Hi Ann,
Thank you for your note. I just wanted to share with you that I really appreciated your class! My husband, Russ, and I took your class last August. I gave birth in November. You had talked about tongue tied and I was so grateful. As soon as I saw our new healthy baby boy, I recognized that he had tongue tied . Based on your great information, we were able to ask the hospital to help us take care of it right away and within the first day of his birth his tongue was fixed. We had a few challenges just like every first time mom that does not have previous experience with breastfeeding. However, I was very excited and determined to breast feed our little Stephan. Stephan and I became a team and we both continued to work at it. While we were still at the hospital I did not hesitate to ask the lactation consultant to come by several times and make sure that I was able to overcome latching problems. We did not accept bottles from the nurses even when things got a little tough during the first 3-6 days but by the end of the first week we were doing really good.
I would also like to share with you that although I was determined that I was going to wait to introduce him to a bottle until much later just as you had suggested, I ended up almost dying a week after I gave birth. I got uncontrolled bleeding and had to be back at the hospital for several days the second week and had to take a lot of medication. All ended well but little Stephan had to take the bottle after a week of hard work of learning how to breastfeed. Based on your feedback, I really thought that he would never want to breast feed again. However, as soon as I was healthy again, he took the breast immediately and he much preferred it over the bottle. We actually struggled at the daycare because I had to start him part time in January when he was about 8 weeks old and he would starve himself waiting for me to breastfeed him. He would not take a bottle independent of whether it had breast milk or formula and nobody could feed him.
He is now 7 months old and he still loves to breast feed. I did not think that with my work schedule I was going to be able to maintain breast feeding but it is such a positive and wonderful experience for both of us that we figured a way to make it work. I have to substitute with formula since he eats a lot more now but I am still able to provide him several meals of breast milk a day, which I think is great. Most importantly, it is our special time together and breastfeeding helps him calm down when he does not feel well and in an amazing way, it helps him overcome colds much faster.
So, thank you again for the great education you provided to us! I would not hesitate to recommend your class. I have attached a picture of Stephan.
If you would like to place some of my comments on your website, you are welcome.
Best of luck and thank you again.
Warm regards,
Cathy