Breastfeeding Success- worth the pain!

Just wanted to share my breastfeeding story! 5 minutes after she was born we started breastfeeding she nursed for an hour and a half!! She weighed 8 lbs. We had a bad latch at first and we had bleeding nipples.. so we had to have 2oz of formula. But mommy decided to push thru the pain! Now 7 weeks later we are ebf and she weighs 11lbs!! I hope I get to breastfeed till she's two!

 

Story and photo courtesy of Manda Jade

 

Many women are discouraged when their first breastfeeding experience turns out to be a painful or uncomfortable one. Unfortunately, there is a lot of pressure these days for women to give up and switch to formula without really giving breastfeeding a chance. This can lead to feelings of guilt or incompetency in women who had planned to breastfeed, but "had" to formula feed instead.

 

I would like to encourage all women to tough it out, even though that seems very hard. The initial discomfort and pain of breastfeeding will, in most cases, pass in a week or two. Talking to a lactation consultant or another breastfeeding woman can help tremendously.

 

If, for some reason, breastfeeding genuinely isn't in the cards for you, there's no need to feel guilty or like a failure. The most important thing is that your baby is being fed! Many formula fed babies thrive and grow into successful, intelligent human beings.

 

Just don't switch to formula simply because you experienced a little discomfort the first few days.