Rebecca A.'s Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 12/12/00 -------------------- 12/6/00 -------------------- Rebecca A.'s Introduction

Rebecca is a SAHM to her first child Rylan, born April 21, 2000.

November 30, 1999

Hello. My name is Rebecca and I'm the 23-year-old mother of Rylan (born April 21, 2000 -- Good Friday!). My husband is a First Lieutenant in the Air Force and I'm a stay-at-home mom. Right now, we're stationed in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. When we first got here, we had only been married for three weeks. I was a recent college graduate with an accounting degree, and could not find a job to save my life. So we knew it was fate when, two months later, I found out I was pregnant. I'm so very excited to share my breastfeeding experiences with everyone! I had always planned on breastfeeding without really giving it a second thought or knowing all of its many benefits. When I got pregnant I had always asked people "How long am I supposed to breastfeed?" I got so many different responses that I decided to find out for myself. I'm glad I did, because after researching, I discovered all the wonderful things about breastmilk and how inferior formula really is. The more I learned, the more passionate I became about breastfeeding. Then when I found out that the immunities in breastmilk double in the second year, I decided that I was going to let my baby self-wean.

Then Rylan was born. He was breathing too fast and was flown out of state to an NICU. They wouldn't let me breastfeed at first because there was fluid in his lungs and even though I told the nurses "no pacifiers," they gave him one anyway. Welcome to the world of nipple confusion. This is very real and very frustrating. Rylan could not latch on and although the nurses tried to help, when I was gone, they kept sticking that pacifier back in his mouth. So they gave me a nipple shield, which I used while he was in the hospital just so I knew he was getting enough, but when I got home, I was bound and determined not to use that. Not to mention it made the whole nipple confusion problem worse. There was a good side to it, though: I didn't get sore nipples at all.

The day that we left the NICU, I was informed that I had flat nipples. So I went out and purchased some breast shells. What a mess!!! I leaked so much while wearing those, that when I bent over (at the airport, none the less) the milk just poured right out onto the floor!!! But they did help after awhile, and finally after four weeks, thousands of tears and hours of frustration and feelings of failure, we had this breastfeeding thing down pat.

Rylan weighed 7 1/2 pounds at birth, and was 17 pounds at 4 months. So, it's very clear that we're going strong. He's still exclusively breastfed (no solids). Although he does occasionally get tastes off our plates, I'm not sure when I will start him on solid food. I have decided not to even bother with jarred baby food, so I will make anything he eats myself.

Because of my initial experience, I know the importance of breastfeeding support and encourage all women to get it from any source they can!