The Long Road: One Mom’s Journey To Exclusive Breastfeeding

By Susan Quinzi

For Anthony and me breastfeeding was NOT easy. After three years of trying to conceive I had a pretty clear vision of how I wanted and expected our first nursing experience to go. I had even planned for the slight variation if I had to have a c-section.

My delivery did end in a c-section and since I was also a gestational diabetic, they tested Anthony to see if he was hypoglycemic – which he was. Anthony ended up going to the NICU instead of coming and visiting me after the c-section. We didn’t get our first nursing session until he was a day old. Definitely not the vision I had expected or wanted.

When I finally got to my room after delivery, I demanded the lactation consultant come in and show me how to use the breastpump in my room. The entire first day of my son’s life, I pumped. The first pump I got about an ounce or two but after that NOTHING. I was religious about my pumping. All night that first night when I should have been resting, I pumped every 3-4hrs.

The next afternoon, I finally got to nurse Anthony for the first time. I had even arranged for one of the hospital’s lactation consultants to be in the room to help me latch him on. She helped him get on the first time and we nursed away. After about 30 minutes, I had to stop because they needed to supplement him with formula.
After 6 days of pumping every 3-4 hours, my milk FINALLY came in. I was sooo relieved and it felt amazing to be the one feeding my son even through it was through a bottle. After Anthony finally recovered from being hypoglycemic and jaundiced, we were allowed to take him home.

Once we were home, our problems didn’t end; the biggest ongoing issue was Anthony’s weight gain or lack thereof. After a few days at home, it was discovered that Anthony was tongue-tied. This was actually an easy fix of just clipping his fenulum. We thought this would solve his weight gain issues by making it easier for him to nurse but we still had issues, and, on top of everything, Anthony started crying on the breast. In utter frustration, I gave up nursing him and pumped full-time. I got so good at pumping I could pump and feed Anthony a bottle at the same time. The only problem was when it came time to burp him.

After a month of pumping and feeding, I started to miss that bonding time with Anthony. Luckily I had a friend who had breastfeeding issues and she gave me a name and number of an amazing lactation consultant. When I finally worked up the nerve to call her she told me she was holding a support group meeting that evening and I should come.

The support group meeting was awesome! I assumed that the meeting wouldn’t go longer than an hour so I didn’t bring milk with me. Kathleen stayed late and helped me latch Anthony for the first time in over a month. It felt amazing to have my son nursing. We arranged for her to come to our house and help me start the process.

During one of her visits, Kathleen noticed that Anthony was working extremely hard while he was nursing. She thought he might have laryngomalacia and that was later confirmed by an ENT. Laryngromalacia is something he will grow out of but it causes him to work harder to eat, so he was burning more calories every time he nursed.
All of our issues were finally out in the open but it was still a long road to full-time nursing. Anthony had weight check-ups until he was 4 months old. He wasn’t full-time nursing until 5 ½ months but when that day finally happened it was AMAZING. Granted, I went back to work a week later but that week of no pumping was awesome. For the first time in 5 ½ months, I wasn’t married to my pump.

Anthony is now 7 months and gaining weight like a pro. I thank Kathleen and our weekly support group for helping us make it this far. Nursing Anthony is an amazing gift and it was worth every tear and every minute pumping. After everything we have been through, I plan on extended breastfeeding.

 

Susan is a mother to her little miracle Anthony.  By day she is a music teacher/milk maker and by night a nursing mama. In between she finds time to blog at http://donordiva.blogspot.com.

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