My first child was born 5 weeks early and had to stay in NICU for 5 days. I knew I wanted to breastfeed her but never counted on having her so early. Her mouth was tiny, she was 5lbs 6oz and no one in NICU encouraged me to breastfeed her. When I finally got her home I tried and she cried and cried as I tried to get her to latch on. We tried for almost a week. Meanwhile I pumped every 3 hours to build a supply. Finally I got her to latch on when she was so angry and hungry that it just finally worked. That week my mom and in-laws came into town. As the first grandchild everyone wanted to hold her and give her a bottle. I relented because I didn't know any better. The following week I went through some extreme stress with my job, my boss was making it difficult for me to return to work. I cried and struggled until the day I had to return, just 5 weeks after she was born. In summary, I was never able to breast feed her more than twice a day but I was faithful with pumping every 3 hours. Subsequently my supply was less than her need so I provided about 2/3 of her meals this way, and eventually that fell to 1/2 and then 1/4 to finally at 9 months I stopped.
With my second child I prayed throughout the entire pregnancy that I'd be able to breastfeed him entirely. My dream and prayer have come true! I've had to work really hard at it, but I believe the Lord blesses those who put in the effort. Not only do I provide every meal he needs, I have an excess growing in the freezer that exceeds his daily need!!! I feed him every meal except for 2 bottles while I'm working. He's so in love with me that he hates bottles. Now we need prayer that he will be more accepting of the 2 bottles his dad needs to give him while I'm at work.
I'm so incredibly thankful to God for his answer to a prayer that was so important to me.
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