I want to start off by saying that no matter where your feeding journey has taken you with your child(ren) that FED IS BEST! Whether it is breastfeeding, bottle feeding or a combination of both, as long as your child is fed that is what matters most.
I want to share my feeding journey with Violet with you for a few reasons;
1. I documented Mason's feeding journey and found it so therapeutic and wanted to do the same with Violet
2. I feel it is important to share our feeding journeys to show the diversity there can be
3. We need to normalize all types of feeding
My feeding journey with Violet is by far not close to being over. And I feel like some days it is going to change at a drop of a hat. So with Violet I take a journey day by day and am grateful for what we have.
If you want to read Mason's feeding journey to get a better idea of my experience with feeding my children you can find it here. I never documented my journey with Lily because I started this blog when Lily was much older. But I will give you a brief history here.
I was only able to breastfeed Lily for a few weeks. I tried so hard to make it work but had no support. Lily lost a lot of weight quickly and because of that we started supplementing with formula. Had I had more support with Lily I don't know that our feeding journey would have went any differently because ultimately it comes down to a supply issue for me. With Mason, we had some other complications. Supply was an issue again but he also had a tongue tie. We had that clipped when he was between 2-3 weeks old and I was hopeful that would make a huge difference however it did not. It ultimately came down to a supply issue and again we had to top him up with formula. I had more support with Mason from a lactation consultant but after trying almost everything in the book I decided it was best for all of us to end our breastfeeding journey around 1 month old and exclusively formula feed Mason. I made a promise to myself when I was pregnant with Mason to not stress myself out about breastfeeding because that wasn't healthy for him or I. And I am proud to say I kept that promise.
My journey with Violet
I am proud to say that I am still breastfeeding Violet. While I would still be proud of us if we weren't, I am so excited our journey has continued to last this long. It hasn't come easy but I have to say this has been the easiest breastfeeding experience out of all 3 kiddos.
We exclusively breastfed Violet for just under a week. Unfortunately her weight dropped to much and we felt it was best to introduce formula. However, because she was still doing good at the breast and my supply was okay I wanted to continue to breastfeed. We started topping her up with about 2-3oz of formula and continue to only need to top her up with 3 oz. of formula. Which means that she is still getting a good amount of breast milk. Her latch has come very naturally which I feel is a huge reason why this journey has been so successful for us.
Supply though is still an issue that I struggle with. I decided from the beginning that I was not going to pump largely because I didn't want the added stress and knew it would be difficult within having 2 other littles running around. I did use the Hakka pump for a bit to catch the let down when I was feeding Violet. I was finding I was having a lot of leaking during feeds and was able to collect a bit extra to feed her afterwards. I did agree to try other things to boost and maintain my supply. I am currently on domperidone to increase my supply. I am on the max dose and made sure that I got that from day 1 as I knew that supply was going to be an issue. I also tried Mothers Milk Tea but I didn't find that it was doing anything for my supply. Thankfully I haven't had any side effects from the domperidone so I am going to continue to take it until I feel our journey is coming to an end.
Violet is growing like a weed! She is getting so big so quickly and is absolutely perfect and healthy so I know that this was the right choice for us. But most importantly, I know that I am happy and healthy too. I stressed so much with my feeding journey with Lily that it made if difficult to enjoy those newborn days and I feel like this time around I am not experiencing that mom guilt, or pain that I did before. There re still days where I struggle mentally about what decisions I should make moving forward but have decided to take it day by day and that as always I will know what is right for us.
People ask me if there is anything that I feel made a huge difference this time; my answer;
having the mindset not to put pressure on myself of feel stressed
blocking out everyone else's opinions
asking for help from day 1
starting on high dose of domperidone from day 1
But I think the thing that made the most difference is I wasn't stressed. I continue to enjoy our journey each day and feel blessed for these special moments that I get to feed her both by breast and bottle.
My advice to you is to always remember that fed is best. However you achieve that is YOUR story and that makes it beautiful.
Fearless feeder shirt: @larkandlux Hakka Pump
Cool Mom Shirt: @copper.hill.co Mama Hat: @copper.hill.co