I am once again sharing my personal breastfeeding journey, this time about my 2nd baby. I was right in the middle of starting my podcast when my baby was diagnosed with "failure to thrive" because of his weight gain issues. I had plenty of milk - had even donated! - but here he was below 1st percentile, struggling to gain weight. That was around 6 months, but before that we dealt with what I thought was a dairy allergy that turned out to be a parasite! I didn't give up on breastfeeding even when I had so many reasons to stop. We made it through and continued to nurse beyond 12 months.
When Bente Riehn was learning how to latch her first baby, a lactation consultant's advice changed the game for her. She learned how to feed in a natural, instinctive way, instead of a rigid position. From there, she went on to nurse her 2nd and 3rd babies for over 12 months each, even while struggling with an autoimmune disease. She talks about her move from the Netherlands to Texas, the cultural differences in birth and breastfeeding, and encouragement to not give up even when babies go on a nursing strike.
When she was 14 weeks pregnant with her first baby, Laurel Herron received devastating news that her baby would not be able to survive outside the womb. She continued plans to carry the baby to term, but at 17 weeks, baby Elijah's heart stopped. Hospital staff gave her instructions for drying up her milk, but Laurel decided instead to pump and donate her milk. She was able to pump for 3 months and donate to a milk bank. Today, a year later, she is nursing her rainbow baby, equipped with the lessons she learned about breastfeeding from that time, and continuing to remember and celebrate the life of her first child.
With her 4th baby, Brittany Suell suffered a stillborn loss at 40 weeks, despite having an otherwise healthy pregnancy. She entered her 5th pregnancy with new fears, focused on having a living baby no matter what. At 29 weeks, she found herself back in the ER waiting for the doctors to tell her if the baby was OK. She was rushed to an emergency c-section, and her baby was taken to the NICU for a 6-week stay. She had to keep track of pumping on top of driving back and forth to the NICU daily, but she was able to build a milk supply. When her baby got out, she was able to transition him to exclusive nursing successfully and continued to nurse into toddlerhood! Today she helps women stay fit and healthy even while breastfeeding. Her story is one of healing, mentally, physically, and spiritually.
With her first two babies, Jane Howell barely made it to 12 months of pumping and nursing - both times finding out she was pregnant and having to stop suddenly and use up her freezer stash. On top of that, her weight loss goals also took a hit to her milk supply. But with Baby Girl #3, she was able to continue long past 12 months, nursing at home, pumping at work, and even having so much leftover milk she donated to another mom in need! She discovered that "bouncing back" was more about her mental acceptance of her body, and even though she didn't force weight loss, she felt fitter the 3rd postpartum than she did before.
As a lactation consultant and nutritionist, Allegra Gast of Aloha Nutrition assumed breastfeeding would come naturally and easily. But with her first baby, latching and tongue tie struggles threatened to cut her journey short. She persisted, and once she got in her rhythm, she went on to nurse throughout toddlerhood, even while pregnant with her 2nd baby. Her 2nd baby also nursed into toddlerhood throughout her 3rd pregnancy with twins! Allegra explains that motherhood doesn't have to equal low energy or exhaustion. Even though she was nourishing 3 babies at once, she actually felt better because of the work she had done to have enough nutrients. And she shows that nursing twins beyond 12 months is totally possible!
The Breastfeeding Diaries host, Haley Laurence, shares her experience having her baby at 32 weeks via c-section and how she exclusively pumped while he was in the NICU for 4 weeks. Despite pump challenges and a low supply, she didn't give up, and, after he got out of the NICU, she went on to transition him to exclusively nursing. She returned to work full time and continued to pump and nurse beyond 12 months and weaning at 15 months. She shares tips and advice for transitioning to nursing after the NICU and some funny stories from nursing in public!
When her 2nd baby was 10 months old, Miranda Harvey had to abruptly stop breastfeeding so she could get her thyroid removed due to thyroid cancer. Years went by, and it seemed she would never get another chance to have another baby or breastfeed. But almost 15 years later, she discovered she was pregnant unexpectedly! She was successfully able to breastfeed her third baby for much longer than a year, even while working full-time as a physical therapist. She shares how she kept up her milk supply while pumping hands-free between patient visits, and how God blessed her with a redemptive experience she never would have imagined she could have.
Maggie Awalt is an entrepreneur and coffee-shop owner who had to reshape her business and her identity when becoming a mom. She shares how she navigated the demands of the business while wrestling with oversupply and mastitis. What does it mean to find balance as a working mom in the early days of motherhood? How do you prioritize your baby and your business, when both depend totally on you? Maggie shares her story in this episode!
Breastfeeding seemed to be going smooth for Shera Evans - until she was hospitalized with a severe infection for 7 days. Separated from her baby and waiting for a surgery in the hospital, no one would have blamed her if she had given up. Breastfeeding seemed pointless when she was even having to pump and dump her milk down the hospital sink. But she didn't give up and after she got healthy, she went on to nurse her baby for 12 months and beyond!
Kara is a full-time mom, and part-time doula, so birth and babies are a huge part of her world. If you saw her nursing her toddler until she was almost 2 years old, you would never have guessed that her breastfeeding journey had a rough start. Despite having a beautiful, unmedicated birth at a birth center, her baby was found to have mouth and tongue ties and Kara’s dreams of nursing exclusively, turned into exclusive pumping. The temptation to give up was strong, especially when she was told that maybe she physiological COULDN’T produce milk. But she didn’t give up.
Casie Britt faced an under supply, but through determination, she was still able to continue pumping and providing her baby milk all the way until almost 12 months. After losing her milk supply at 6 months with her first baby, Casie had hoped to go farther with her second. But after returning to work and finding her milk supply wasn't meeting her baby's needs, she had a choice to make. Her baby wouldn't take formula, so she used donor milk, and continued to pump even when she wasn't making 100% of the bottles. Her story is one of determination and dedication because she truly believed every drop of milk counts.