My Breastfeeding/Formula Feeding Journey.

Happy Easter all you mom's and mom's-to-be!

Yesterday I posted my very first blog entry and ask a couple close friends to take a look and give me some input as to what I should change and what seem to be on the right track. I just want to say THANK YOU very much ladies. When asked for blog interest, most of these ladies asked me to post my breastfeeding journey, so here it is! (:

To start off, if you've read my co-sleeping entry you probably already know that my 11-month old is still on the boob. lmao. He essentially has what we call 'milkies' when ever he's thirsty and for bed time, but trust me, it wasn't always this easy.

Now, Devin and I did all the Prenatal and Lamaze classes hoping to really learn about breastfeeding as that's what we decided we wanted to do. If you decide/decided to formula feed, good for you! Both ways of feeding are equally as good as long as the baby is getting some form of nutrition. Okay, back on track, like I was saying Devin and I did all the classes and watched all the videos. We honestly thought we had a really good understanding of this and we were 100% committed to breastfeeding, this was the way we wanted to feed our baby right from the start. WE COULDN'T HAVE BEEN MORE WRONG.

When you watch those videos and listen to everyone talking they explain it like "Okay, so you essentially just hold your boob, put the baby up there and they latch on and start drinking. Simple right?" Aha NO. When Finn was born we had the toughest time EVER even getting him to latch, nevermind staying on and actually drinking. It was the hardest thing iv'e ever done and I think that's what they really fail to tell you. You go in there with this attitude, thinking everything is going to go so smoothly and the baby will have no problems what so ever, and maybe that's the case for some momma's, but for us it really wasn't.

Let's get started with my breastfeeding journey; at the hospital Finley had to be on formula as my milk hadn't come in yet. (yea, that can happen, even though your body just had a baby you may not have swollen milk filled breasts aha) It took about 3 days at home before I got my milk in, and I mean REALLY got my milk in. One night Finn was crying and out of nowhere came the waterfalls of milk! I was still having the hardest time getting him to latch and almost everyone in my family had seen my breasts and tried to get him on, but for some reason I could only get a good latch on my left side, which meant that my right side was always engorged and in pain.

This meant that Finley often had a bottle of formula, I couldn't breast feed in public because I had too much of a hard time latching him, so everywhere we went we had a bottle of formula ready. The only time I was 100% able to get him to latch good was right before bed, we would rock in his chair and he would latch, drink and fall asleep. I spent a lot of days being sad, exhausted, crying and wishing there was another way. More than once I looked to Devin with tears in my eyes saying 'Lets just give up, we can just formula feed, I'm exhausted and he isn't latching properly, I feel like I'm failing" and he was always there supporting me and telling me I could do it. But, IT WAS HARD. BREASTFEEDING IS HARD. ITS NOT ALL SUNSHINE AND RAINBOWS. ITS HARD WORK, DETERMINATION, PATIENCE AND A GOOD SUPPORT SYSTEM.

Finally Finn had learnt to properly latch. (about 2 months in) I was able to latch him on at my in-laws, the mall, the restaurant, it made things 100% easier. And now we are 11-months in and my boobie monster latches basically on his own and drinks till he's full!

All this just to tell you that breastfeeding is hard. But if I could do it, you can too! Remember, Finley was breastfed and formula fed for 2 months and there's absolutely NOTHING wrong with that! You got this momma! You can do anything you put your mind to!

If you're reading from the Timmins area- send me an email, I know an AMAZING Lamaze class!

From one mom to another.

Just-A-Mom