Breastfeeding is always a hot topic that causes a lot of agitation, creates certain expectations and can be a source of frustration sometimes. I asked several Tbilisi-based moms to share their personal stories, so that every mom who is going to read them, would feel like she is not alone out there.
1.
- My son is 14 months old, and he is still breastfed. I started weaning from the age of 5 month. There were no major issues - I was preparing for motherhood very thoroughly, took several preparatory courses while pregnant.
The most important for me was to know that babies usually cry a lot in the beginning, and milk doesn’t come immediately, so you have to be patient and not give him a bottle and pacifier.
There were also breastfeeding consultants visiting us in the maternity hospital and helping to choose the best pose for feeding. A course by Marina Stupina and YouTube channel of Nina Zaychenko were also great sources of information.
- L.
2.
My child is 2 years and 2 months old, and he is still breastfed. I was struggling with bringing him back from bottle to breast when he was 2 months old. During the first days I had no milk and the baby got used to formula and bottle really quickly, but finally I managed to teach him to eat milk. However, now I can not phase out…
- M.
3.
I was nursing my elder son till he was 2 years old. Now my younger one is still on the breast, and he is two as well. With the first one it was a lot of struggle - my nipples were bleeding, but I persisted, and it was all fine in the end.
- I.
4.
Once I had my first child, I was seriously prepared - took courses, read books... Then, my milk arrived on day three, but the baby could latch properly. If I would have been more relaxed, it would probably have started better, but the atmosphere of the maternity hospital was tense.
The comments like “what kind of mother you are, you can not feed your child!” or “if he won’t eat now, tomorrow you’ll get purulent mastitis and will never be able to nurse” added more anxiety to my brain producing huge amounts of prolactin.
Now I let that feeling go, but back then I felt so stressed and irritated, with the child clinging to my breast and not getting enough, and strangers saying that he was just playing… Unfortunately, I did not immediately turn to a breastfeeding consultant for a face-to-face consultation. This happened almost exactly one month after the birth of my son. The consultant checked the latch, explained the problem, listened to me and reassured. The book by Carlos Gonzalez Breastfeeding Made Easy: A gift for life for you and your baby also helped a lot. In general, I can recommend any book by this author! It’s a miracle to talk about important things so warmly, with love and humor. The YouTube channel of Nina Zaychenko was also helpful. So the situation improved, we started solids at six months, and when the time came, the baby was successfully weaned. Now I think about our breastfeeding period with a smile.
- D.
5.
Leading up to the birth of my daughter (now 1.5 years old and fully weaned) I had done so much research about breastfeeding, getting a proper latch etc... and everything I read and heard from doctors and midwives said that if breastfeeding hurts it's because the baby has a bad latch... So when my daughter was born and feeding her was painful I immediately assumed that it was a bad latch and would interrupt the feed so she could latch on again. As a result, Genevieve struggled to learn to breastfeed.
There are few worse feelings than holding your precious newborn in your arms, crying for milk and not being able to feed them. I tried every different position but it wasn't until both my mother and mother-in-law insisted that breastfeeding just hurts like hell sometimes and the only way to do it is to push through the pain, that I was able to make progress.
For the first two weeks, breastfeeding hurt so much all I could do was clench my fists, and curl my toes, holding back tears, whenever Genevieve would feed.
My nipples cracked and bled and scabbed over and again and at last they toughened up and after that breastfeeding was wonderful. I guess some women have sensitive nipples that just need to toughen up the hard way...
- R.
6.
Breastfeeding was something that I was so excited for as a new Mom. I had been looking forward to it for my whole life. I knew it would be hard, but I was planning on giving it everything I had and making it work. Unfortunately my body had other ideas. I had an unplanned C-section with my son, and the stress that my body went through meant my milk supply never fully came in. I met with lactation consultants, got put on meds, but I was still left with not enough milk for my son.
I also had a husband who worked out of town for 2 weeks at a time, and was home for just one week at a time. I tried my best, but the amount I would have had to pump was impossible to keep up with as a partially single Mom.
I still tear up when I think about my breastfeeding journey because I wanted it to work out so badly. Eventually, I realized my relationship with my son was suffering because there was so much stress associated with breastfeeding.
For my own mental health and sanity, I felt like I needed to stop. There is so much guilt associated with formula feeding… at least there was with me. It was definitely something I had to work through.
I'm hoping that the second time around I will be able to make breastfeeding work. And I admire all you Mom's who do such a great job at feeding your little ones.
- A.
7.
Funny, when I started feeding I couldn’t wait to reach the point where we will stop and “I’ll be free again/be able to go in-out-eat-drink, etc”. But now when this time is approaching it makes me sad… It’s not even about the bond, but about breastfeeding being the best and fastest way to calm the baby down especially when teething.
In short, I was very lucky that my body and baby managed to collaborate from the very beginning and it all went more or less smoothly (though I couldn’t pump the milk for some reason and stopped stressing myself).
However, being formula-fed myself as my Mom had to stay in the hospital when I was born (and it was Soviet Siberia), I was and am fully convinced that it is completely fine if breastfeeding doesn’t work for some reason.
- E.
8.
I thought I would breastfeed till 6 months and then see, but now I'm on the month 5, and I feel like I'll go on at least till my son is one year old. The start was bad, because we got separated - I left the maternity hospital with COVID, the baby was 4 days old, and the doctors considered the separation to be a way out.
Luckily, we were transferred to the same hospital and were staying on the same floor.
Basically my son was always drinking my milk, but I had to work on it: pump every two hours, watching the few videos of him I managed to film - the cutest one being my cat seeing the baby for the first time.
After two weeks we were reunited, but I had to use a silicone nipple because my son couldn't properly suck on my breast. However, in another two weeks, things got better, and now he is able to reach my boob from another side of the room, and I nurse in the park, restaurant, museum, car seat on the go. Very happy that it worked out this way. I don’t judge the moms switching to formula, but I think I would definitely judge myself subconsciously.
- D.
9.
I spent the first three weeks as a mother recovering from my C-section and COVID and mostly isolating from my baby with the exception of breastfeeding her (masked, of course!). 10/10 would not recommend, but I’d definitely do it all again for her!
- R.
10.
I was nursing my first child for a year and 7 months. The milk arrival was tough - no one usually tells you that it can cause terrible fever and even convulsions. I thought I was dying, because I haven’t heard anything like this! They kept me in the hospital, brought down the fever and gave me antibiotics. Then I was allowed to go home, where shaking and fever continued for another week.
When my son was 4 months old, he started teething, and my nipples suffered a lot, but I was patient.
Once he became 1.5 years old I thought: enough. I went to another city alone for the weekend, and it was a terrible idea. The breast was literally made of stone, I was expressing it manually in the bathrooms of bars and cafes to get some relief, and it was spilling everywhere. A real nightmare. So I came back and continued for another month.
Also, the fact that prolactin is not only a “milk” hormone but an anxiety hormone, is not too widely known. When it hits you, you are not ready. I want the other moms to be aware of that and be prepared. In my case, my brain suddenly switched on prolactin production in 5 years, and the doctors were even suspecting that there was a tumor somewhere, but no, it was just a weird joke my brain performed.
My breastfeeding journey is not over yet. I have a second son, and he is only one month old. Even though the milk came with even more fever and unpleasant sensations, I’m on it, I’ll nurse my son.
- S.
11. I tried to breastfeed my first son and it was a terrible experience. During the first three months, he didn’t gain any weight and was crying a lot, being unable to empty the breast. I’ll never forget that sound. My mother-in-law was pushing me to continue and was making me drink tea with milk. My breasts were hurting all the time, and the amount of milk was unstable. It was very fat, I couldn’t squeeze it out.
My son got very thin and I got deeply depressed.
Then my husband returned from a long business trip and we decided to switch to formula. After the first two feeds, it was the first time when we fell asleep properly in months.
With the second child, I didn’t even feel like trying. In the maternity hospital, all breastfed kids were crying, and mine slept through the night. I picked a high-quality formula, and now my son eats well, sleeps well, and gains weight well. He is quite plump, but I think it’s okay.
- N.
Comments