6 months of nursing

A six month old baby also marks another important milestone for me- 6 months of breastfeeding. I have to brag a little here- I am SO proud of myself for making it this far. I know breastfeeding comes easily for some people and if you are one of them...oh how I envy you! Breastfeeding has been a struggle for me from day one. First, the lactation consultant in the hospital informed me that Jacob was tongue tied and therefore, could not get a very good latch. No problem for him- he ate and gained weight like a champ. Big problem for me as it was extremely painful. I decided to just suck it up and keep going, and our first week home was really rough. When I couldn't handle it anymore I contacted a local lactation consultant and went in for a consultation. Best money I have ever spent! She told me I really needed to take care of the tongue tie so he can get a better latch. We scheduled an appointment with an ENT and it was taken care of, and it really wasn't a big deal. Then we went back to the lactation consultant and she helped with his latch.

I wish I could say things got better from here. His latch certainly did, but I continued to have problem after problem. Plugged ducts, milk blisters that would not go away, and mastitis complete with a fever just to name a few. And I will spare you the gory details of the worst problem of all, but lets just say a breast surgeon and stitches were involved :( I spent nights crying to Sean because I didn't want to quit, but I feared that breastfeeding would never be painless for me.

And then somewhere around the 4 month mark- all the problems went away. And for the past 2 months, breastfeeding has been a wonderful, beautiful, completely positive experience. And even though I have had more bad months than good, it was completely worth it and I'd go through it all again for my little man.

And so, I feel that I have earned the right to brag about my six months of exclusive breastfeeding. It is something I wanted to do SO badly but at times I thought I wouldn't make it to my goal of a year. Now I KNOW I will and I'm even thinking about going longer. But I couldn't have done it alone. Many people deserve credit. My lactation consultant- I never would have made it this far without her. Our pediatrician, who is always very encouraging and tells me what a great job I'm doing. Sean for comforting me and encouraging me. And finally- Jacob, who has been a champion eater from day one so that I've never had to supplement.

We will start solids this month and that makes me a little sad. I love this exclusive breast milk phase. I think the fact that I have struggled so much to get here makes me want to hang on to breastfeeding even longer. I simply love it. When I am feeding him I feel a bond between us that is like nothing else. It is just amazing to think that he has thrived on nothing but breast milk for 6 whole months. It is the best that I can give him and I'm so proud to be doing it.