Struggles With Breastfeeding

Before I become pregnant, I always knew that I would breastfeed. I know that breastfeeding offers so many benefits for the baby and mommy.

• Helps build the baby's immune system
• Helps prevent certain cancers in the mother
• Helps promote uterine contractions to speed recovery
• Helps promote mommy baby bonding

This is what I intended for myself and baby.

Complications in Labor

I had what I call a traumatic labor. My blood pressure was really high. Therefore, after the baby was born I was put on a strong hypertension medication. The medicine made me feel really woozy and not my usual self. Not to mention that I hadn't slept in 48 hours.

I felt that it was best for my baby to spend the night in the nursery because I knew that I could not properly care for him. I was on strong medication, on bed rest, and had a catheter. 

In the Hospital

From day one my son was receiving formula from a bottle. And with that he could barely suck.

The hospital knew that I had every intention of breastfeeding, so they scheduled me with a lactation consultant. She came and showed me how to get Matthew to latch on and express some colostrum. 

She gave me a hospital breast pump and told me to pump my breast every three hours. This was hard to do because I had so many visitors and I am a bit modest. She also gave me a manual pump to take home with me.

While I was in the hospital my milk did not come in. I had to feed my baby formula just to make sure he was eating. And I thought that if he was having trouble sucking a bottle; a breast would be nearly impossible.

At Home

Once we returned home, I still had no milk. I would pump and get discouraged because I wasn't seeing results.

My milk finally came in on day 5 after I let my son latch for about 2 minutes. However, it still wasn't enough to feed him with. So, I mixed my breast milk with the formula. 

Sometimes I could pump about 1 once of milk. I wasn't satisfied with this so I decided to rent a hospital pump for a week. And honestly I got about the same amount of milk with the manual.

I started trying to put my son to the breast more but he hates them. Every time I try to feed him he screams and pushes them away. Sometimes he latches but he never sucks long enough to get full.

I still haven't completely given up but I must be honest, I don't know if it is worth trying any more because I think my milk is drying up. My doctor want him to have rice cereal with each bottle because of acid reflux; he will only be receive pumped milk. 

I hope I don't get any negative feedback but I don't know if my baby can breastfeed. Right now we are just focusing on helping him gain enough weight.