently they all were regarding feeding and weaning etc.
thanks for starting this thread MR it is a great one.
beckles

[mbear]

I remember when i was pregnant with my first, i thought there was a choice b/w breastfeeding or bottle feeding - i didnt realise some women just couldnt breastfeed for whatever reason. In my preparation for DD#1 i never bought a bottle, sterlizer, bottle warmer etc. I was so determined to breastfeed nothing was going to change my mind.
I had a pretty rough labour with DD#1. She came out face up (tummy up), and i tore heavily. I had retained placenta, and lost massive lots of blood. I never got to feed DD, they whisked me away to theatre for removal of placenta - DH was literally left standing holding the baby.
I was gone for quite a few hours. I found out later my DH was with my DD and my mum. DD was hungry/distressed/needing her mummy, and i wasnt there. The midwives were pushing DH to give DD a bottle. He refused, he knew how much i wanted to breastfeed. Another hour passed and they asked DH if he wanted to give DD some formula from a spoon, that way she's not getting used to the bottle, just gives her something to settle her down. Again he refused. I finally returned from theatre. I was drowsy, but so excited to see my little girl and my DH. I remember DH literally threw her at me, and said 'here, she needs some breastmilk' - keeping in mind 4 hours had passed, i hadnt even held her yet, let alone breastfed before. But she latched on perfectly - neither of us (DD or me) moved till 8am the next morning (later found out not something hossi was allowed to do - let mums sleep with newborns). Whilst i had a difficult path ahead of me (2 x blood transfusions, very weak etc), DD breastfed so perfectly. She really was the one that kept me going in those first 6 weeks. I was, and still am so, so grateful for the experience of being able to breastfeed. I know (gulp) there will come a day, when that part of my life is no longer. Thus the reason i really do treasure every moment feed time comes along. Its bloody fantastic !!!!

[maz]

Fantatic thread babe!

And girls - WTG on all your successful journeys....you have all been an inspiration for me in my times of need

God - were do I start

I wont even bother about my first 3 babies as they were unsuccessful.

BUT

mateauz.....he entered the world nice and blue with some complications and to my assitance i BF him as soon as I could. I fought the nursing staff, who even put a feeding tube down his nose to 'feed him formula' in ICU. My luck was that the doctor had seen me BF him and he told the nursing staff to take the tube out. I have BF my little man from the start and wasnt looking back.
At almost 3 weeks of age we were rushed to firstly the Mercy then the Royal Childrens as mateauz had suffered strokes from clots and a lovely STAF and menigincocils infection. The whole time were were in Melbourne, I BF him, expressed an hour later, then BF him again. One night time nurse gave him formula and didnt do it again after I ripped her head of..her excuse was I looked tired and thought that I needed the sleep.
My little man is BF now but as he is little and needs all the strength he can, he has one bottle of formula at night, once he is around the 5 month mark this will be hopefully taken away. Doctors are very pleased with him and said that he must need the extra bottle. he has a BF at 6pm, then screams for FF at 7, then back for a BF at 8pm.
Im still extremely happy to say that my little man is loving his girls and I know for a fact that by BFing him...well it probably helped save his life as his immunie system probably wouldnt have coped for as long as it did with out my goodness helping him. I can also say that every day now is truely a blessing because the doctors told us if he gets to 3 months then we could start breathing easier...well he made it and is still going strong.
Im also super glad that I stuck to my guns and decided that It was BFing or bust for us.

[krisp]

I have two beautiful (and miraculous) children. My BF journey starts 5 years ago before my children were even conceived.

In 2003 I was pregnant with a much wanted child. At 9 weeks I was diagnosed with breast cancer. To cut a long story short to save my life I had to have surgery, chemo and radiotherapy. The surgery included terminating my precious precious baby.

Fast forward 3 years and my DH and I were delighted to discover that we were pregnant. The Drs had warned me I might be left infertile from the chemo, but God had other plans for me.

I BF both my DS and DD for 3 months from one breast. It wasn't easy and at times I struggled with feeding and expressing in between to try and boost my supply. I sadly put both my little darlings on formula too early as I need to have 12 monthly mamograms which I can't do when pregnant or BFing. So they each got what I could give and then it was time for me to 'be sensible' and wean them so I could have the dreaded mammo.

I loved BFing. I loved the closeness, I loved the bond and the look of love from on their little faces as they suckled blissfully in the quiet of the dark in the middle of the night. I loved the instant happiness that only a booby can give when they were distressed. I loved the special and unique time that it gave me with my babies.

It broke my heart to stop and perhaps more so with my daughter as I knew it was something that I wouldn't do again.

Our family is complete and so is my BFing journey.

[Shanti]

I can now say that I've been breastfeeding my gorgeous 6 month old baby girl for 6 months now!!!!!!!!!!

It's the best feeling. I did it. WE did it. We got through all our early problems of attachment problems, low milk supply issues because of the attachment problems, cracked/bleeding painful nipples, expressing, comp feeding with formula and EBM, expressing all hours of the night and sometimes 2hrly, flat nipple, thrush on the nipples, vasospasm of the nipple, had to take motilium and fenugreek (made me stink like curry!!!),DD's constant low weight gains (sometimes weight loss ), breast refusal on and off particularly on my L side and a few other things to deal with...oh and LOTS of tears from me and DD at times. I think the only thing I didnt encounter was Mastitis!!!

I am SO PROUD of my daughter and I for persisting and persisting thru it all. It is because of all our hard work and persistence that we made it to 6 months and now hope to continue BF'ing for many more months.... also many thanks to my husband for his wonderful support through some very tough days in the early weeks. My husband couldnt' take time off work so those early weeks during the day were really quite hard for me and not just because of looking after our newborn daughter on my own but also having so many feeding problems it was very isolating. But when DH was home, he was so helpful and supportive. Incredible support.

There were so many days where I could have easily just switched over to formula and the thought crossed my mind many times but I always wanted so badly to breastfeed my DD and always believed I could do it with lots of persistence and the help of a Lactation Consultant who came to my house for visits and help ( I paid her but it was sooo worth it). ALSO the help of some wonderful BB members on this forum, you know who you are
BIG THANK YOU again.

Due to DD's low weight gains and my difficulty establishing my milk supply in those early weeks (due to attachment issues) we had no choice but to top DD up with formula (or EBM if I had enough to offer) from 3wks of age (she lost 200g one week ) and I finally managed to again exclusively breastfeed her without any bottles from about 13/14 weeks of age!! Finally when DD turned 4mths, everything fell into place and we were exclusively BFing finally!!! no bottles, no pumping, no motilium drugs.
I admit, that I found it hard to get her off the bottles and she was probably on them for longer than she really needed to be because I found it hard to think that I alone, with just BM, could sustain my DD given the early weeks where I couldn't. But I did it!!!
It feels wonderful to not have to carry around a bottle of EBM or formula with me and to know that if my DD is hungry, I have it there ready to go in my boobs!
Our bodies are amazing!! I never wanted to give my DD a bottle, I never wanted to use a pump but thankgoodness they were there for me to use!!!!
Thank goodness for my breast pump too because without that I probably would not have been able to continue BF'ing as my milk supply just was not happening and DD had so much trouble attaching on even when she was a few weeks old. Right from birth we had problems as DD would cry and fuss and in hospital for those 5 days I always needed help attaching her.

I breastfeed anywhere, and everywhere and I attend ABA meetings with my local group!!

I hope my story gives inspiration, hope and courage to anyone out there who is about to have a baby and learn how to breastfeed for the first time, and to anyone who is currently having troubles breastfeeding or knows someone who is.

Thank you for reading!! and YAY for World Breastfeeding Week!!

Here is my thread if anyone was interested (it's looong though!! lol) http://forums.bellybelly.com.au/foru...ng-mother.html

[Jennifer13]

Well done, hun!

[rufalina]

WOO HOO!!! Congrats again hun. You have done so well.

[MrsB26]

Congratulations for making it this far
You have done a great job, well done xx

[boomba]

Well done babe! Its a great accomlishment you ahve made! And the very best start for your gorgeous baby girl! Well done again your hinesty and openess in your other thread has hopefully helped many ohter members in their BF journey! xxx

[~Kaz~]

Well done Shanti and a big clap to your DD as well

Your thread really helped me at the time. I don't think I ever posted in it, but reading through it really helped with some of the issues I had with DS so thank you.

[kungfubecca]

well done! to everyone.