Breastfeeding My Precious

I had so many plans when I was about to give birth.

I told my doctor that I wanted the breast crawl. I want my baby to be roomed in as soon as possible. I definitely did not plan on getting a C-section. I wanted natural birth and I want to feel all of it. Most importantly I want to breastfeed.

I equipped myself with knowledge on breastfeeding and pumping. I got a lot of information from kellymom.com and from mommy forums/blogs.

But the baby gods have different plans.

The doctors refused my request for breast crawl since I had c-section delivery. I was separated from my baby for at least 8 hours from birth. I was not able to breastfeed. =(

not my baby, not my boob. I have waaaay too many stretchmarks. LOL. Photo lifted from: blogs.sweden.se

 

Blake did not want to latch. The nurses and doctors at the hospital insisted that I should give my baby formula. I told everyone that I will breastfeed and I don’t have feeding bottles with me. Their solution? They let me borrow a bottle from the NICU. I kept on trying. I even brought my pump with me and started pumping just to get the milk flowing. But because Blake would cry everytime she nurses, everyone around me would harass me into feeding Blake some formula. Or at least glucose water, they said.

By the second day, I gave in. I let my baby drink formula. I felt like a failure. =(

On the third day, I was released from the hospital. I continued pumping and latching, hoping that my baby will stimulate the milk flow. My efforts paid off. Mature milk came flowing and I was happy. Even though my baby is bottle feeding, at least its breast milk that she’s drinking. For a month or so, I trained Blake to latch properly. I watched videos on proper latching and feeding. We tried different positions. I recognized the “right” and “wrong” way of latching. We practiced everyday until she was able to feed directly.

Now I’m happy to report that she does not want to feed from the bottle anymore. She loves the boobies. I hope we can continue breastfeeding for at least 6 months.

#goal