Jordan’s Breastfeeding Story
Jordan was born at 9:35 p.m. by C-section after a difficult induced labor. I wasn't allowed to nurse him right away because they said they needed to check him over since he was born by C-section. After I returned to my room, I kept asking for him, but the nurse said she needed to bathe him first. I kept bugging them until they finally brought him to me at 2:30 a.m. At the time I was convinced that they had probably given him a bottle, but now I think he might have just been sleeping off the drugs. He didn't want to nurse the first time I tried. He was too sleepy.
After about an hour, I tried again, and he latched on like an old pro. I had no idea what I was doing, except what I had read in books, and the nurses were really busy that night so I didn't have any help. The nurse did tell me that he was latched on "perfectly." Before my milk came in he wanted to suck all the time, so I finally decided to try a pacifier. It worked really well and didn't cause any nipple confusion.
My BF'ing neighbor had arranged for a lactation consultant friend to be on call to help me if needed, but we never needed her. My nipples didn't get sore, even in those first few weeks, and Jordan gained weight at an amazing pace. He doubled his birthweight in 8 weeks.
I had to return to work at 12 weeks. It was a struggle to get him to accept a bottle, but he finally cooperated. I have been pumping twice a day at work, since then, looking forward to the day when I can cut that down to once a day.
We have had some struggles with uneven supply, and refusal of once breast, but over all, breastfeeding has been great for us. I was expecting it to be a real struggle, but I have been amazed at how smoothly it went for us. I plan to breastfeed for at least 12 months -- we are halfway there now!!! Tara
