TummyTime to the Rescue! - Timarie's Breastfeeding Journey
I had the pleasure of meeting Timarie twelve days postpartum. Her daughter was working so hard to get the darn milk! She just wasn't able to use her tongue properly to get things moving. Timarie knew something wasn't quite right and got help pretty quick. She and her daughter were such a pleasure and the work they did is amazing. Here is Timarie's Breastfeeding Journey....
"At 32 weeks pregnant I found
out my daughter was frank breech positioned in my belly. At that point, we were
told we had time for her to flip but as the weeks went on, and I continued to
feel her head up under my ribs, I found myself less and less optimistic. At 39
weeks pregnant during my scheduled Cesarean section, my 9lb 2oz baby girl made
her entrance into this world. My husband
and I had held our breath as we listened to the doctor struggle to un-wedge her
head from my ribs. But the doctor quickly cracked a joke once she emerged that
this little girl stayed breech so I didn’t have to vaginally deliver the
“chunker” that she was. Having been a C
section baby myself, I was always told how beautifully perfect the heads of
those babies were. My daughter’s head, on the other hand, was quite misshapen
and elongated but every doctor I asked reassured us that this was due to her
positioning in the womb. Little did I know that this would play a huge role in
our breastfeeding journey.
I had all intentions of
exclusively breastfeeding my daughter until our third night in the hospital
when the nurse informed us that our little girl was now down a pound and they
recommended supplementing with formula until my milk came in. And so we did but
we had hopes it would only be temporary. Well over the next week, we watched
our “chunker” drop down to 7lbs 10 oz and I quickly learned how much worry a
parent can have for this new little person within their lives. I reached out to
a lactation consultant named Dana recommended by the hospital and met with her
as soon as I could. Dana informed us that the “popping off” my daughter kept
doing at the breast was not normal and she was barely transferring half an
ounce of breastmilk when she was nursing. Dana suggested that the muscles of
our daughter’s jaw and tongue were impacted by the shape of her head and ultimately
that was effecting her ability to properly nurse. We set up a plan… I would
pump to increase my supply and give her pumped milk. Then I would supplement as
needed with formula. Also, we would start coming to weekly TummyTime!™ classes
that Dana hosted to draw that tongue forward to better improve her ability to
latch.
The next two weeks to follow
still stand as the hardest I experienced as a new mom. The pumping was painful,
stressful, time-consuming, and exhausting. I felt tied to my house because of
the small window of time between pump sessions and the equipment feeling too
cumbersome to bring with me everywhere I went. I struggled to juggle pumping
while giving her a bottle in the middle of the night without having to wake my
husband since he worked early the next day. I found myself fixated on our
daughter’s weight, constantly worried if she was getting enough and gaining
enough. When all this hard work of pumping was only producing one ounce a
session, I turned to Dana once again. She made suggestions and I tried them
all, my supply increased but only to about three ounces a session so we
continued to have to supplement. I was
feeling defeated and even worse, I struggled with the fact that I wasn’t
getting to nurse my daughter at the breast how I had envisioned. However, through TummyTime!™, our daughter was making headway, no pun intended! Although her head
did not reshape overnight, her tongue starting protruding out more often and as
I would put her to the breast for comfort, I felt as if her latch was
improving. We faithfully attended the class each week and we saw the impact it
had on her nursing as well as on my own adjustment to motherhood. Getting the
opportunity to sit with other new moms and share our struggles and small
victories became therapeutic.
Finally when I didn’t think I could spend another day attached to the pump, I met with the Dana again to reassess our daughter’s latch. I can’t remember if I cried or not when I saw the number on the scale indicating that she was transferring the three ounces from my breast but I know even if didn’t, I wanted to. All of the hard work, diligence, and tears I poured into making this breastfeeding thing work had paid off. I finally was able to nurse my daughter as I had always planned. For whatever reason, I never quite made enough milk so we continued to supplement but I did not mind. I was thankful to have the opportunity to nurse her given our rocky start. I am beyond grateful to our lactation consultant Dana for all the guidance, support and knowledge she gave to us. We would never have made it this far without her. Once I reached the goal of being able to breastfeed, I set another goal to continue to nurse our daughter until she was at least 6 months. As I write this, we are one week shy of my daughter becoming 6 months old and we are still nursing in the morning and night. I find it quite interesting that despite some of my fondest life accomplishments, our breastfeeding journey might be the one I have become the most proud of." Timarie
I had all intentions of
exclusively breastfeeding my daughter until our third night in the hospital
when the nurse informed us that our little girl was now down a pound and they
recommended supplementing with formula until my milk came in. And so we did but
we had hopes it would only be temporary. Well over the next week, we watched
our “chunker” drop down to 7lbs 10 oz and I quickly learned how much worry a
parent can have for this new little person within their lives. I reached out to
a lactation consultant named Dana recommended by the hospital and met with her
as soon as I could. Dana informed us that the “popping off” my daughter kept
doing at the breast was not normal and she was barely transferring half an
ounce of breastmilk when she was nursing. Dana suggested that the muscles of
our daughter’s jaw and tongue were impacted by the shape of her head and ultimately
that was effecting her ability to properly nurse. We set up a plan… I would
pump to increase my supply and give her pumped milk. Then I would supplement as
needed with formula. Also, we would start coming to weekly TummyTime!™ classes
that Dana hosted to draw that tongue forward to better improve her ability to
latch. |
| A++ TummyTime!™ Student! |
Finally when I didn’t think I could spend another day attached to the pump, I met with the Dana again to reassess our daughter’s latch. I can’t remember if I cried or not when I saw the number on the scale indicating that she was transferring the three ounces from my breast but I know even if didn’t, I wanted to. All of the hard work, diligence, and tears I poured into making this breastfeeding thing work had paid off. I finally was able to nurse my daughter as I had always planned. For whatever reason, I never quite made enough milk so we continued to supplement but I did not mind. I was thankful to have the opportunity to nurse her given our rocky start. I am beyond grateful to our lactation consultant Dana for all the guidance, support and knowledge she gave to us. We would never have made it this far without her. Once I reached the goal of being able to breastfeed, I set another goal to continue to nurse our daughter until she was at least 6 months. As I write this, we are one week shy of my daughter becoming 6 months old and we are still nursing in the morning and night. I find it quite interesting that despite some of my fondest life accomplishments, our breastfeeding journey might be the one I have become the most proud of." Timarie
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