Sharing our stories helps us connect. Our stories hold power and let others know they are not alone. Nurture has asked families to share their feeding journeys with us. Below is Lexie’s story. Enjoy 🙂
Tell us a little about your feeding journey
My daughter struggled with latch from her very first feed. I could tell she wasn’t latching deeply and she couldn’t stay latched. My nipples were almost immediately in significant pain. Night one in the hospital I started pumping and syringe feeding. I was terrified of giving a bottle because I thought it would ruin my goal of nursing. I was pumping only mLs of colostrum, not enough. We gave a little formula which my girl didn’t tolerate well and then we learned they had donor milk which we began to supplement with. Finally as her feeds got bigger the syringe wasn’t practical anymore so we did bottles, and I was devastated, thinking I’d never be able to nurse as planned and so badly wanted to. I thought I had done all the right things to prepare. I took an online breastfeeding course, I had a prenatal LC appointment at the hospital, I read a book about breastfeeding. My girl ended up with jaundice and we had to stay an extra day (in hindsight, likely because she wasn’t eating enough and I didn’t realize it). I left the hospital bottle feeding and pumping and hopeless about nursing. I googled lactation consultants the first night home from the hospital and fatefully found Nurture and Julie was at my house the very next day. After the first consult with her I went from hopeless to hopeful. She was such a calming and reassuring presence from day 1. It eventually turned out that my daughter had tongue and lip ties which prevented her from latching. We used a nipple shield to allow her to latch. My milk took a full week to come in and we supplemented with donor milk in the meantime. We continued to work together with Julie for several weeks and eventually I was able to transition back to exclusively nursing from mostly pumping and bottle feeding. I went on to nurse my daughter for 18 months after a very rough start!
How did IBCLC lactation care impact you?
My 18 month nursing journey would not have happened without Julie’s help in the beginning. She had a profound impact on my nursing/feeding experience and I can’t sing her praises enough. I am forever grateful I found her on Google.
What advice you would want to pass along to an expecting parent?
WORK WITH JULIE AT NURTURE! I tell all my expecting friends. But also more generally, please work with an IBCLC that you click with. If you meet with someone and you don’t click with them, meet with someone else. Your IBCLC should make you feel hopeful and good!! If I would’ve continued trying to utilize the LCs at the hospital or doctors office, I do not think my nursing experience would’ve been successful. The in home lactation consult is key as well.
Thank you, Lexie, for sharing your feeding journey story!
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