As most of you know, I'm a new mother to my now 1 month old son Gavin.
I, like many women had the idea that I would ofcourse breastfeed and that it would all come so naturally with no problems. All through my pregnancy, I kept receiving all this information on Breastfeeding support, lactation consultants and books - but wasn't really sure why (afterall - lots of women breastfeed don't they??)
MY STORY:
Well I had trouble breastfeeding because of a low milk supply. My milk was late coming in so by the time it did, we had to build up my supply to what Gavin needed without supplementing with formula. I tried everything that I could to help milk supply - I fed Gavin like crazy, I took Fenugreek & Blessed Thistle, I drank a beer (older nurses say it's supposed to help), I pumped a lot and now I'm on Domperidome (a medication) as our last efforts. We even used a little tube at the breast to feed Gavin the formula with so that he didn't prefer the bottle to breast.
I think my husband Eric and I read everything we could get our hands on about breastfeeding.
Add a little baby blues, adjusting to having a baby and a lack of sleep to all of this trouble and you've got a "tragedy" in the eyes of a mother - and a lot of tears!!
In the meantime, it felt like everyone was phoning, wondering where we were and why we weren't out visiting and seeing people yet. I slowly started telling people that we were having trouble with nursing and to my surprise almost every women I spoke to said that they too had trouble when they started breastfeeding!
I couldn't help but wonder - Why aren't ladies talking about this more???
I'm so glad that we had all that information on breastfeeding support, but what I don't understand is why we aren't warned about how difficult this very natural thing can be and all the many things that can go wrong - and how many women have trouble at first.
The first week or two is such an emotional one with a new baby. Until you find out that you're not alone - it can be very scary.
My advise: Take things slowly, try to relax, sleep whenever you can, seek out help as soon as you need it and know that you're not the only one going through it.
I wanted to tell all of you new or soon-to-be mothers that.
Maybe it will help, maybe it won't - but it definately won't hurt.

Here are some great Online links that will ease your mind:
1. Dr. Jack Newman's Guide to Breastfeeding (he's the BF guru - haha)
2. La Leche League Canada (General help and information on local meetings)
3. La Leche League - FORUMS (so helpful!)

Let me know if anyone has any comments or questions!