1 Year of Breastfeeding!

In honor of World Breastfeeding Week and the fact that my youngest daughter's birthday is in the same week, I thought I would write a short post about my 2nd time around.

With my oldest daughter, BooBoo, I knew I wanted to breastfeed. I read all about the benefits, pros, cons and everything in between. She and I had a few problems but we managed to breastfeed for an amazing 14 months. When we found out that we were expecting Bug there was no question as to whether we would breastfeed or not. So, I re-read some of my old information, learned as much new information as I could and mentally prepared myself. August 5, 2009 Bug was born and so began my second journey with breastfeeding.

The very first time she nursed, she latched on beautifully. Then we started to have a few problems when my milk came in. I met with the local Lactation Consultant who informed me that my nipples were too large for Bug's little mouth. The LC said that once Bug got bigger we would have no problems but for the time being I would need to double check her latch everytime. Then when Bug was 10 days old I suffered through a bout of mastitis. That is something I would not wish on anyone. The mastitis put a damper on my supply but through pumping and extra nursing I slowly built it back up. I went back to work part-time when Bug was 2 months old. For 3 1/2 months (until I quit my job) J fought Bug and the bottle. She would NOT take the bottle no matter how hard we tried. I had to pump extra just to keep my supply up and it all just became too much to handle so J and I decided that I would stay home with the girls. My next joy in breastfeeding was teething. Bug would fuss at the boob and only nurse for a few minutes at a time. She also bit me once hard enough to draw blood. But after a firm NO and Mommy crying, she never bit me again. We are now at 12 months of breastfeeding and Bug is still on the boob 4-5 times a day. It sounds like a lot but it is just: first thing when we wake up, at first nap, at second nap, before bed and either once before I go to bed or one extra time during the day.

I am slightly dreading the day that she weans completely. I love our cuddle time and really am not ready to give that up. But it will be nice to buy some cute bras from Victoria's Secret and actually get to wear them. I love being a breastfeeding mom and would not change anything.