My breastfeeding journey

The day my son was born he latched right on and loved to suck. I was so happy and thought things were going great. The next day I saw a LC - happened to be the one that taught the bf'ing class we took. She came in shortly after DS was circumcised. She helped latch him on and listened to see if he was swallowing. I was asked if we were supplementing and I told her that we weren't and I didn't want to. I was then told that DS was not swallowing and that we had to supplement. I fought back the tears and told her to give my son whatever he needed. She came back with formula and he gobbled it right up. She told me my nipples looked really sore and to keep him off the breast until she was able to see me again and to pump every 2-3 hours in the meantime. DS was born on a Thursday and she told me to call her on Sunday and I could see her on Monday when my milk came in. I called first thing Sunday morning and waited all day for her to call back. She called back late afternoon and said they were not able to see me until Tuesday. I asked her if I should try to bf and she said to continue keeping him off the breast.

Tuesday finally came and I went back to the hospital. This time I saw a different LC. She helped with DS's latch and after he ate weighed him. I wasn't producing enough milk (from what I was pumping and what they measured after weighing him) so I was told to feed for 20 min on both sides, then supplement and then pump. After doing this for a couple days I was so frustrated. By the time I finished doing all the steps it was almost time to do it all over again. I stopped bf'ing him and decided to EP. I would wake DH up when it was time to feed DS and I would go pump. I still wasn't producing enough and had to supplement with formula. After three weeks I felt like quitting. I was exhausted both mentally and physically. I decided to give bf'ing a try again and luckily he was latching on. I would only pump when I had time and supplement if it looked like he was hungry. I was completely winging it and hoping I was doing it right. With encouragement from DH and a family friend I contacted a private LC and saw her the next day. DS was latching on properly and she gave me a supplement to help my supply. A few days later I was no longer supplementing with formula.

It has now been over two months and bf'ing is going great. I've even been able to freeze a couple bags here and there - which is a huge accomplishment since before I could not even produce enough for DS. I am so glad that DS encouraged me every step of the way and I stuck with it!.