Pretty Good Year! Molly's Breastfeeding Journey

     I met Molly almost four weeks postpartum and her main goal was to wean from the nipple shield. Molly was given the shield in the hospital because she had an inverted nipple. I'm not sure she needed the shield though. I've been working out-patient for a decade and I also spent four years working in a hospital. I know shields are very necessary and save breastfeeding in some cases. In other cases, they weren't needed. If a nipple is flat or inverted, I like to work with the baby to determine their full latching potential. Some babies can latch onto anything no matter what the nipple looks like if given the opportunity. Sometimes hospital staff will look at the nipple and just make an assumption without evaluating the baby's ability to latch. Sometimes the baby is really struggling with the latch and that's when the staff will pull out a shield. Sometimes latch seems fine in the hospital and then I see the baby out-patient and have to pull out a shield. Any who... Molly arrived wanting to wean from the shield, I showed her my magic latch trick and voila.... look who could latch! The baby put up a little fight because it was something new but after she got the milk moving she settled in and the rest was history. Molly was able to go home an re-create what we did in the office. She had a little latch discomfort for a day or two but this quickly resolved so it was a pretty smooth transition (sometimes it is quite the process). I love that I was able to witness and support Molly and her daughter through a year of nursing! Congrats! Here is Molly's breastfeeding journey...

     "I had a successful breastfeeding journey with my daughter. I guess you could say it was normal too. But one thing I’ve learned through my journey and listening to the stories of family and friends, is that “successful” and “normal” can look a lot of different ways, and usually means fumbling through at least one or two obstacles along the way.

     During my first pregnancy, I tried to be as prepared as possible for breastfeeding by reading lots of information (probably too much), talking to as many women as possible about their experiences, and attending a free prenatal breastfeeding class at my daughter’s pediatrician office. Part of my preparedness was due to my personality, but another big reason is because I had an inverted nipple, which I had heard could present challenges with breastfeeding. And as prepared as I was, I still worried – would I produce enough milk? Would my daughter be able to latch, especially on my deformed breast? How would my body handle pumping and going back to work? Would I ever be able to enjoy coffee and alcohol again? I laugh at myself a little bit now, not because those aren’t completely legitimate concerns (except maybe the coffee and alcohol), and not because I didn’t have problems, but because I worried about all of the wrong things.

     My daughter was born perfectly healthy, a blessing I continue to be thankful for to this day. The nurses and LCs at Chester County Hospital were very supportive of breastfeeding, and very correctly warned me about the pain I was about to endure with my inverted nipple. I was able to breastfeed on that side (it actually ended up being my more productive side the entire time I breastfed), but the skin on and around my nipple had to stretch and break and grow (repeat x100) over the course of the first month or so, each time my daughter latched. The hospital gave me the magical triple nipple ointments and a nipple shield, which helped, but the pain was still pretty bad.  In hindsight, I do wish I wasn’t so quick to use the nipple shield; not because it doesn’t have its purpose, but because I don’t really think it was necessary for me. Considering how frequently I had to nurse that first month (at least every 2 hours with usually nonstop cluster feeding for 4-8 hours most days and a 4-5 hour break at night) I got pretty annoyed with having to keep track of and wash those freaking nipple shields every time. Not to mention the second round of nipple pain I endured when I was finally able to rid myself of the nipple shield (thanks to the amazing Dana…in 2 days no less!!). Luckily this was more of the “normal” pain they warn you about when you first start breastfeeding, and didn’t last too long.

     Pain and nipple shield annoyances aside, my daughter was a nursing champ and was gaining weight really well. Like REALLY well. She gained 3.5 pounds and jumped from the 49^th to 78^th percentiles for weight in her first month, which made me so happy and proud. And breastmilk was squirting and leaking everywhere, soaking through towels and clothes and boppy covers – it was great!! Also, at around 4 weeks my daughter started to get pretty uncomfortable with gas pains. Given all of that, my daughter’s pediatrician warned me that I might be dealing with the beginnings of an oversupply issue. That’s a thing?! She suggested to give it another couple of weeks before I make any significant nursing changes, but she did recommend that I start hand expressing into a towel or over the sink prior to breastfeeding when I was feeling engorged (which was pretty much all of the time). This was nothing more than an inconvenience, but when you’re sleep deprived and wake up to a crying, hungry baby – it is super annoying to have to excuse yourself for 3-5 minutes and squeeze your boobs into a towel (not to mention trying to explain this to your newborn). This lasted another 2 months or so, but gradually became less frequent and more tolerable.

     I had another few minor setbacks along the 14-month breastfeeding journey (and plenty of worrying), but things finally equalized and I slowly began to see this thing as the healthy, bonding, convenient, and money-saving option that everyone tells you that it is. My daughter’s gassy period was relatively short-lived, the pain went away, I began to make fewer messes, the cluster feedings became less and less frequent, and when I had to return to work (part-time at 8 weeks, full-time at 10), I am so grateful that pumping did not really present any major challenges to me. In fact, I continued to overproduce a bit through the pump and was able to build up an impressive freezer stash. I did not typically nurse in the mornings because my daughter was still asleep, and that first pump of the day typically yielded 14-17 ounces and required changing out the medela bottles! I even donated about 200 ounces of breastmilk along the way, which I’m so grateful I was able to do. While I produced well, I still couldn’t wait to dump the pump; I cut down to one pumping session at work by 11 months pp and was completely done pumping at work by my daughter’s first birthday.

     I continued to breastfeed at night until my daughter was 14 months, just a few weeks after I found out I was pregnant with our second child. The journey certainly had its ups and downs, but I’m thankful that I was able to breastfeed for as long as I wanted to, that I made it a full year, and I’m thankful for a 7-8 month break before I try it all over again. Because, naturally, I’m already starting to anticipate new breastfeeding challenges (how on earth will I manage cluster feeding with a toddler running around? Will my daughter want to start breastfeeding again?). Maybe if I keep reminding myself that worrying didn’t help the first time, it’ll eventually sink in."