Episode #27
My Breastfeeding Journey- What Helped, What Didn't And What Humbled Me
Today, I’m sharing my personal breastfeeding journey across all three of my children—and how dramatically different each experience has been. After relatively smooth breastfeeding experiences with my first two babies, I went into my third postpartum journey assuming breastfeeding would be the easy part. Instead, it became one of the most challenging and humbling parts of my postpartum experience. I share how my third baby suddenly stopped latching during the day at just three weeks old, despite continuing to nurse perfectly at night. I tried lactation consultants, different nursing positions, craniosacral therapy, pediatric physical therapy, stretches, courses, and more, but nothing seemed to fix the problem. Eventually, I transitioned to pumping throughout the day and nursing at night—and lived that way for months. Then, completely unexpectedly, around nine months old, she began nursing normally during the day again. Throughout this journey, I’ve developed so much more compassion for how complicated and emotional feeding a baby can be. I’m passionate about breastfeeding and incredibly grateful I was able to continue, but I also believe a mother’s mental health matters tremendously and that there is no single “right” way to feed or bond with your baby. Listen in to hear me share: How I prepared for breastfeeding before becoming a mom and why I think prenatal education can make such a difference What my relatively easy breastfeeding experiences with my first two children looked like How infertility affected my ability to trust my body during early motherhood Why my third breastfeeding journey completely humbled me What happened when my baby suddenly refused to latch during the day—but continued nursing normally at night The lactation consultants, therapies, positions, stretches, and other approaches I tried Why I eventually stopped trying to force daytime nursing and created a pumping routine instead The mental and logistical load of pumping multiple times every day while caring for three children How a wearable pump gave me back some freedom and allowed me to leave the house Why my baby unexpectedly started nursing normally again around nine months My mixed emotions around breastfeeding, formula, pumping, weaning, and protecting a mother’s mental health How this experience changed the way I soothed and bonded with my third baby Why motherhood continues to humble me—and why sometimes you can do everything “right” and still have a completely different experience than you expected Why I’m ready to wean, take a real break, and finally have my body and time back after years of pregnancy and breastfeeding +so much more. Connect with Lauren: Get my FREE PCOS Guide here Join the Empowered Path to Pregnancy here Instagram Work With Me Thank you so much for listening to the About Health and Hormones Podcast! If you loved today’s episode, I would love to know! Please leave a rating and review so I can make this podcast even better for you all. I would love to connect with you. I’m so glad you were here today, and I wish you all health and happiness! This episode was edited and produced by Intent Media. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
