My Milky Story.

So I thought I would share my story about my road to putting Breast milk in bottles for my daughter. I have exclusively pumped since my daughter was 4 days old and this is my story, I am going to clean it up and add more later but for now here's the hard copy:
Mackenzie Jean Morgan came into the world on March 14th 2009 at 6:09pm.
When she was four days old she was readmitted to the hospital for Jaundice, she was at a level 19. She was not getting hardly any food but obviously enough somehow because she had wet diapers. They said I didn't have enough colostrum and my breastmilk wasn't cutting it so they'd latch her on then give her formula. So we did, but did not cope well with formula, the LC came in with a pump and I did amazingly! I had so much colostrum and then my milk came in quickly, it was awesome. So we fed her that and the nurses said smurf the formula she doesn't need it, so she has had all of two bottles of formula in her lifetime. Well, the next day we found out that, She had a tight frenulum in the womb so she shaped her palette oddly, pulling her gag reflex into the middle of her mouth and shaping the palette straight upward. Causing her to have a weak suck, but a wonderful latch. She also has her father's jaw which is set in more making it impossibly hard to remove milk. So I continued for months to try and latch her until it became mentally scarring. Every time I would remove my breasts from my shirt she would start sobbing because she would remember what the LC was trying to do to her and she did not want it. We tried a supplemental nursing system, where you put formula or breastmilk (BM for us) into a pouch and hang it so that gravity pulls the liquid down a tube which you tape to your breast and put to your nipple so the baby will latch and suck. But it was too late for that. She was already traumatized from the attempts to latch her on. We went months with sitting her up making her work for the food but in the long run it was better for her to get it in the bottle. But all the stress I've had has caused my milk supply to drop and without Domperidone it dries right up.

Quoting Bashas future MIL:“ So I thought I would share my story about my road to putting Breast milk in bottles for my daughter. ... [snip!] ... get it in the bottle. But all the stress I've had has caused my milk supply to drop and without Domperidone it dries right up.”

you're amazing Jess!!!
<3

I'll type up my story in a bit Jess, B is leaving for work

Quoting Dest♥Bella[EPer]:“ you're amazing Jess!!! <3”

You make me blush. I just said in the other thread you should share your story here as well. You already know but I will say it again, you are an inspiration to me. You, my husband and Stef are the reasons I kept pushing through all the crap to keep going. Every time I wanted to kick that little mechanical baby aka the medela into a corner or take a bat to it I stopped and thought of you and them and it just made everything better.

Quoting Dest♥Bella[EPer]:“ I'll type up my story in a bit Jess, B is leaving for work”

Have a good night B!

you are amazing
i came so close to EPing
i think that takes some serious dedication
and is an amazing gift to your LO

Quoting tantric☮lemons:“ you are amazing i came so close to EPing i think that takes some serious dedication and is an amazing gift to your LO”

Thank you Rochelle, I am glad that I have been able to give her breastmilk for this long. I am contemplating going longer now that I have other means to get my medicine I just have to talk to Tom about financial part and my Doctor about the health part.

Just added this: We tried a supplemental nursing system, where you put formula or breastmilk (BM for us) into a pouch and hang it so that gravity pulls the liquid down a tube which you tape to your breast and put to your nipple so the baby will latch and suck. But it was too late for that. She was already traumatized from the attempts to latch her on.

Quoting Satans Spawn:“ Thank you Rochelle, I am glad that I have been able to give her breastmilk for this long. I am contemplating ... [snip!] ... that I have other means to get my medicine I just have to talk to Tom about financial part and my Doctor about the health part.”

i think no matter what you have given her a really great start!!
and breastfed her through the most important part of her life

Ok so here is my story
I knew when my daughter was born that I would have to pump for awhile because I knew she'd be in the NICU for a few weeks (no one mentions how bad it hurts to pump 5 hours after a c-section). So I began pumping, every 3 hours. My daughter spent 3 weeks in the NICU, the day they said she could come home they also let me put her to breast. She took right to it and had a great latch! I was sooooo excited! All my hard work for the last 3 weeks had paid off! We were able to breastfeed for 3 days.
I took my daughter to her first regular pediatrician appointment and her pedi told me 1. that my daughter hadn't gained enough since birth, so I needed to start pumping again and bottle feeding, or formula feeding and 2. that if I chose to pump, I would never be able to keep up and produce enough for my daughter.
The pedi had me start putting Alimentum formula in my daughters bottle with breast milk, just to up the calories. My daughter began spitting up and crying ALL the time. We thought she was colicky, they thought she had reflux and prescribed different meds for her. the doctors were talking about putting a feeding tube in her because she wasn't gaining.
So finally I said no more formula to up the calories, and gave my daughter just BM. She gained half a pound in a week! (we found out recently she has a dairy allergy, no reflux   )
A month or so later (she was about 5 months old) the doctor said we could quit pumping and put her to the breast. My daughter did not like the idea of anything but a bottle at all. Whenever I would take my shirt off she would start screaming! We saw an LC, I tried expressing milk first, I tried squirting some of her bottle in her mouth while she was at my nipple, I tried feeding her when she was hungry, when she'd already had some bottle, in the bathtub, during the night when she was barely awake. We tried everything, and had no luck. It upset both of us so eventually I stopped crying because it was making me feel like a failure.
So now, 12.5 months PP I am still pumping. Up until 12 months I pumped every 3 hours, no matter what. When my daughter went through a growth spurt I would pump every 2 hours and cluster pump until my supply would increase. Now I am pumping 7 times a day, so that I am able to sleep a bit more.

One of the only pics I have BFing my daughter

Quoting Dest♥Bella[EPer]:“ Ok so here is my story I knew when my daughter was born that I would have to pump for awhile because ... [snip!] ... Now I am pumping 7 times a day, so that I am able to sleep a bit more. One of the only pics I have BFing my daughter ”

Beautiful picture.

Quoting Ms. Muffin's Mommy:“ Beautiful picture.”

Thank you! I'm sad its just a crappy, small cell pic, but its all I've got

Quoting Dest♥Bella[EPer]:“ Thank you! I'm sad its just a crappy, small cell pic, but its all I've got”

I know how you feel I do have a few let me see if I can actually find them

Found all that I have:
The first I ever got
All jaundiced and junk
Easter, one of the last times she latched. she face planted.
And the very last time she ate off me for more than 2 minutes. 4/30

I love the Easter one when she face planted, lol. Cute!