My Breastfeeding Journey

Today I wanted to talk about my journey and experience breastfeeding. August was National Breastfeeding Month, and even though I am posting this blog technically in September, I still wanted to share my journey. I would have loved to post this in August, but you know, mom life... lol. I'm still getting the hang of balancing mom life with my new blog posts and video uploads, so bare with me! Hopefully as time goes on I'll get the hang of things a bit more.

Now first off, let me just explain that I am talking about my personal experience with breastfeeding. I am in no way, shape, or form expressing that there is a one specific or better way to feed your baby. However you are able to feed your baby, whether it be breastmilk or formula, doing what is best for you and baby is what matters, and I think it is amazing! Stick with what works for you! I just wanted to share my experience, and what I personally learned.

When I was pregnant with my firstborn, Talon, I honestly didn't do much, if any, research about breastfeeding. I just assumed after baby was born you just plopped them on your chest, and ta-da, you were breastfeeding! After Talon was born I quickly learned that was not at all the case. After Talon was born he would not latch, at all. I had nurse after nurse come in, accompanied by a lactation consultant and even my midwife on occasion. I was so grateful to have such amazing support to help me and Talon figure things out. But, even with all the support, it still took a while for us to get the hang of things.

It was one of the worst feelings ever, not being able to feed my baby. He would cry because he was hungry, and I would cry because all I wanted to do was feed him! The frustration was at such a high. Not to mention we were all exhausted from just recently going through labor and all of these new experiences.

One of the nurses came in with a nipple shield. Now, if you don't know what a nipple shield is, pretty much it's a piece of silicone that's shaped like a nipple. It goes over yours and can help your baby latch on a bit easier. After she brought that in and we tried it, we finally had a successful latch! I was so thankful she brought that in to us! We actually ended up using a nipple shield for nine months. Usually you only need a nipple shield for a week or two until you and baby figure things out without it, at least to my understanding. But, in our case we just couldn't figure things out without having that miracle piece of silicone on hand. Some nights were especially rough when Talon would wake up hungry and cranky, and I would fumble around in the dark for the clear piece to put on before I could grab him. Even though I'm extremely thankful that's what worked for us, I was so happy when we didn't have to use it anymore!

Another issue I had with Talon is I was able to barely produce enough milk for him. So he was able to stay nice and full, but I was never able to produce any extra to store away for later. So if I had an appointment I needed to go to, or an errand to run, I was unable to have an extra bottle on hand for my husband to watch him. I tried everything I could think of to up my supply. From tea, to milk brownies or cookies, fenugreek, etc. You name it and I tried it. But unfortunately nothing worked.

Talon breastfed until he was around two and a half. I know every mom and baby are different with what age they quit breastfeeding. I was actually surprised because Talon self weaned. He was an extreme comfort nurser from about age one till age two. Then after he turned two he started weaning himself. Weaning was a calm and enjoyable experience for us, which surprised me at the time because I always heard horror stories about weaning your child from breastmilk. If you would like me to write a separate blog about our weaning experience let me know by liking and tipping this post.

That concludes my breastfeeding journey with Talon. It honestly was full of difficult times, but at the same time it was so rewarding and I am so thankful I was able to figure things out with him! Now onto Koda...

So Koda was completely polar opposite with the whole experience. Of course it has to be that way, right? The moment you get the hang of things with one child, everything seems to always drastically change with the next. I was prepared for another difficult journey after he was born, but he surprised me by somehow knowing exactly what to do! Which is was so funny because he was born in such a crazy, hectic way. If you haven't read my post about his birth story, please go do so after finishing this! It's a funny one.

Him latching right away was the most amazing thing! I was so taken aback by it. Another amazing thing is not only did my milk come in quickly, but I produced extra that I was able to store away in our freezer! I produced plenty for Koda, and enough to fill our freezer full to the brim with extra milk. Which gave me so much more freedom to run an errand real quick and leave Koda with Brandon, because I knew he had plenty of milk while I was gone.

Koda has just turned eight months, and he currently still nurses for the majority of his meals. He has started to eat some solids, but shortly after he likes to comfort nurse to get that extra milk. I am planning on having Koda self wean when he is ready, just like Talon did. So hopefully that goes as smoothly this go around as it did before. I guess we will see, because every journey is different.

Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to read my blog about my breastfeeding journey! I also made a YouTube video about it, so if that interests you go check it out! I'll have it linked to this blog post. If you enjoyed this post please hit the little heart icon or send a tip to let me know you enjoyed it. It means the world to me and also helps me to write posts in the future.

I would love to read about your journey if you're interested in sharing? I love that breastfeeding is talked about a lot more nowadays, but I do think it needs to be continued to be talked about because we have so much we can learn from each other. And having each other's support in feeding our babies means so much, whether it be breastfeeding or formula. Both are beautiful.