Victoria’s Breastfeeding Story.
Maia is presently 21mos old and is 35 inches tall and 47-50lbs. She
still nurses a lot at night, and usually a lot during the day. Sometimes
she nurses almost the whole night. She's only gained about 8lbs this
year as opposed to about 33lbs last year. At birth Maia was 9 lbs, 22
inches; 11 lbs at 3wks, 15 lbs at 1 mos, 19.7 lbs and 24 inches at 2
mos; about 25 lbs at 3 mos; about 30 lbs at 4 mos; 35.4 lbs and 29 3/4
inches at 6 mos, 35.9 lbs at 6 1/2 mos, 8 1/2 months weighed 37-40
pounds, at 11mos she was 30 inches and 41 1/2 lbs, at 12 mos 43lbs at
13 mos she was 31 inches and I'd guess between 43lbs and 45--we don't
have a good scale and haven't taken her to the dr's again to be weighed.
The dr. tried to get me to nurse her less, give her water when she woke
at night or a pacifier (this was when we saw her at 6mos). Maia wasn't
really interested in solids until 8mos. Now she's very interested, but
I still limit her as she's doing so well on breastmilk and I don't want
her to get a lot of empty calories from solids--and I don't want to
limit her nursing as she enjoys it so much so if she had lots of solids
and nursed the same, I think her weight would be even more. The dr.
wanted us to take her to an endocrinologist, she thinks Maia has a
hormonal imbalance, but she says other than her weight Maia is healthy.
We think she's just large and think she's fine, so I canceled the
appointment we made for April.
When Maia was born, she had trouble latching on correctly. My breasts
were very cracked and sore the first week. I was frustrated 'cause I
had trouble getting her on, she'd cry a lot 'cause she was hungry. When
she did get on, my toes nearly curled with the pain for the first few
minutes of the feed.
It turned out that the problem was more her than me. She wouldn't open
her mouth wide enough to latch on correctly and her tongue stayed up,
instead of down, interfearing with the latch on. A lactation specialist
spent a whole day and night working with me to try and find something to
help me--my nipples weren't flat or inverted. Finally I tried using a
nipple guard and that helped. I didn't like using it, but it helped her
latch on. I'd let Maia nurse awhile, then take her off and try to get
her on without the guard. That helped build our confidence in latching
on and also helped relieve my sore nipples.
My midwife suggested using breastshells instead--wearing them in my
nursing bra. This also helped Maia latch on more easily--although it
let my leaking get eveywhere! I wore the shells about 2 weeks, mostly
stayed at home and little company--thankfully 'cause the shells looked
very unattractive! Then I just stopped wearing them. Maia still had a
little problem latching on, but after a few tries she'd get on. Before
I knew it, 2 months had gone by and I suddenly realized Maia's tongue
stayed down and I could no longer remember the last time she'd not
latched on easily. At first I'd been depressed 'cause I thought I
couldn't nurse her, but when we figured out the problem, I wasn't depressed any more.
I nurse Maia quite a bit. Just recently she's started to show a little
interest in drinking from a sippy cup and occasionally sipping from my
cup of water...but most days unless we're going somewhere, I forget to
give her a sippy cup and if I do give her one she doesn't always want
it. All this to say Maia mostly nurses to get her liquids. She was
interested in solids late, not until about 8mos and even now she doesn't
always eat a lot. Some days Maia nurses all but a tiny bit for her
nutrition...unless some food happens to catch her fancy.
We're often home alone, which makes it easy to just nurse Maia whenever
she wants, and we don't always have to be very discrete. When we go
away, Maia is often pretty busy and doesn't nurse as much when we first
get there. For awhile she'd barely nurse when we went away, except when
we were alone at bed time. But the last time we went to visit my
parents, who live 2hrs away, she was back to wanting to nurse a lot
around them the 2nd day we were there...not always wanting to be
discreet. Often I had to just take her in a separate room to nurse
because she'd start to nurse, expose to much of my breast, get on and
off, basically not really nursing. My family is uncomfortable with my
nursing, which makes me feel a bit sensitive too. But a couple times
she did end up holding still enough for us to nurse quietly around my
parents.
I really enjoy nursing Maia. It is a pleasurable experience for me. I
like how she sometimes wants me to nurse her cars, books, babies,
whatever she decides needs nursing. Nursing is a positive experience for
me. I like that my breasts are useful and not mere sexual symbols as our
culture leads us to believe. Nursing gives us a lot of close time and
helps us slow down. Nursing almost always calms Maia down and gives her
comfort. When she's sick I don't have to worry about trying to force
food or liquids down her because she's
already nursing for comfort and will get her milk in the process.
I plan to allow Maia to self wean. I can't imagine not nursing Maia. We
both get a lot of joy from it. It helps me slow down and not be quite as
busy. If she wants to nurse I have to slow down and then we're together.
It gives Maia a safety base to come back to after exploring or when she
needs comfort. I feel good about still nursing Maia...she may be a
toddler, but she is really still a baby in many ways. When she's ready
to give up nursing, then we'll stop. I don't see any end in sight. When
another baby comes along I plan to tandem nurse if Maia is still
nursing.
Victoria, mama to nursling Maia Jan26 1996 woodsyee.mc@iwaynet.net
Diaper Delight Page
http://www.ddelight.com/
