I'm not sure yet if I will take this one off the sidebar, but I wanted to dedicate a post to this link. I do not consider myself an advocate, but I am definitely passionate about breastfeeding. There are so many benefits to the mother and baby both.
My own history: I did believe it was important with my first, but for some stupid reason I thought it was inconvenient at the time (I was extremely modest and he was on a schedule), so I gave him too many bottles of formula and was dried up by 6 1/2 months.
By the time #2 came along, I finally realized it was MORE convenient to breastfeed! What a blessing! I nursed her as long as I possibly could, which ended up being 15 months. I would have gone to age 2 or 3 if I had enough milk. :(
Number 3 was pretty much the same, but I only made it to one year. I barely made it. The last time I nursed him was on his first birthday. I was so sad. :(
Number 4 got off to a horrible start because he was in NICU for nearly 3 weeks. I have never tried so hard in my life though. I wanted to make this work and aimed for breaking my record of 15 months. Long story short, I ended up having to supplement at 8 months because he was still under 12 pounds. He had only gained 13 ounces between 5 and 8 months of age. So I threw in the towel and supplemented (even though I was told to STOP breastfeeding), and I dried up and stopped nursing him by 11 months. I was very sad (I cried when he was diagnosed "Failure to Thrive" because I knew he needed more from me), but I was happy that we at least lasted as long as we did.
If/when our Father in heaven decides to bless us with another baby, I am focusing more on a healthy pregnancy to avoid the problems I had before. They are preventable! So I am hoping to have a healthy pregnancy and birth and then finally have that "perfect" breastfeeding experience. But we live in a fallen, broken world, so we'll pray and see what happens!
Check out this site if you or someone you know has any questions at all regarding breastfeeding!
My own history: I did believe it was important with my first, but for some stupid reason I thought it was inconvenient at the time (I was extremely modest and he was on a schedule), so I gave him too many bottles of formula and was dried up by 6 1/2 months.
By the time #2 came along, I finally realized it was MORE convenient to breastfeed! What a blessing! I nursed her as long as I possibly could, which ended up being 15 months. I would have gone to age 2 or 3 if I had enough milk. :(
Number 3 was pretty much the same, but I only made it to one year. I barely made it. The last time I nursed him was on his first birthday. I was so sad. :(
Number 4 got off to a horrible start because he was in NICU for nearly 3 weeks. I have never tried so hard in my life though. I wanted to make this work and aimed for breaking my record of 15 months. Long story short, I ended up having to supplement at 8 months because he was still under 12 pounds. He had only gained 13 ounces between 5 and 8 months of age. So I threw in the towel and supplemented (even though I was told to STOP breastfeeding), and I dried up and stopped nursing him by 11 months. I was very sad (I cried when he was diagnosed "Failure to Thrive" because I knew he needed more from me), but I was happy that we at least lasted as long as we did.
If/when our Father in heaven decides to bless us with another baby, I am focusing more on a healthy pregnancy to avoid the problems I had before. They are preventable! So I am hoping to have a healthy pregnancy and birth and then finally have that "perfect" breastfeeding experience. But we live in a fallen, broken world, so we'll pray and see what happens!
Check out this site if you or someone you know has any questions at all regarding breastfeeding!
I have always had an easy time brestfeeding and took it for granted.
ReplyDeleteI hope that you can have a successful experience next time.
BTW we have one circ'd and one intact.
I say congrats on breastfeeding as long as you can.I tried w/my first and didn't have the support I needed so I cracked and bled till I gave up at two weeks.Little did I know there was a way to prevent my problem. 2nd baby I nursed him for about a month before I started cracking and bleeding. Still no help. Finally on my third child I nursed until she was 18 months and she wanted to give it up so I was sad.Now the fourth child I have just stopped nursing a few days, yes I said days and she turned three on Mar 25th. So I am so happy w/that.I just hope she doesn't decide to go back now that I am probably dried up now after a few days.I also hope I am successful w/this next one.
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