My son was born on Thursday July 21, 2011. Right after he was born, he was placed on my chest and immediately starting rooting around for my breast. He latched on easily and I thought breastfeeding was going to come naturally to us. However, the next day I started to experience a lot of pain while breastfeeding. I met with 3 lactation consultants and they all helped me with latching him on properly. Despite a proper latch, I still experienced constant pain in my nipples. They became so cracked, bloody, and sore that I had to resort to formula feeding. The following Monday I met with another lactation consultant and she asked me to try breastfeeding while she was there. Within 5 minutes, I was in so much pain that I was close to tears. We stopped breastfeeding and she took a look at my nipples. To my surprise, she suggested something that not even my doctor had suggested. She brought up that my nipples looked very short and that part of the problem might be that they aren't stretching when my son sucks on them to reach back to where they need to be. She then took out a nipple shield and asked me to try breastfeeding with that on. So after fumbling to put it on and learning how it works, I took my son to my breast and latched him on. Instantly I felt a huge difference while using the shield. There was NO pain at all and my son was eagerly sucking and swallowing my milk with no trouble at all. It's now been a week since I've gotten the nipple shield and I have since been exclusively breastfeeding my son. It took a lot of determination to get through those first few days and to continue to strive to breastfeeding, but I'm so glad that I did not give up on something I wanted so much. He is now above his birth weight and doing so well. So much so that my doctor has mentioned using the nipple shield long term as long as no problems come up. It is not how I ideally wanted breastfeeding to go, but I'm so thankful that I can give my son something so beneficial despite how it has to happen.
I hope my story can inspire other young moms to not give up on breastfeeding so quickly. To many of us, it is something we have to work at and try different things to make it work, but the end result is all the same :)
Thanks so much Cecillia for share your story with us and you proved that we can succeed and overcome any booby trap.
great pages to find breastfeeding support:
http://theleakyboob.com/
kellymom
Dr. Sears
La Leche League
Peaceful Parenting
Aunt lactivist
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