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Welcome to day 281 in my breastfeeding journey (21 months and counting). If you would have asked me 7 years ago how long I planned on breastfeeding I would have told you three months to a year. With my first child (my son) that was my goal, make it through the first 3 months while I was on maternity leave. Then something changed, breastfeeding got easy!
After the first month of having problems latching, sleepless, exhausted, and having no friends who breastfed I finally got the hang of it. It wasn't easy those first few days or weeks. In fact, I really struggled but I made a pact with myself that I wasn't going to give up. I had rented an industrial double breastpump from the hospital to take my son home and fed him from a tube and/or a bottle until he learned to latch. During one exhausting shopping trip to the local big box retailer I found heaven - the nipple shield! While most of the articles I had read discouraged the use of the nipple shield I was determined to find a way for my son to breastfeed 'normally.' To my surprise the shield taught him to latch on and with some practice (we would remove the shield during the feeding) we both learned together how to breastfeed. After that first month or two we removed the shield all together and breastfeeding finally became easy!
There were no bottles to worry about preparing, no formula to buy, and no need to wake up the entire house in the middle of the night for feedings. I never 'forgot' the milk because it was always attached and came with me. However with this ease came speculation from my family; was he getting enough milk, how did I know how much he was eating, and how long will you continue were among the most common questions. To them I always reminded them that 500 years ago there were no bottles, no formula, and no speculation - you simple breastfed. If your body couldn't produce the milk back then there were wet nurses (milk mothers) who would feed your baby for you.
I continued to breastfeed my son even when I went back to work. I bought a double breastpump and talked to my male boss about my needs. That wasn't a comfortable topic to talk about but I had to let him know that when my office door was shut I couldn't have anyone popping in to chat. My privacy was respected and my journey continued. I even continued breastfeeding at 11 months when I found blood in my milk after pumping. I had called the OBGYN office and scheduled an appointment because in all honest it freaked me out! The midwife who saw me that day told me to QUIT breastfeeding and scheduled me a mammogram. Now - if you are laughing you'll know that this midwife (a male by the way) had no clue about cracked nipples - but then again neither did I. I decided to surf the web and found a LLL website and forum that was filled with information. I immediately called a local LLL contact and started asking questions. I was so relieved that I didn't listen to that midwife because the consultant on the phone explained the situation to me and told me that in a day or two (with the help of some nipple salve) I would be back to normal and that the blood would not hurt my baby. I actually had plenty of milk in our freezer at the time so I dumped the tomatoe juice looking milk until it returned to normal.
I continued to breastfeed my son until he was 11 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days old - just a few days shy of my one year goal. That was when my husband and I decided to take an anniversary vacation alone and a perfect time to wean.
Skip ahead 6 more years and we were blessed with a little girl. Of course this time I was already aimed with my nipple shield before I went to the hospital - just in case! To my surprise our little girl came out with the natural skills needed to latch on and was a pro but it still took a few weeks before my nipples had adjusted to the routine again. Her latch wasn't perfect so we practiced until the pain went away. I guess I'm stubborn because a lot of women these days simply turn to the bottle of formula
