I regret not trying harder
Sep 14 '00
Five years ago when I had my daughter, Amanda, I tried to breast feed her. In the hospital after she was born she didn't have a bottle at all. The nurses would bring her to me and I would breast feed her. Amanda would try and try to nurse. I would nurse her for over an hour at a time and she would still be acting hungry. I asked the nurses for help, but they just told me to keep on trying and that we would get it sooner or later. They brought me a shield to put on my breast to see if that helped. By the time I left the hospital 2 days later my nipples were cracked and sore where Amanda tried so hard to nurse.
We got home at five o'clock and when Amanda still hadn't had a wet diaper at eleven we decided to give her a bottle. She took to the bottle right away; acting as if she was starving. She took about three or four ounces of formula. It wasn't long until she had a wet diaper. It brought me such relief to know that she finally had a tummyful. I tried again to breast feed her and had the same problem. I decided to just give up on trying to breast feed. It was just too frustrating for Amanda and for myself as well.
I am not sure why it didn't work with Amanda, I don't know if it was because I was nervous or because Amanda had a genetic disease, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and she didn't have the strength to nurse. I wish I could have succeeded in breast feeding her, but she did fine on formula.
Four years later when I found out that I was pregnant with Justin, I decided that I wanted to breast feed. I was going to give it a try, but then I started having problems and had preterm labor for six weeks before Justin was born. I was taking Brethine and Magnesium to stop the labor. Because I was taking these medicines I told the doctor that I wanted to just bottle feed. I was worried about having all that medicine in my system and Justin getting it through my milk. At the time I didn't even think about him getting it anyway, because he was still inside of me while I was taking it. The doctor just told me OK, he didn't tell me that it would be OK if I wanted to try breast feeding, only that it was OK to bottle feed.
When Justin was about three weeks old and was having problems with his formula I tried to get my milk to come back. It was about to come in when Justin went in the hospital with colitis. His doctor told me that Justin would have problems with my milk too, because he was so allergic to milk and soy. He told me that I would have to cut out every bit of milk and soy from my diet and that it would be really hard to do. He advised me to just keep Justin on formula. I did this and have regretted it.
Justin will be one year old Monday and although he is no longer allergic to milk and soy, he is allergic to wheat and cantaloupe. I truly believe that if I would have went ahead and breast fed him from the start, he probably would not suffer from these allergies.
If you are pregnant and trying to decide whether to bottle feed or breast feed, I would talk to your doctor, nurse, or a lactation specialist. I wish I would have. Also you can talk to other mom's who have breast fed, they could be a big help. I firmly believe that breast fed is best fed. If I had it to do over again, I would have tried breast feeding Justin soon after he was born. I believe he would have been so much better if I had.
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Epinions.com ID:
Sue918
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Location: Alabama
Reviews written: 42
Trusted by: 14 members
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