I hesitate to write at this point, because our problems aren't over yet, and Nathan is only 3 months old. But I think what we have gone through might be good for others to hear and learn from.
I always wanted to breastfeed, but feared that a prescription I was on would make it impossible. I had to get off of it for pregnancy, and worried that if I needed it again after he was born, it would rule out breastfeeding. Fortunately, I found out from a Lactation consultant (LC) that it didn't interfere in any way with nursing.
Nathan was born July 17, 1998. My plans before his birth were not to allow him to be supplemented in the hospital, but I was thwarted in several ways. One, I was told that he was likely to be hypoglycemic and need formula because I am diabetic. (I have since learned that the best thing for hypoglycemia is colostrum and mother's milk.) Two, a pediatrician on staff at the hospital scared me about exaggerated risks of dehydration. It was summertime, so I took his warnings to heart. Later I learned that dehydration, too, is extremely rare.
By his third day of life, Nathan was extremely nipple confused. He was completely unable to latch on. The only way I could feed him was to express my milk into a bottle. When he was five days old, I went to an appointment with an LC. She made all the difference in the world. She agreed that his problem was nipple confusion, and gave me a nipple shield. She told me to try to get him to latch on without it first at each feeding, and to cut off 1/4 of an inch off the shield per day.
I was hesitant to cut anything off that shield, because he was nursing with it, and I feared that if anything was cut off, he would refuse. I only cut it twice, and one time was only an eighth of an inch. The first time we tried after cutting a piece off was very difficult, but he did figure it out. And within 4 1/2 days, he was back on the breast. I was thrilled!
When he was four weeks old, I started noticing an odd rash on one nipple. It didn't bother me at all, but I figured I would ask my OB about it at my follow up appointment at six weeks. By six weeks, the rash was almost gone (temporarily), to the doctor didn't know what it was. But we were having another problem then.
My milk was coming so fast, it was flooding Nathan, so he would throw a fit and refuse to eat more than five minutes or so. Again, I made an appointment with another LC. She thought the problem was what is called overactive let-down reflex. Basically this means that a mother is actually making too much foremilk, so the baby doesn't get any hindmilk.
You hardly ever hear about this problem, but it seems to be a very common one. Sometimes, mothers with this problem think their baby is allergic to their milk, because the over abundance of fore milk makes the baby gassy and fussy. I was told to be sure Nathan was latched on properly, and feed him on only one side for a three or four hour period before offering the other side. I also found it very helpful to feed Nathan while lying flat on my back, which allowed gravity to work for him, rather than against him. It could take just a feeding or two, or it could take some three weeks, but eventually, Nathan should get my supply regulated, and it should solve the problem. Recurrence was not likely.
It took just over two weeks to solve. To my surprise, two days later, it came back, as bad as it had ever been. During this time, I had been in contact with the LC quite a bit. When I came in for the consultation at six weeks, she noticed that he came off the breast a number of times before he was done, which is unusual.
When the overactive let-down came back, she asked me if Nathan had white spots in his mouth or a diaper rash. She asked if I had a rash of any sort on my nipples, or nipple or breast pain during feedings. She was thinking that I might have thrush, and that might be causing the overactive let down. (When the baby comes off repeatedly, each time he latches back on, it tells my body to make more milk.)
I didn't think I had any of those things. We continued to try to get rid of the overactive let-down for another week and a half, when it finally cleared up. Toward the end of that time, the LC finally decided to send me a leaflet on thrush with pictures in it, for me to see if maybe then I thought I had thrush.
When I saw the pictures, suddenly it all clicked. The "rash" on my areola that I had first seen at four weeks, that I thought had cleared up? Well, what remained was just a lighter colored portion of areola. And that lighter color resembled one of the pictures. The doctor got me and Nathan started on a prescription to treat the thrush, about two days after the overactive let-down was resolved for the second time.
The LC told me the thrush could get worse before it got better. It did, all right. And three days after starting treatment, the overactive let-down came back all over again. In two weeks, the thrush was as bad as ever. I went to see the doctor about it, and he had me just treat it more often with the same stuff as before. As I write, we've been treating it more often for some five or six days, with no improvement yet. There are other methods of treatment if this doesn't work.
Soon after I started treating the thrush the first time, when Nathan was miserable due to the thrush, the overactive let-down, or a combination of the two, I almost quit. I felt like putting him through the gassiness and pain that he was having while nursing wasn't fair to him. I prayed about it, and felt that the Lord was leading me to continue.
Besides that, I thought about the relationship Nathan and I are developing in spite of all the trouble we've had. I thought of him, lying there, latched on, looking up at me, then falling asleep while nursing, coming off the breast, and laying his head on it like a pillow. Somehow, a bunch of plastic, some powder and water seemed like a very poor substitute for me. So I'm still trying to make this work.
I hope that soon, we will be able to put our troubles behind us. Nathan is three months old now, and we've had continuing troubles since he was six weeks old. In spite of the difficulty, we share a special bond. He doesn't even know how to take a bottle anymore! I'm so glad we've had this experience!
And there would have been no way without the help of a Lactation Consultant (LC).
I would encourage anyone with nursing difficulty to get in touch with one. If you are having trouble, they can work with you to find what the problem is and get you on the right track. You don't have to be another person with a breast feeding failure story. And solving the problem is well worth while.