Gabriella

by Deanna Ruiz

My darling daughter and I were having such a hard time with breast feeding. In the hospital the first few days seemed to go well in fact she latched on well and we were both very happy.

During the next few days after we went home things became very difficult. Gabriella had become very jaundice and slept all the time. She didn't want to wake up long enough to nurse and when she did wake up she was very hungry she cried so much it was breaking my heart.

The doctor said I needed to get milk into her no matter how so she could get better. I decided I would pump and pump and give her bottles of expressed milk. My baby got better but I became very depressed because she wouldn't accept my breast any more. We went to a lactation consultant a few times and she helped. Gabriella started nursing again.

A week or two after she started nursing I noticed she would projectile vomit quite a bit and she also started choking. I took her to the doctor and found out she had reflux.

Gaby started pulling away from my breast again. She would cry as if she were in great pain. Her Doctor said she might be relating the pain from the reflux to my breast. I thought just great so my baby thinks mommy is causing this pain. I could not take it so I just started pumping. I swear I was on that pump all the time.

I started to notice that at night when Gaby was half asleep she would nurse. This gave me hope. Someone told me about breastfeeding.com and I started reading and chatting with other mothers on the message boards. I was able to figure out with the help of other breast feeding moms that my daughter was pulling off and crying because my milk was coming out to fast for her. They called it over active let down. I would pump a little out before I would nurse her and she would latch on and eat well.

I have to tell you I cried tears of joy the first few times I successfully nursed her while she was awake and staring into my eyes. I have stopped pumping all together. My milk has slowed down just enough for her. We are very happy again and Gabriella is a fully breast fed baby for one month now. She is now four months old.

I just wanted to say thanks to all of the mothers on Breastfeeding.com. I am so glad this site is here. I hope I can help other mothers some day like they helped me.