Remembering my Many Breastfeeding Successes

“At first I thought ‘I don’t have a Success Story.’  My daughter latched easily shortly after birth, and we just passed her first birthday a few weeks ago, still nursing.  It was my goal to make it a year, and we did!  Right there is a success!

Then I thought about all the other breastfeeding successes we’ve had in the last year:

• Giving up dairy for about 6 months in an attempt to help with my daughter’s colic, which started around two weeks old.  I have no way to prove if it helped, but it seemed to make a difference.
• Being able to give surplus breast milk to my best friend and her daughter, who needed it due to supply issues.
• Pumping at work, despite the awkwardness of tucking myself into the corner, on the floor of an empty office with a glass door.  I work at an engineering company, with mostly men, and was terrified at first, but felt I had to do this for my daughter.
• Taking my lunch breaks to drive 10 min back and forth to daycare to feed her because just pumping during the day caused my supply to drop.
• Learning how to cope when her teeth came in and she thought biting mom was an awesome game.
• Taking supplements, pumping hourly, eating oatmeal and drinking my own weight in water when my supply started to drop, determined to keep breastfeeding.
• Getting over my fears and becoming comfortable nursing in public after I realized I needed to be able to go out and about for my own mental health.

So no, it’s not an amazing tale of overcoming adversity, but it’s a lot of success!”

Laurel, Manchester/Bolton, CT La Leche League

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