Weekly Contests…

I found your entry interesting thus I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog :)…

My milk took 5 days to come in. I am very grateful that my pediatrician did not push me to use formula. My son was losing weight, but not dehydrated so he let us continue to try nursing exclusively for a few more days. My milk came in fine and my son gained back all his weight and then some very quickly. We went on to nurse for 16 months. I do think sometimes mothers are pushed into giving formula at the first sign of trouble instead of giving them time to work out the nursing relationship. Of course, formula is a fine solution, but nursing is such a cheap, nutritious, easy option, I hate to see people give up on it too quickly.

That would, of course, be ‘breastfeeding’.

well, this explains all the stories I hear about people have so much trouble…hmm…also, yeah, folks need to give it more time, too, we learned in our birth class that it can take 5-7 days sometimes and that a baby can survive for a while without milk and has the colostrum first anyway

I don’t even understand this article. Everyone’s milk takes 2-5 days to come in. And who are these “breastfeeding mothers” who are breatsfeeding LESS than 1-2 times in the first 48 hours? I’m pretty sure it’s common knowledge that you need to put your baby to the breast every couple of hours from birth on.

That’s not typical though, Laure, and good for you for not giving up!

Comments
This study confirms a lot of things I felt when breastfeeding my daughter. It took 3 months to establish breastfeeding. Every three hours I would weigh her, nurse her, supplement up to 2 oz with formula and pump for 30 minutes. Eventually my body did what it needed to do and I enjoyed 9 months of nursing with no issues and it was very rewarding. It took a lot of determination and work with my pediatrician and a lactation consultant to establish. Breastfeeding is a choice and a lot of work. I have to say I got a lot of reactions from LLL who felt that using formula was somehow taking away from establishing nursing and had many strong opinions. At the end of the day the safety and health of my daughter came first. Medicine has progressed in the last 200 years for a reason and because of my doctors, consultants and yes formula my daughter is alive, healthy, neuro typical and I got to experience breastfeeding because I chose to stick it out and it was what worked for my family. We all need to give ourselves and those around us a break for when life doesn’t go by “the book”. As my doctor often joked, “Babies don’t read the book….”