Mariah's Journey | A Stay at Home Breastfeeding Story

“I love the snuggles, the bond with my babies, co-sleeping,” says Mariah.

Breastfeeding came fairly naturally to Mariah and her first daughter, but she struggled a bit in the beginning. Read about her only struggle in last weeks blog. By her second daughter, she is pretty much a breastfeeding champ.

Pumping Woes

Mariah didn’t plan much for feeding or pumping before giving birth to her first little girl. She knew she wanted to breastfeed and that was about it. Nonetheless she was given a pump and gave it a try with little to no success.

No matter how much or little she tried to pump, she simply didn’t respond to it very well and would only get about 2 ounces every time.

Please Note

This is actually quite normal for a lot of moms. Your pumping output does not really give you a good sense of your production because no pump out there is as efficient as your baby. But you can try different pumps, positions and even a few tricks like massaging your breast to try to get more out. But if you can pump anything after feeding your baby, relish in knowing your milk is there. Not everyone is a super over producer.

Back to Pumping

When she had her second daughter though, she wanted a little more freedom to have someone else be able to feed her, so she wanted to give pumping a try again. This time she bought a Spectra breast pump.

She actually started pumping a week before she gave birth in an attempt to bring on labor since her daughter was late, but it didn’t work so she ended up being induced at 42 weeks. From her first pump she started to gain a good stash. She continued to pump 1-2 times a day for a few months to maintain this stash to have a little more freedom in her life.

Now, her first kiddo didn’t ever take to a bottle so this time around she bought the Como Tomo bottles. Her daughter took to them right away and she claims it has been amazing to have the option for other people to be able to feed her littlest girl.

Staying Home

She contributes a lot of her successes to being able to stay home with her beautiful daughters. It would be a lot harder to nurse for as long as she has working a 9-5 job. With the pressures of needing to pump and hoping they take a bottle. And then working hard to maintain a supply through mostly pumping instead of feeding from the breast. Just a lot to make it harder on working moms. Especially since her first little girl never took a bottle. It is all stressful, which never helps a mom’s supply.

Co-Sleeping

Another big aspect that has helped her breastfeeding journey has been the ability to co-sleep. Keeping baby close helps both moms and baby. And now that they have two daughters they decided it was best to connect a king size with an extra long twin bed for the whole family to sleep in. It is wonderful to give all of them the room they need with the ability to be close as well. Sure, it spans the whole wall but that is part of the fun.

Has co-sleeping helped you in your breastfeeding journey? I'd love to know how in the comments. And if you're considering a motherhood session of your own, send me a note and we can discuss your session.