The Gift & Challenge of Nursing (Breastfeeding)
Nursing (or often referred to in our culture as breastfeeding) is one of the most life-giving gifts you can give to your child. The benefits aren’t just short-term; they actually show in the long term health of your child as they mature into adulthood. Lower rates of obesity, asthma, type 1 diabetes, SIDS, ear infections, chronic illnesses, better gut health - these are all benefits of breastfeeding for your child. In fact, both then WHO (and finally the AAP) recommend breastfeeding for 2+ years! This recommendation is rarely “met” in our western society and it is a shame we don’t provide mothers with more resources and support to make it happen.
But I am here to point something out that I think we often skim over when planning for baby - nursing is HARD. It is very rare that nursing works as you expect it to. Yes, absolutely, sometimes a Mama births her baby and the latch is easy and the nursing makes sense. But I hear time and time again, from both my friends and my clients, that nursing is not what they expected and it was either a challenging journey to. get where they are, or they gave it up earlier than they wanted to.
I want to reiterate the challenge and recognize the drive it takes to make nursing happen by sharing my story. When I have shared this with others in the past, I usually get a response somewhat like, “I had no idea you went through that”. Yep - we went through A LOT to get my little guy fed breastmilk and only breastmilk in the beginning.
My nursing story:
My baby didn’t fully latch until 5 days after birth. Yep. 5 days. I could have given up, but I didn’t. This was so important to me and a non-negotiable for many reasons.
My son was born in a beautiful way. In the water, in a very calm birth center setting, unmedicated. He came out with his eyes wide and body open. We enjoyed the Golden Hour together as a new family of three. When I tried to nurse for the first time, I had a challenge getting him to latch. My breasts were huge and I attributed some of the challenge to this, but I also remember our midwife checking internally in his mouth and mentioning that he may have oral tethers.
We brought our son home and quite frankly, I don’t remember how he ate the first 18 hours. My husband reassures me that he did (via colostrum vials I had saved from my last few weeks pregnant, supposedly), but I don’t remember this and I often feel pangs of guilt that still pop up when I think about it. Writing this out loud is actually pretty healing for me!
What I do remember is the mess of trying to get him to latch. I WAS DOING WHAT THE BREASTFEEDING COURSE TOLD ME! I was hamburger-ing my breast - putting the whole areola in his mouth, tickling his feet, etc. He just couldn’t make the latch happen.
In the morning after his birth, I quickly reached out to a lactation consultant (IBCLC) to explain what was going on and she made room in her client schedule to see us. She came that evening and assessed Oliver, sharing that she found him to be very tight and she did see a possibility of oral tethers. She recommended body work (Craniosacral) as soon as we could get an appointment and an assessment with a dentist in town that specializes in pediatric oral tethers.
We ended up doing both. The Craniosacral therapy helped immensely - my baby was able to latch! But the bodywork didn’t hold past a few hours each time, so on Day 5 of my son’s life, we had an assessment with Dr. Jessika Martin.
What I love about the work Dr. Jessika does, and what really impressed me, is she takes a team approach with the IBCLC and the Craniosacral therapist. She doesn’t just “grade” a tie and say “this needs dental correction”. What she does is truly holistic.
While I hope and pray that our second baby is blessed with a different oral outcome (I’ve done things very different nutritionally this pregnancy), I know that there is a wonderful team approach to working with babies and children with tethers and I am 100% prepared for this in the future.
My precious journey with my little boy has since paused in this pregnancy, but I am so proud of the 27+ months we max it and can’t wait to see if it starts back up again.
I share all of this in hopes that you, Mama, can find the inspiration to get the support and help you need to make this journey work. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me about this - I am passionate about the health impact of nursing (physically, emotionally, and spiritually) and I want this to work for you and your baby.
To learn more about oral tethers and a true holistic approach to treating (as well as possibly preventing them), check out this podcast episode with Dr. Jessika Martin DDS:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3OzNJOYxrJYlaZEAWtf9el?si=usFOMmZRTlmN_Fg5vkritA
