Mariah's Journey | A Colorado Breastfeeding Story

Mariah didn’t prepare a whole lot for breastfeeding specifically. All she knew what she wanted her pregnancy, birth and motherhood to be as natural as possible. Breastfeeding simply was part of that. Like many mamas, she figured that she would figure it out when the time came.

Upon finding out she was pregnant with her first daughter, she did watch “The Business of Being Born.” It helped her prepare more for what was going to come more than anything else. Most of all it helped teach her about the difference between a midwife and a doctor. After watching she knew she had to have a midwife.

After she birthed her first child she spoke a lot with the lactation consultant at the hospital, who was surprisingly helpful. And her daughter seemed to latch fairly well from the beginning.

Her One Difficulty

The one thing she was not expecting was to have sore, cracked nipples. While normal for many women beginning to breastfeed, cracked nipples hurt more than one may expect. Especially when it comes to continuing to nurse through the pain of it all.

The first two to six weeks are the hardest for most women as both baby and mom are learning how to latch and suckle. There are several salves, cremes, lotions and even sprays to help with most kinds of nipple pain. And there are amazing gel pads that can be heated or cooled to help with sore breasts and engorgement.

One of the best things you can do for your nipples, with any kind of soreness is express a little bit of milk and rub your own breastmilk into them. You will learn soon enough that breastmilk cures everything – maybe a slight exaggeration but not much!

Getting Passed the Beginning

Once her nipples healed and they started to get a good routine with each other, breastfeeding became smooth sailing. She hasn’t had much issue since. She nursed her first daughter until she was two and is now nursing her second at a year and a half just fine.

Her Second Beginning

When Mariah had her second daughter, she expected to have all the same pain and cracked nipples once again. But thankfully she didn’t have any issues the second time around. She says her boobs are champs now.

She is the first woman to successfully breastfeed in her family and she is pretty proud of that. The bond, the snuggles and the co-sleeping are all things she loves about breastfeeding.

To all the pregnant ladies out there or new moms, know it does get easier.

What struggles have you had in breastfeeding? We'd love to hear in the comments. And if you would love help documenting your journey in this thing we call motherhood, send me a note.