Baby F will be 9 months old in six days! And I am very proud to say I am still breastfeeding. It has been a fairly smooth journey but there have been some small bumps in the road. The first week was quite painful, I endured bleeding and cracked nipples, latching at first was very very painful to the point where I wanted to scream or cry but I didn't want to scare Baby F so I just held my breath...and overtime I healed and there was no more pain. The only other issue we had was when public health started harassing us about Baby F's slow weight gain...suggesting he was not getting enough milk and pushing me to give him formula. I was confident I did not have a supply issue but public health insisted we see a lactation consultant...who agreed with me that it was not a supply issue! Our Pediatrician suggested pumping and adding formula to expressed milk to up calorie intake but I was not having much success pumping so we supplemented occasionally with high calorie infant formula ...and still Baby F stayed on the same growth pattern. Since then we have seen many specialists and there is no underlying cause for his slow weight gain...he is just a small baby. We still give infant formula to Baby F occasionally and now that he has started solids and finger foods his formula intake is even less.
I may not have exclusively breastfed for 9 months but I am proud that we have made it this far....even through cutting 2 teeth!!! I am so thankful for the special bond between me and my Son and I look forward to breastfeeding until Baby F decides to wean himself :) We may have more nursing challenges ahead of us but I am ready and confident that we can make it past the 12 month mark!
My advice to anyone considering nursing their baby is that all you can do is try and give it your all and if it doesn't work out that's ok too because you tried your best. -Earth Sea Mama
