(2/2) “I spent my whole next pregnancy dreaming about skin to skin contact and breastfeeding my baby, all the things I had missed with my first pregnancy. When the time came, we had a successful unmedicated VBAC, and it was everything I had wanted. She was a little early and was large and they wanted to supplement her as a precaution before checking her blood levels, luckily I was in a hospital that had donor milk available. She would have been fine with formula, but I was in a ‘ride-or-die breastmilk’ mindset. I didn’t want any of my past experience replicated so I was thankful breastmilk was an option. They gave her some donor milk and then she got straight on the breast. Her blood sugar levels ended up being fine and she hadn’t needed the supplementation she had been given. We made it to 6 months exclusively breastfeeding. My new problem was that I had two under two, and she had stopped gaining weight around six months despite the introduction of food and breastfeeding. My pediatrician said it can happen with moms that have two very young kids, that you don’t realize you maybe are rushing them off the breast while multitasking. So, we started supplementing with formula for a few months, and she weaned around 9-10 months. At the birth of my fourth child, I knew better how to advocate for myself. When my baby was born large, they recommended supplementing. I requested we hold off and told them I just birth larger babies. I just wanted to wait and see if colostrum was enough before testing blood sugars and discussing supplementing. And sure enough, everything was normal.”

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Ashlan Taylor at Portland Birth Stories
Portland, Oregon
www.ashlantaylor.com