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This post is part of a series of posts from bloggers with babies who have breastfed. In honor of my journey of breastfeeding ending with my son, I asked five different bloggers to share their breastfeeding stories with us all. My hopes with this series is to share the differences in each woman’s experience. I also want to highlight the fact that not one of these mothers did the same thing in their breastfeeding journey and that all of their babies are beautiful and healthy. Moms— Do the best you can do for  you and your child. That is what counts!

 

The Experience of Breastfeeding: Megan and Ruthie & Afton

by Megan of The Boho Mama
I’m super excited to be introducing you to Megan who is going to give us a look into breastfeeding not one, but TWO babies. Megan is a generous, kind soul and I am so lucky to know her and her family in real life and on the web. She blogs over at The Boho Mama about her journey as the mother of twins, natural parenting, and more. She just finished writing 31 days about breastfeeding… and, I’m telling you, there is SO much information that I totally could have use during my breastfeeding journey. Megan also has an eBook out called, “More Milk, Naturally.” She has graciously offered to give a copy away here on the blog! Check back later today for the giveaway!

1. Why did you decide to breast feed?

My mom nursed all three of her kids, so it was something I was comfortable with and just assumed I would do. It wasn’t until I started reading more about the incredible benefits – both for mom and baby – of breast milk that I was totally sold. When I found out I was having twins, I was even more resolved to make it work!

2. What was your biggest challenge with breast feeding?

We’ve had a lions share of challenges, actually. First, there is the assumption by many that women can’t produce enough for two babies, which couldn’t be further from the truth, but it does take a lot of awareness and dedication to protecting your milk supply when there is more than one. As soon as they were born I started pumping around the clock! I also became a little obsessed with milk-making foods, but the great product of that obsession was my e-Book, so now I get to share what I’ve learned with all the other mamas out there. Oh, and we relied on nipple shields for almost 5 months – messy and inconvenient, but one day they just decided they were done using them without me having to “wean” them, so that was good!
Second, we found out that the girls both had tongue and lip ties after 10 months of uncomfortable nursing. It was pretty painful, and I knew something was wrong, but it wasn’t until I saw the 4th lactation consultant that she confirmed that there was a problem. Once it was fixed, it felt so much better. But I was so upset that we had gone that long, even when I explicitly asked the LC’s about it.
Third, just the nature of twins means somebody always needs something, and that includes nursing. For the first three months of their lives, I don’t think I got up more than to eat and go to the bathroom. Otherwise, it was all nursing all the time. It was and still is a little exhausting, but they grow up so fast and now those early milk-soaked days are a little bittersweet.

3. What was your greatest breast feeding moment?

My greatest moment was when we came home from the NICU and I decided that we would throw the schedules out the window and go strictly on-demand. In the hospital, they tried to scare me into supplementing with formula, and that I wasn’t making enough. But I knew that I could, and I knew that is what they needed. We never looked back, and it’s been so amazing, despite the many times when I wanted to throw in the towel and give up. Then, every week that we made it after that was my greatest moment. And, 15 months later, it still is such a great moment when I look back on how far we’ve come.

4. Did you solely breast feed? Supplement with formula or solid food?

The girls were fortunate enough to have donor breast milk in the NICU, which I am so, so thankful for. They had a little supplemental formula added to my breast milk the days or two before they came home, but I stopped that immediately after they were discharged. If I was going to give my body the chance to make enough and meet the demand, I really could not afford to supplement at all. Luckily, it paid off and my body made more than enough milk for the two of them.

5. At what age did you introduce solids? Any tips you can give mommies?

My girls were late to the solids game. They weren’t interested until around 9 months. I would give them a little bit of a soft-boiled egg yolk and coconut oil before that, or some mashed avocado and banana, but they didn’t want vegetables. I was worried at first, but everything that I read said not to rush them, and when they were ready, they would certainly let me know. Now they’re really into food, but for some reason, are still really into nursing, too. I thought they’d nurse less as they ate more, but that hasn’t happened!

6. Did you have a breast feeding goal?

My goal was simple: as long as I had milk, we would nurse. What that means for when we’ll stop, I’m still not sure!

7. Have you weaned? If so, how did you go about it?

We’ve weaned through a night feeding, so they’re now sleeping after a 10pm feeding until around 6am. It’s been gloriously needed, because before that they were waking up every 3-4 hours. I’m still not sure how or when we’ll wean, I just can’t bring myself to think about it or make a plan!

8. Any tips for mommies out there thinking about breast feeding?

My biggest tip is that when you think you can’t go on, just go one more day. Then, that one more day turns into a week, and into a month, and pretty soon you’ve hit a year. You will not be sorry, and will be so proud of yourself! Honestly, almost every single mama I’ve talked to that stopped early wishes she hadn’t. It’s hard when you’re in the throes of sleep deprivation and you just want your life back, but when you come through it, it’s an absolutely amazing experience.
Oh, and seek help out as soon as you think something isn’t right, don’t wait! Find a lactation consultant that you like, and see more than one. They all have something different to offer. They have been a lifesaver for me and I don’t think I would have made it this far without their help.
My last piece of advice is to eat well and often, and as clean as you can with lots of good fats. No dieting! 🙂

 

Thank you so much to Megan for sharing her breastfeeding experience and being part of the “experience of breast feeding” post series! Please leave Megan your love in the comments section! And, don’t forget to come back later today for a chance to win Megan’s ebook, “More Milk Naturally.”
I’m linking this post up to the following parties:

 

 

This post is part of a series of posts from bloggers with babies who have breastfed. In honor of my journey of breastfeeding ending with my son, I asked five different bloggers to share their breastfeeding stories with us all. My hopes with this series is to share the differences in each woman’s experience. I also want to highlight the fact that not one of these mothers did the same thing in their breastfeeding journey and that all of their babies are beautiful and healthy. Moms— Do the best you can do for  you and your child. That is what counts! 
 
 

The Experience of Breastfeeding: Katherine and Rylee & Reese

by Katherine of Somewhere in the Middle
 
Hey there! I’m Katherine. First of all, thanks Jenni for asking me to be a part of your breastfeeding series! I blog over at Somewhere in the Middle. I have a slight obsession with coffee, making lists w/ check boxes and post-it notes. I’ve been married for 7 years to a guy I’ve known my entire life and who I’ve had a crush on since I was 14.I’m mama to two little girls; Rylee, 4 {and a half!, if you ask her} and Reese, 3 months. I never realized the journey breastfeeding would take me on…I’ve gone from one extreme to the next in regard to my feelings on breastfeeding my girls. I’ve loved it, I’ve hated it, I’ve wished it wouldn’t take so long, I’ve cherished the quiet time with my girls, etc etc. Bottom line, I’m thankful I’ve been able to maintain breastfeeding while working full time outside the home and even having to travel on occasion. 
1. Why did you decide to breast feed? To be honest, the main reason I set out to breastfeed was because of the money it would save us.
 

2. What was your biggest challenge with breast feeding? With my oldest, Rylee, we had latching issues pretty early on. She seemed to be doing great in the hospital, then our very first night home I couldn’t get her to latch on my right side. She went almost 12 hours without eating. At the same time, my milk was coming in with a vengeance, making it even harder each feeding for me to even try to get her to latch. Thankfully, the first thing the next morning we went straight to my OB’s office to meet with the lactation consultant. We determined I needed a nipple shield to help with Ry’s latch. I left that consultation with a brand new baby that was finally able to eat and a brand new breast pump, just in case. We were able to ditch the shield when she was about 4 months old.
With Reese, she had a little bit of a rough time latching on my right side as well, but we were able to work through that without the use of the shield. My biggest challenge with her was a painful latch between 1 & 2 weeks in. I would clinch my jaw, dig my feet into the ground and ball up my hands into fists every single time she started to nurse.
Traveling for work while breastfeeding always presented its own challenge as well. I’ve navigated pumping in some pretty crazy places like airport restrooms, porta-potties at events and most recently a bathroom stall at a NASCAR race. There’s just something about going through airport security with 100+ ounces of breast milk that’s always fun. 
3. What was your greatest breast feeding moment? Hands down, my greatest breastfeeding moment to date just happened last week. I’ve been blessed with an abundant milk supply and had an ever-growing freezer supply so I decided to donate nearly all of my freezer supply to a mama that’s been struggling with producing milk and her 3 week old baby.
4. Did you solely breast feed? Supplement with formula or solid food? Kind of a funny story…when Rylee was 11 months old she pretty much turned up her nose at the boob. She was done. I kind of freaked out. Between continuing to pump and my freezer stash she continued with only breast milk for about 2 more weeks. When all that was gone & my supply had dried up, 2 weeks before her first birthday, we bought her formula and gave that to her until she turned 1. Hindsight? She would have been fine going straight to cow’s milk, but I was so concerned that all the books said to wait until 1 year.
So far with Reese we’ve been solely breast milk.
5. At what age did you introduce solids? Any tips you can give mommies? We started Rylee on solids just after she was 6 months old. We started with barley cereal, mixed with breast milk. I’m thinking we’ll do the same thing with Reese. As far as tips go? Well, I’ll be asking for them for Reese! It’s been 4 years since we’ve done this! Haha.
I did really like the book “Super Baby Food”. I’ll probably reference that as we start to think about introducing solids to Reese.
6. Did you have a breast feeding goal? My goal for breastfeeding has always been just to do it as long as made sense/I was able to. Ultimately, in the back of my mind I had the one year mark as my goal, but I also knew that sometimes things don’t work out quite like I may have planned and I didn’t want to get down on myself if it didn’t work out.
7. Have you weaned? If so, how did you go about it? I mentioned earlier that Rylee weaned herself at 11 months. No matter how many times I offered to nurse her, she wanted nothing to do with it. 
And right now, Reese is so little I don’t even want to think about her weaning. I’d like to just stop time right now, thankyouverymuch.  But seriously, if she doesn’t wean herself like her older sister did, I’ll probably start slowly cutting out nursing sessions starting when she’s about a year old.
8. Any tips for mommies out there thinking about breast feeding? I guess my best tip would be, just give it a shot. It may not be easy. It doesn’t come naturally to everyone and that’s ok. Parenting is tough stuff. Sometimes breastfeeding is awesome. Sometimes it’s not. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you struggle with it. It’s perfectly normal. Bottom line is this: you need to do what’s best for you and your baby and only you can determine what “right” is.
 
 

 

Thank you so much to Katherine for sharing her breastfeeding experience and being part of the “experience of breast feeding” post series! Please leave Katherine your love in the comments section! 

I’m linking this post up in these parties: 

Beautiful ThursdaysPhotobucket

This post is part of a series of posts from bloggers with babies who have breastfed. In honor of my journey of breastfeeding ending with my son, I asked five different bloggers to share their breastfeeding stories with us all. My hopes with this series is to share the differences in each woman’s experience. I also want to highlight the fact that not one of these mothers did the same thing in their breastfeeding journey and that all of their babies are beautiful and healthy. Moms— Do the best you can do for  you and your child. That is what counts! 

 

The Experience of Breastfeeding: Kira & Pearl

by Kira of Rain OR Shine
I met Kira online over a year ago when she and I were both pregnant. Her blog, Rain OR Shine, was such fun to read while pregnant with my son (she was just a month behind me in her pregnancy). It is even more fun to read now that she posts the most adorable photos of Pearl and her Portlander Problems series (SO FUNNY!) I have been lucky enough to also meet this lovely lady and her daughter in real life. (And, yes… she is really that beautiful and ridiculously sweet to boot!)

 

1. Why did you decide to breast feed?

I decided to breast feed for two reasons. The main reason was because it’s an undisputed fact that breast milk is just better for your baby than formula.  She gets the antibodies from my milk that she wouldn’t get from formula to help keep her from getting sick.  It is also easier for babies to digest.  The second reason is that it’s free and babies are expensive!  You have to buy so much for those tiny little people so it’s nice to not spend all of that money on formula as well.

2. What was your biggest challenge with breast feeding?

My biggest challenge was during the first four months of Pearl’s life.  She would often eat for an entire hour and was eating every two hours during the day.  That meant I was feeding her for an hour, I had an hour break, and then it started all over again.

3. What was your greatest breast feeding moment?

I didn’t have a specific moment, but we had a week where things finally started to click. Pearl started eating more efficiently and I realized that I was really figuring out how best to help her eat when she was having reflux issues.  I noticed that we were working together and that we were finally at a point where breast feeding had become “easy.”  In my birthing class, the instructor said that would happen when Pearl was around 6 weeks.  For us it really didn’t happen until she was four months, but I was so glad we stuck it through once we got to that point!

4. Did you solely breast feed? Supplement with formula or solid food?

Pearl was exclusively breast fed until she was six months old.  At that point I started making baby food to incorporate into her diet.  She started taking a lot more bottles of pumped milk at that point because she hated the cover I used when I tried to feed her in public.  She would refuse to eat, cry, and pull on it until she exposed me to everyone nearby.  I’m a pretty modest person and I just couldn’t deal with that.  So, when I didn’t have the opportunity to feed her behind a closed door or in the car, I made sure to always have a bottle with me.  By the time she was eight months old, I was so tired of pumping so I stopped.  We used up the rest of the milk in our freezer and I started supplementing with formula on occasion.  Between that point and the time she was a year old, I think I bought three containers of formula so she was still mostly breast fed.  By the time she was a year, I switched from supplementing with formula to organic whole milk.

5. At what age did you introduce solids? Any tips you can give mommies?

I waited until six months to introduce solids.  We never had any issues.  Pearl absolutely loves food and was willing to eat just about anything.  She only refused peas, but was willing to eat them mixed with other foods.  I don’t have many tips because we didn’t really have challenges there to overcome.  I used the Baby Bullet to make her food.  Pretty much any food processor would work, but I really love all of the little food storage containers that came with it.

6. Did you have a breast feeding goal?

I wanted to breast feed until she was a year old.  I didn’t have any strict rules on what that meant, and I wouldn’t have been super disappointed if it hadn’t worked out for that long.  I am glad that it did though.

7. Have you weaned? If so, how did you go about it?

Pearl is almost 13 months and she only nurses first thing in the morning now.  She doesn’t seem to have a preference between the boob and a bottle so I recently gave up the evening feeding and just give her whole milk before bed.  I don’t think she would care if I stopped nursing tomorrow, but breast feeding first thing in the morning is just so much more convenient than making a bottle.  I pull her out of her crib and nurse her while I am in bed.  It gives me time to wake up and she often falls back to sleep when she nurses in the morning so that is pretty nice too.  I’m not sure how I am ever going to give up the morning feeding.

8. Any tips for mommies out there thinking about breast feeding?

It might be hard at first.  In fact, it probably will be.  You will consider giving up so many times.  But it gets so much easier.  It feels great to know that you are doing what is best for your child even if it is a little more work at the beginning.  You and your baby will figure it out together.  So I guess my tip would be to give it more time than you probably want to.  Stick it out and you will be glad that you did.

Thank you so much to Kira for sharing her breastfeeding experience and being part of the “experience of breast feeding” post series! Please leave Kira your love in the comments section!

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