Stephanie's Breastfeeding Story.
I gave birth to my second daughter, Jenny, one evening in a hot August,
1995. My first daughter, Gena, was 4 by this time and anxiously
awaiting her new baby sister. When Gena was born, I was nervous about
the whole breastfeeding idea but decided to give it a try. She was such
a good nurser that it was a truly rewarding experience for both of us.
So when my Jenny was born, naturally I was all set to nurse again. The
first night in the hospital was a tough one, she cried at my breast
quite a bit. The nurses told me she may be a hungrier than usual child
and she will be content when my milk comes in. Unfortunately, it wasn't
so. She continued to cry at my breast nearly every feeding time. The
only one that was somewhat peaceful was the middle of the night feeding.
She was too tired and hungry to cry, I could only assume. What was
happening was: she would latch on and eat for a few minutes and then
start crying, sometimes screaming. This problem only got worse as time
wore on. It was pretty tough some times getting her to eat more to get
to the hind milk. But thankfully, she was gaining weight just fine and
growing well. Her doctor and my friends suggested trying out some
things to make my milk better for her before quitting breastfeeding. I
tried some Vitamin B and other remedies. She still continued to cry,
now every time. She would squirm and cry, then keep latching back on, I
knew she was hungry but angry that something in my milk was bothering
her. I made it two months nursing her and decided the best thing would
be to quit. It had become much too frustrating for both of us. It
saddened me deeply.
So we started formula, luckily she took to a bottle just fine, she
seemed to be thankful to be eating. But after two weeks, the crying and
squirming began again. And slowly progressed for the worse. So off to
the doctor we go. By this time, she is 3 and 1/2 months old. His
suggestion was to thicken her formula with cereal. I was worried
because she was so young still but I tried just a bit to make the
formula a slight thicker. She didn't cry! When she would cry, I would
put just a bit more cereal in. I had to cut the bottle nipples, criss
cross, to make the eating for her easier. It was just too bad there was
no way to have made my breast milk thicker. We had to continue this
solution until she was 12 months. Thankfully, she made the transition to
solids and milk just fine. I was worried about allergies since it seemed
that was the case with my breast milk. But she is one happy, healthy
toddler now!
Stephanie
