Hi everyone, I’m Christina from My Walk By Faith. I blog mostly about our day to day lives, my faith, being a mom of a sweet little toddler and preparing for baby #2 who is supposed to be arriving in less than a month! I’m a Kindergarten teacher, a Christ follower, book lover, and coffee addict (decaf these days). I hope you will stop by and say hi. 🙂

When we first found out that we were pregnant I knew right away that I wanted to breastfeed. No one else in our families had nursed their babies. I didn’t have anyone’s example to follow in that aspect but I was excited to try something new though I knew that some family members were skeptical. I was also nervous. I’d had many people tell me how low their milk supply was and how painful it was for them. I still really wanted to breastfeed so I prayed about it and asked God to give me a good supply and to give Emerie a good latch. I also prayed that I could deliver her vaginally (which no one else in our immediate families had done either!). I wanted a vaginal birth so that we could have skin to skin contact and begin nursing immediately. My prayers were answered! Emerie was laid on my chest just moments after she was born and she nursed very shortly after. She didn’t have any issues latching on and we began our nursing journey.

It was hard in the beginning… every time she cried people assumed she was hungry and I seemed to nurse her around the clock. I wasn’t comfortable with nursing around others (besides my mom, sisters, and a few friends) so I spent a lot of time by myself with Emerie in another room when we had company or were out somewhere. I was very sore in the beginning and applied lanolin often and tried not to scream when she latched on. I jokingly referred to her as a barracuda! I dealt with the normal issues that nursing moms deal with, engorgement, soreness and chapped skin, and an occasional blocked milk duct. I worried about my supply and whether or not I was pumping enough. The lactation consultant reassured me that I was doing fine and Emerie had good weight gain each month.

I was afraid to introduce a bottle or pacifier to her in the beginning because I didn’t want it to interfere with her latch but shortly after we gave her the paci we found out that all was still well in the nursing department. She didn’t take to a bottle very well at first, she screamed her pretty little head off and we had to try several different types before we found one that she liked. I was terrified she wouldn’t learn to drink from the bottle, but she did and I was able to go back to work without worrying about whether or not she would eat while I was gone! We got into a good rhythm when I went back to work, I fed her on one side in the mornings and pumped the other, then I pumped twice a day at work for the entire school year. I froze a lot of milk and was fortunate to have a good milk supply. We never had to supplement with formula and we waited until she was 12 months to introduce whole milk. Emerie continued to nurse until she was 18 months… she weaned about a month after I found out that we were expecting blessing number 2! The weaning process was much easier than I expected it to be. I was sad when it was over but felt very blessed that I was able to nurse for so long.

I know that not everyone has a story like mine and a lot of people have a difficult time with nursing but I hope my story encourages some of you mommas-to-be out there! Nursing isn’t always difficult and there is no right or wrong way to feed your baby. As long as they are healthy, happy and growing! I hope that I have a similar story to share after our sweet little man arrives and begins his nursing journey. Will it be as easy the second time around? We’ll find out soon enough. 🙂

Thanks so much for hosting me on your blog Julie! 🙂

Be sure to catch up with the rest of the Breastfeeding Diaries at the top of my navigation bar.

My name is Christina and I’m a stay-at-home mom to a beautiful little girl. I’m also the blogger behind This Woman Cooks!, where you can find recipes, tidbits about being a stay-at-home mom, and lots of pictures of my daughter.

I knew I wanted to breastfeed from the moment I found out I was pregnant. I didn’t know very much about breastfeeding, except for all the reasons to breastfeed: breastmilk is easily digested, protection against allergies and sickness, a decreased risk of certain cancers for myself, as well as an easy way to lose all that baby weight. Sounds like a win win for both of us! I wanted to learn more about breastfeeding so I prepared myself in every way possible, with the exception of actually breastfeeding. 😉 I read books, attended a class, and dropped in on a breastfeeding group to listen and ask questions. I had irrational fears about breastfeeding; I was worried that I wasn’t going to make enough milk (like my mom, who only breastfed me for six weeks), that it wouldn’t come naturally to me, or that I’d have to supplement.

The first six weeks of life as a mom are a blur. Adeline slept most of the day and ate every two hours at night. I wasn’t enjoying breastfeeding. Adeline nursed so frequently at night that I was severely sleep deprived. I was determined to establish breastfeeding before trying to pump and give her a bottle. I was also constantly worried that she wasn’t getting enough milk and would get furious with my husband whenever he’d say she was hungry. It felt like all I was doing was feeding her. Those pregnancy hormones are no joke and combined with sleep deprivation, I was a wreck.