Baby Name: Rahim
Amount of breastmilk: 99oz
Instagram: laksh.ataw
When my little one was born, I knew I wanted to give him solely breast milk to nourish his tiny, growing body. I absolutely wanted him to get all the benefits of this milk that my body produced and tailored specifically for him. While at the hospital, it was great having nurses who assisted with his latch and getting colostrum. However, coming home with him and figuring it all out on my own didn't go very well. As if being a first time mom wasn't hard enough, we were in and out of the hospital for the first week of his life due to concern for possible jaundice. One of the nurse's at the hospital made me feel as though it was my fault his levels weren't coming back up, she insisted I wasn't producing enough for him to be able to pee as often. I knew this wasn't true because I was able to collect 3oz of colostrum 1 day postpartum in a haaka, it was just a matter of figuring out nursing. By day 3 postpartum I was at a loss grieving the fact my breastfeeding journey wouldn't be what I thought, and began exclusively pumping. Fast forward 27 months, and I'm just grateful for my body being able to produce milk for almost 2 years! It took a lot of sacrifice and some loneliness but I'm so happy I did it. I did my last pump when he was about 21 months old, as I had a healthy freezer stash to take him past his 2nd year of life. My original goal was to pump for 1 year... And I made it to almost 2. I was able to mix frozen breast milk into yogurts and cereals, but as he's growing I've found it harder and harder to incorporate it into food he will actually finish. Can't wait to get my breastmilk freeze dried!
