Breastfeeding: Gratitude

I always knew I would breastfeed. I was lucky enough to be breastfed myself, lucky enough to grow up in an era (the 70′s) when natural birth and parenting were popular, lucky enough to be born in a region of the U.S. (northern California) where breastfeeding was the norm. As a result, I was breastfed for 18 months by a mother who was never breastfed herself. Long enough that I have what I think is a single, fleeting, flash of a memory of actually doing it: it was evening, my mom lifted me into her lap, into the rocking chair in our living room, and then: comfort. That’s all I have. But this little scrap of a memory was enough to sustain the idea that I would always breastfeed my own children, even when natural parenting seemed to dip in popularity, when many of my childhood friends proclaimed it was gross, or later that they didn’t want to ‘ruin’ their boobs by nursing babies.

When my daughter was born, I assumed that this normal, natural function of my body & partnership with my new baby would happen easily, seamlessly. I had the right attitude, I had the right equipment & now I had the baby. Boy, was I wrong. Gretta was born ‘tongue-tied’ – the little piece of skin that attaches our tongues to the bottom of our mouths was too short – and she had terrible difficulty latching on. It went undiagnosed in the hospital and for five long, miserable days after she was born we struggled with nursing. Struggled to the point that if she was held cross-body (for any reason), she’d start crying (and so would I).

I think many moms would have given up at this point, opened up a can of formula and never looked back. Again, I was lucky – I had the support you’d expect of my mother, my midwives, my husband, and also health insurance that covered the rental of a hospital-grade pump. But also, and maybe most importantly, some unexpected support: our pediatrician.

At our first doctor visit a couple of days after she was born, Gretta had lost several ounces – he was surprisingly unconcerned. I told him we were really having trouble nursing, that she would take a little pumped breast milk, but not latch on despite the efforts of two midwives and the advice of many La Leche moms. Without blinking an eye, opened up his closet, took out a formula feeding kit (my heart dropped), REMOVED THE FORMULA (my eyebrows went up), leaving bottles and a carrying case for pumped milk, and then gave me the number of the mother of one of his clients who happened to be a lactation consultant. It was so simple – he acted like what we were going through was normal, to be expected & FIXABLE. That simple act – removing the formula from that free-sample case – demonstrated so clearly to me that despite Gretta’s weight loss & continued difficulty latching on, he was confident that breastfeeding was the best choice & that we’d get it worked out. It was in a word: awesome.

The lactation consultant we saw was nothing short of magic – she had us breastfeeding in 20 minutes, no looking back. At the time she was my savior, manna from heaven, my breastfeeding goddess. In retrospect though, I think the real hero of this story is that pediatrician. He was in a position to make or break my breastfeeding relationship with my daughter & he chose to support us. Had he been an alarmist, had he been overly concerned with Gretta’s weight loss, had he sent us home with formula, if he hadn’t trusted the lactation consultant – I’m not sure, even given my resolve, my upbringing, and my education if I would have been able to go on to develop the care-free, amazing nursing relationship Gretta and I shared.

I’d like to celebrate this year’s World Breastfeeding Week by giving kudos to those people in our lives whose help we needed to do one of the most normal & rewarding things on the planet: feed our babies. Please take a moment to add a comment with the names and contact info (and stories if you want!) of breastfeeding-friendly professionals who helped you along the way.

Pediatrician:
Izak Reischer MD
Phone: (718) 268-6200
72-38 113th Street
Forest Hills, NY, 11375

Lactation Consultant:
Catherine Watson Genna, BS, IBCLC
Email: cwgenna@covad.net
Phone: 718 846-2323
Location: Woodhaven, Queens, NY
More info: http://lactspeak.com/speakers/CatherineWatson%20Genna/

Chapters

I write this post not as a lactation professional, or a lactivist, or
even a breastfeeding supporter. I write it as a mom. A mom who has
spent the last two years of her life watching her child grow healthy
and strong with the help of my milk. Breastfeeding has been an amazing
accomplishment for us and has served us both well.

Breastfeeding did not start off easy for us. My daughter’s attempts to
nurse made me bleed and cry. Luckily, I knew that breastfeeding wasn’t
supposed to feel like this. Through a long combination of pumping, cup
feeding and reteaching her how to nurse, we became successful at
breastfeeding without pain. I am eternally grateful to the lactation
consultant who helped us and to my dear friend who went with us to
each appointment, holding my hand and reminding me that I was making
the best choice for my daughter.

Later we went through many stages in our nursing. We exclusively
breastfed through a dairy and soy allergy (whew, the money we could
have spent on prescription formula!) until my little one was six
months old. As we introduced complementary foods I thought to myself
“how could we quit this now? We’ve just really hit our stride!” and we
continued on.

At her first birthday, people asked us if we were “finally” ready to
wean. No, my heart wasn’t ready. She wasn’t ready. The World Health
Organization wasn’t ready. So we continued. We nursed through my
surgery and recovery, her father helping her climb onto the couch to
carefully latch on. It was all the healing I needed while I waited for
final biopsy results. It calmed us both through that time.

My daughter turns two next week and we are in the slow process of
weaning. Breastfeeding has meant so much to me that I am sad to let
this relationship go. On the other hand, I am ready to close up this
chapter in our lives and thankful for the wonderful memories we’ve
had. Thankful for the gift of health for my daughter and myself. I am
thankful for the gift of peaceful nights nursing in our bed and “good
morning nursies” that we share now. We’ve had a good run at this
nursing thing.

World Breastfeeding Week

World Breastfeeding Week

August 1-7 is celebrating around the world as World Breastfeeding Week. This year the theme was breastfeeding in an emergency. The photo contest winners were so moving. I do hope that you will check them out.

Be sure to head over to the World Breastfeeding Week headquarters, download an action kit, look for topics and story ideas for your blogs or your community. Remember, celebrating World Breastfeeding Week doesn’t mean that you have to put on a huge production. You can do anything that you find appropriate. Consider blogging about breastfeeding and talking about how it has changed your life.

So, share with us a breastfeeding story, tell us about someone who made a difference in your breastfeeding experience, what is your favorite breastfeeding resource? Give some kudos to all the women and men who support breastfeeding in the comments section.