Ahhh… Breastfeeding. Today, we are celebrating Luke turning ONE YEAR OLD (insert silent crying here. slow down, kids!) *I* am also celebrating something else today: ONE FULL YEAR of Exclusively Breastfeeding Luke!!!

Now, for some women this may be no big deal but for me, it’s a HUGE deal. I grew up with a larger than normal chest. It was a major source of insecurity for me and because of that, in 2007 (at the ripe age of 20) I chose to have Breast Reduction/Lift surgery with small implants to keep them sitting how they “should.” I didn’t think I wanted to have children and I certainly hadn’t thought about breast feeding anyone at this point. Not only did I have one surgery, I also had to have an emergency second surgery two weeks after the first due to going back to work too soon at the salon and having torn tissue with bleeding from the inside. To make it all even worse, that second surgery would be the cause of battling recurring staph infections from the incision site for YEARS. Needless to say, when I got pregnant with Ellie just a year and a half later, I quickly found where everything on the inter webs told me that it would be very unlikely that I would be able to nurse my baby. This surgery absolutely CAN make a woman unable to breastfeed, the struggle is legit, I know. I still wanted to try, though!

When Ellie was born, in addition to the not so great birth, I also had to go back to work at the salon just two weeks after she arrived. (I’ll share her birth story in October) I THOUGHT I was doing everything I needed to do to have milk for her. I took fenugreek, pumped when I wasn’t with her, etc. She was really only a few days old before I assumed she wasn’t getting enough milk and I supplemented her with formula. I remember crying so hard over this. I felt like my body failed me and that I made a huge mistake getting the breast reduction surgery. I assumed I didn’t have enough milk which led to further insecurities and more assumptions that it was due to damage from my surgery. Ellie was nursed and supplemented until about 4-5 months old and then she was exclusively formula fed. She had terrible digestive issues but is today a VERY healthy 8 year old!

When I was pregnant with Elijah, I knew that no matter what I was going to breastfeed him and REALLY give it my all. I didn’t have to go to a job outside of the home plus I had my husband working from home with me. I hired my Doula to help me have the birth experience I wanted which I felt like would help me with breastfeeding from the start as well. (I’ll share his birth story in August) Another set of challenges presented itself with Elijah. Looking back, I now know that he had an undiagnosed Lip/Tongue tie that kept my nipples raw and bleeding, sometimes scabbing over on the sheets while I slept, for FIVE WEEKS! Due to the ties, he would nurse ALL. DAY. LONG. and wasn’t able to get milk out adequately. This decreased my supply and at 4 weeks old he wasn’t back to birth weight. He also had jaundice so all of this combined, my pediatrician recommended I stop breastfeeding altogether and put him on formula. NO. WAY. I didn’t go back to that office. I did supplement with donor breastmilk from a friend and eventually would supplement with formula BUT if I had even one drop of milk to give my baby, I was going to do it! I did ALL the things. I ate all the foods, took the brewers yeast, lactation cookies/smoothies, skin to skin, fenugreek all the live long day until I smelled like a walking pancake factory, you name it – I did it! I felt like my body failed me again due to the breast surgery that I had but I was pleased with the experience more than the first. At 13 months we weaned and I was so proud of our breastfeeding relationship even though I had to supplement because no matter how hard I tried, I never had enough milk. I have a very healthy and happy 4 year old boy today.

When I got pregnant with Luke, I FINALLY figured it all out for myself. My body was never broken to begin with. What I am about to share with you are the 5 main things I wish I had known in 2009. These are the things I prepared in advance before his arrival to give myself and my body the very best chance at a true, amazing breastfeeding journey. These things I’ve learned can benefit any woman, regardless of whether they’ve had a breast reduction surgery or not. If you go in to your breastfeeding experience with your child thinking, “I’m just going to try” then it may or may not work out for you. It’s going to be a toss up. There are many things you can do to prepare and here are just a few from what I’ve learned so I can share with you…. Here we go!

1. Lip/Tongue Ties: I never knew how common having a lip and/or tongue tie is for babies! If you have excruciating pain, blisters, bleeding, etc. that does not let up even after you’ve seen a lactation consultant to check their latch, your baby MIGHT have a tie! With Luke, I knew right away I wanted this to get checked. Because of my amazing birth experience, he was able to latch on right away and he had a GOOD suck. When I got into the herbal bath after he was born, I noticed I had a little blister on my nipple. My Midwife checked his tongue right away and noticed he did have both a lip and tongue tie. She gave me a referral to get it evaluated but the very best things she did for me was that she clipped underneath his tongue right then and there for me! Hallelujah! That was all he ended up needing and we didn’t have any issues further from that! (Insert praise hands here!)

2. Supplemental Nursing System: With all 3 of my children, I made sure not to give them pacifiers from the start because I didn’t want them using that for comfort and taking away from the sucking I needed them to do to stimulate my milk production. I didn’t want them to have bottles in the beginning for that same reason BUT it was inevitable with Ellie and Elijah because I didn’t know about a Supplemental Nursing System! This is a bottle with a little tube attached. You can put Breastmilk or Formula in the bottle and attach the tube to your breast so your baby is always stimulating you while getting the extra nutrients they need. I used this a few times mainly from my own insecurity but Luke gained well and had perfect dirty diapers always. It was a relief to me to know I didn’t have the stress of having to put Luke on a bottle. An additional stress reliever was a friend donating 4 bags of her breastmilk to me a few weeks before I was due so that I also knew I had a little head start and wouldn’t need any formula from the get go. AND another stress reliever was having a Pediatrician this time that explained jaundice to me and was never concerned with his 5 weeks of it. This is the SNS that I purchased and used.

3. Fenugreek can DEPLETE milk supply: I always heard that Fenugreek was the best thing for increasing milk supply, but it is NOT! For some of us, Fenugreek actually DEPLETES supply in addition to throwing off blood sugar levels and other icky side effects. I joined a BreastFeeding After Reduction (bfar) group on Facebook where I learned this. I learned about Goat’s Rue being especially helpful for women after surgery. Moringa, Shatavari, Alfalfa and Fennel were also new to me. (Side note: I am very careful about advice that I listen to in general. I have to guard my own heart and mind from other people’s stories that may reflect negativity onto me or what I know I want for myself. I encourage you to do the same. Don’t let anyone project their own story or perspective on you if it’s not resonating with what you are wanting for yourself) I ended up getting a few supplements from a woman that made them in Canada and when she closed her shop around the time Luke was 4 months old, I found Legendairy Milk products! They are all Organic, Non GMO, and they WORK! I have tried them all except for their product called “Boob Food” because it did contain Fenugreek. If you’re looking for supplements, get Legendairy Milk and use my coupon code, “HEALTHYMESS” for 15% off your purchase when you go through their website! I took them for a full 12 months and as of 22 months old, Luke is STILL breastfeeding!

4. Skin to skin, nurse often & “lying in”: I knew skin to skin was effective for milk production and in the years since Elijah was born, I learned about something called “Lying In” where women basically stay in bed and rest to recover from birth for several weeks at a time. I wanted to do this and to plan for it I started talking to my inner circle of friends and family to tell them my wishes that I really didn’t want any visitors outside of them for the first few weeks. I wanted to be in bed with my baby and if I needed to wear a shirt in front of someone, it might be best for them to wait until breastfeeding has been established to come visit. I had amazing friends drop nourishing, healthy food off at the door for me and send me encouraging words. It is my belief that it should be ALL about the Mom after baby arrives. Her full focus should be on recovery and loving the baby, not entertaining guests that want to look at the baby. My nature is to cater to those around me and I felt I would be rude if I didn’t entertain when people came by. I threw “people pleasing” out the window this third go round. Sometimes a newborn will want to nurse every single hour on the dot and that’s just the way it is. So I made space for that and soaked up every ounce! Rest. Rest. Rest.

5. PLACENTA ENCAPSULATION: This is totally a personal choice and I know it’s not for everyone but I would be remiss not to mention my experience. I had a healthy pregnancy and unmedicated birth so I figured I had a healthy placenta as well! I read about this being great for balancing hormones and for breastfeeding and I wanted all of that! In my mind, I had struggled with hormones and breastfeeding so if the placenta helped then I was all about it! 24 hours or less after Luke was born I had a woman come pick up my placenta to be encapsulated. If this was my last baby, I was going to go for it ALL. Pretty much anything I hadn’t done before, I did this go around. Haha! I will say, on day 3 I was exceptionally weepy. I got my placenta pills that evening and had amazingly balanced hormones the rest of my postpartum experience. I was very pleased with them and highly recommend checking this out!

It’s worth it to mention I also got a different breast pump. I got the Spectra S2 which was supposed to be the best for BFAR women as well. I have to say, I did like this one. I didn’t pump often because I didn’t leave Luke. I don’t respond well to the breast pump so I also made sure not to take too much stock in what I was pumping out. I did go 7 hours without seeing him once when he was 4 months old and I hand expressed 5oz where I never got more than 4oz from the pump and I have tried ALL the brands. Also, I threw off all my worries of breastfeeding in public! I got some cute nursing covers and breastfeed everywhere, sometimes even without a cover which I NEVER would do with my first two!

A few final words before I close this thing out…

My Midwife gave me the best advice throughout my pregnancy as I prepared for Breastfeeding my baby. She suggested I just trust my body. Simple as that. I prepared in all the ways I needed to SO THAT I could rest and trust my body. I hope that some of these things encourage you or give you new insight as to what you might do with your first, second, or fifth baby if you’re wanting to have a potentially better breastfeeding experience! I am so grateful for every bit of my struggles I have encountered because it’s only given me that much more ability to encourage other women that might need it. My experience with Luke has not been easy at all times. Yes, I’ve wanted to have freedom to leave him and go do what I want but he never did end up taking a bottle. I’m not even sure when he’ll be ready to wean. But I’ve met my goal and my prayers have been tangibly answered. I can’t tell you how many times when I would be having a rough day that my husband had to remind me that I prayed for THIS. Every moment. DON’T. GIVE. UP!!!! Don’t give up! Reach out to women that have struggled and continued to breastfeed. Figure out what’s right for YOU and your baby. If you so desire to breastfeed and need encouragement to keep going, find what you need! This is such a short moment in time. Don’t give up what you want just because someone else says you should or that it would be easier to just give a bottle. Whatever works for YOU is what needs to be done! Do your research and be confident with your choices.

Now, I know this was really long and not even an exhaustive list, but let me finish with this little slideshow of some amazing moments captured  by my friend & photographer, Katharine Campbell.

Cheers to healthy, happy Mommies and babies all over no matter how you choose to feed your child! I high five and salute every one of you!

Happy FIRST Birthday to my sweet boy!

Blessings,

Maca