With all three of my girls, I had my fair share of obstacles while breastfeeding. Violet was such a big baby and I had a breast reduction the year prior so I fought to produce for her. I ended up supplementing with formula from the beginning and she just wouldn't latch. I pumped for seven LONG months and called it quits after that.
With June I was bound and determined to nurse. We also had our challenges that arose ie: reflux, RSV at four months, mastitis, etc. but I made it about ten months with her on the boob. My goal was a year, but since she's been a foodie from the beginning, she lost interest in nursing and never looked back.
When I found out I was pregnant with Rosie, I was adamant again that I would nurse her until she was one. Nursing started out great with her-- she latched right on and all of the nurses at the hospital were so impressed with the amount of colostrum I was producing, I basically left the hospital with “walking on sunshine” playing in my head. The first week at home went well and I thought I had conquered all of my nursing fears until week two hit. Rosie had to take a bottle for one reason or another (probably lack of sleep for me), she had developed horrible colic just like the other two had and with the combined issues, her nursing skills started to suffer. Like V and J, she had also gotten into a pattern of wanting to nurse every ½ hour and would never fully empty me. I ended up bottle feeding her more than I had planned just to be able to count the ounces she was getting in a day. Plus, it was easier to walk around with a bottle in her mouth vs. my boob. I felt defeated and overwhelmed, but I wasn’t willing to give up. I had talked to a friend when I was struggling to nurse June and I remembered she had the name of someone local who was a lactation consultant. Enter: Abbie Mullins :) I never contacted her with June, but wasn’t sure where to turn this time around so I gave her a call. She was patient, caring, super knowledgeable, and everything I needed. She helped me immensely, showed me different nursing positions for babies with colic, made me feel better about giving her the occasional bottle of expressed milk, and gave me loads of encouraging advice. Ro was nursing better and better as she grew out of the reflux and all was well until a couple of months ago when she randomly started refusing to nurse. It started out sporadic-- maaayyyybeee once a day, but after about a week she would just scream anytime I started to pull up my shirt. Like, scream to the point where Violet included our breastfeeding journey in her prayers at night. After a few days of this, I called Abbie back for reinforcement.
She came over two days later and helped me almost as much emotionally as she did physically. Just her presence was calming, and with a little manipulation and adjusting, Rosie latched on. She left me with these documents: leleche league (helping a mother with a baby who is reluctant to nurse) and Kellymom (HELP my baby won't nurse) .I referenced them on the regular, but below are the tips she offered that REALLY worked for me. There is obviously more info in the LLL and Kellymom articles, but these were the points that were key for us:
1. Go in a dark quiet room. Because she was about 5 months when this strike hit, she was becoming more aware of her surroundings and her sisters. Going in a room where it was quiet and dark helped both of us relax. Nowwwwww-- because my other girls are very busy, this wasn’t always the answer when my husband wasn’t home so this really only worked when I had someone to watch the other girls.
2. Bottle feed her and switch to nursing OR pump until your milk is flowing. Because Rosie got used to the fast flow of the bottle, she would get super frustrated when it would take a minute for my milk to let down. Going from the bottle and switching to me when she had calmed down helped to ease some of her frustration.
3. Stop fighting it. Probably one of my biggest problems was trying to force her to nurse when she didn’t want to. She would cry, I would cry, and it just turned into an overall stressful situation. I was told by Abbie not to wait until she was super hungry to feed her, but there were times, she just didn’t want to nurse.
4. Get up and bounce while she was latching. I know this sounds crazy, but it must have been distracting enough to her that it actually worked. Getting her mind off the fact that she was nursing (which apparently had a bad stigma in her mind), helped her to latch. After I would bounce her a bit and she was latched, I would sit down and she would continue to nurse.
5. Because she would nurse in middle night no problem (of course), I would often take her to the spot on my bed where she would nurse during the night. The feeling of that familiar spot must have brought her a sense of comfort and routine because this worked like a charm. Probably the most of all of the "tricks".
I still don't 100% know what would have caused Ro to go on her nursing strike in the first place. According to Abbie and the articles, there can be a number of reasons: stress (which was probably our biggest culprit since it was harvest and Scott was super busy), teething, colds or other illness, ear infections, the list goes on...).
It took between one to two weeks to get Ro back to the point where she would consistently nurse, but it has been well worth the effort. I totally get that breastfeeding isn't for everybody and every baby, but it was a goal I had for us before she was born, and something I had the desire to pursue. Going through a nursing strike can be stressful for all parties involved, but to me, the reward was worth the fight through it. I can't say enough about how positive my experience was with my local lactation consultant, and though I would say that Abbie is certainly THE best, I'm sure there are other wonderful gals out there like her. For some, nursing comes very natural-- for me, it didn't always and that's ok. Rosie will be eight months in two days and we are finally at the point where nursing is easy. I am so happy that Abbie helped me see the other side of the coin with Rosie; the part where breastfeeding is comforting, relaxing, and the way I always thought it would be.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions! And if you are in the Lansing area and a nursing or pregnant mama in need, Abbie is worth a phone call! Check out her instagram @abbimullins_childbirth_ed She teaches childbirth classes too! Oh, and she has not paid me to say ANY of this. She's just that great.
