Successfully Breastfeeding After A Rough Start: Part 1

By Karolina Gonzalez, MAS

You might remember I was expecting a baby last summer. David was born in mid-July on a beautiful sunny morning after 4 hours of labor. It was a very fast non-medicated delivery. Everything happened so rapidly that our midwife still insists the baby almost was born in the car on our way to the hospital! But I clearly remember (and laugh about) my husband asking my mom whether or not to have coffee and toast before leaving at 4 am, while I was already opening the garage door and turning the car on. I knew we had to leave soon!

After David’s birth, both of us were very alert and he latched onto my breast as soon as he was next to me! I felt so fortunate and so in love with my little baby! Since everything with baby and mom was fine, we came back home the next day. We were all delighted with the baby, but I was really struggling with breastfeeding. On day 3, we met with the lactation consultant. The baby seemed to have a good latch and he was making sounds as if he was swallowing colostrum, but he was consistently losing too much weight. Even though I was determined not to use supplemental formula, on day 4, I was advised to do so by the pediatrician.

During the next two days and despite using the breast pump to stimulate milk production and the nipple shields to be able to nurse the baby as often as he wanted to (I was very sore), his weight didn’t improve. I was sleep deprived, tired and engorged, conditions that together increased my doubts about being able to deal with what sometimes seemed too much. However, I was determined we both could keep on learning how to do this! In the next post, I'll explain how we learned what was wrong and what was done to help David and I to breastfeed successfully.

It’s amazing how fast babies grow up! David is now a very active and joyful 8-month-old who moves as if he wanted to jump and run, even though he is just taking small steps with the help of his parents. Now, I realize I should cherish every moment with this beautiful energetic little boy, since in a blink of an eye he’ll become a grown-up! And yes, he is still a breastfed baby!