My oldest daughter was born in 2016. Before she was born I really didn’t have a lot of information on breastfeeding. And I had told my husband we could try, but I wasn’t very interested in it. When she was born and latched for the first time, everything changed. I suddenly felt such a strong desire to breastfeed and do whatever I could to continue our journey. 

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We started out with a few struggles. I had let her nurse the first night without a correct latch, for over an hour, so for the first few weeks I was painful on one side. She also wanted to sleep more than eat, so we were pushed to formula feed to help her slight jaundice. 

But fortunately, I had an amazing doula that came and supported me, helped me with her latch, and gave me tips on how to keep her interested so we were able to manage her jaundice on our own. 

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For the next 4 months, it was both the most amazing thing and the hardest thing. We had to figure out colic and GI issues caused by dairy and soy allergies as well as pressure from family members to stop nursing due to what I now know is normal infant sleep behavior, but at the time was told was a problem. But my doula continued to be that support I needed! Answering so many questions, I could never thank her enough. 

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We continued our nursing journey through pregnancy with my second daughter who was born in 2019. Tandem nursing brought its own challenges with trying to figure out how to nurse two at a time, an increase in demand from my first daughter, oversupply, and a new dairy and egg allergy for my second. 

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But here we are 16 months into tandem nursing and in less than a month I’ll have been nursing my first daughter for 4 years! 

 

All of this I couldn’t have done without the support from my doula! Her advice, listening ear, and kindness was beyond what I could have hoped for. I don’t know when my nursing journey will end with either of them. But it’s been such an amazing experience that I’m so blessed and thankful for it!