Jonnie's Herbs with Honesty

Featured image by Linda Provost/The Duncan Banner

In honor of breastfeeding awareness month I want to make a post on the amazing relationship, bond, nutrition, comfort, and care that breastfeeding is. One of the most basic traits that mammals have. Yet, many women struggle with this. Having support is a huge factor! Having someone support the choice to sacrifice your body longer than you already have to make sure your child has the best start to their life (and their children’s lives if you have a girl)! Finding the time to feed yourself and drink a gallon of water in between caring and feeding this new bundle is a big challenge. Take heart! Don’t. Give. Up. The trials will be difficult, but the reward is incomparable.

My breastfeeding journey has gone through some bumps, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It has been an honor to be able to partake on this amazing journey. My heart goes out to those who are physically unable to breastfeed. I hope you are still able to find breastmilk for your baby.

When my baby was first born I had to use nipple shields. My baby had a tongue tie and was unable to make a proper latch. With nipple shields I was able to breastfeed without doing an operation. Everyone was praying and after about three weeks I no longer needed them. My baby now has a beautiful latch and no complications.

When my baby was two months visitation started and I had to let them use a bottle. There were lots of issues and more breastmilk was being spilled all over the place than being eaten. I am highly against plastic, as we all know, so I did a ton of research on what bottles were saftest. I found cons here and there on every bottle.

For breastfeeding babies the Evenflo Balance wide nipples seemed to have the best reviews for latching, however no one liked the bottles. A very popular combo is Phillips Avent bottles with evenflo nipples, but I wasn’t satisfied with the past accusations of lead paint and the leaching of microplastic when heated. I decided to buy the Pura Kiki stainless steel bottle, which claimed to be highly versatile. However, I could find no where that said the evenflo balance wide nipples would fit. With hopes and prayers that they would work together I ordered both.

. . . IT WORKED! Praise the Lord! My baby latched onto the bottle and was able to eat! It was an expensive investment, when I had no idea if it would even work. Praise God it did! I personally think it was absolutely worth the every penny!

An amazing source of information that I highly recommend for every mom or supportive partner is the La Leche League.

My cousin gave me a a book titled The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, it gave me so much peace of mind and the amount of information is astounding. I used it to teach my co-parenting “person” how to bottle feed a breastfed baby. (That was a hard moment for me.) The book also talks about how scheduled feeding is outdated, (helpful for if your co-parent wants you to put your baby on a feeding schedule), don’t give up or give in to make a co-parent happy, research and prove what is best for your baby.

Also, find a local La Leche League to get involved with! Find your support group that will encourage you on the hard days of nursing and parenting!

What is your one piece of advice for a mom that is wanting to breastfeed? Leave your answer in the comments, I can’t wait to see what you have to say! I hope all of you have had an amazing Breastfeeding Awareness Month!