I’m going to take you back. Way back. We’re going to take a little journey back to when I had babies…
I gave birth to two baby girls, my first when I was 20 and second at 22. This is significant only because, due to my age, I wasn’t as mature as I was with later babies. In other words, I didn’t know jack about anything.
My First Baby
P was born nearly 6 weeks early, at 4# 7oz, and with gastroesophageal reflux. We began nursing in the hospital, with the staff CLC’s help. She had a good latch and nursed well, although she was a sleepy nurser.
Back then, I didn’t know anything about babies or breastfeeding, and so I relied on “experts” to tell me what I should do rather than use my own common sense and intuition. So when the head of pediatrics ordered my daughter to receive formula bottle supplements, and the hospital sent me home with 4 CASES of the stuff, I trusted them.
Three days later though, when the lactation consultant from the hospital called me to see how I was doing, she was greeted by my uncontrollable sobs interspersed with “won’t nurse”, “bottle”, “huge b*obs!” That lady was my guardian angel. She was at my apartment in 30 minutes and had rigged up a supplement system from some tubing and a baby bottle. Inside of an hour, we had P tricked into latching on and nursing like a champ.
Unfortunately, a few weeks later the reflux became a huge issue and that “wonderful” pediatrician told me she was allergic to my milk. I believed him. As I said, I was very naïve and thought the “expert” knew what he was talking about. I always felt like I failed her though. Super-long story short, P and I fumbled through breastfeeding for a total of 9 weeks.
