I Breastfed Because I Should

Those who took the time to read my previous post, “I Breastfed Because I Could” will know that I did not have a considerable number of struggles to overcome when learning to breastfeed my eldest child. I worked through learning what was normal and how to read his cues and then we were off on a splendid and fascinating journey of mothering through breastfeeding.

When my second child came along I knew that he would be fed at my breast alone, as his brother had done. He came into the world a couple of pounds smaller than his big brother but he was no less interested in his food source.

Everyone will tell you that all babies are different. Those words felt like a cop-out to me, until I met my second child. How could he be from the same gene pool? He was smaller in every way. He fell asleep when I put him down. AND, on top of all of that, as an infant he never wanted to nurse for comfort. Who WAS this scrawny little monkey-baby?

Regardless of his outward appearances he was OUR baby and he had lucked into the ultra-sensitive gastro-intestinal tract genes of both my maternal family and the maternal family of my husband. Within a couple of weeks of my baby’s birth we knew he had something going on in his belly. By the end of the first month we had more than just green, mucousy stools to look at, we had blood in the diaper as well.

I have never been so grateful in my life for the work that I do. As an accredited La Leche League (LLL) Leader (a journey I embarked upon after the birth of my eldest son) and Lactation Specialist I had at least some understanding of the warning signs that might present when food intolerance is an issue.

My son had infantile colitis. He was not taking any animal milk protein directly, everything he ingested was filtered through my breasts and still he was bleeding and in pain. I began to eliminate all potential allergens from my diet. No casein (animal milk protein), gluten, or egg for two weeks. After I managed to evacuate my body of these foods and therefore allowed my son’s body to be cleared of them as well, my plan was to slowly reintroduce each item for a week to see if it would have an effect.

The eggs were clear. I was able to eat eggs and products containing eggs every day if I so desired without any ill effect on my baby. Gluten was not so well received. Within 24 hours of having a piece of toast and jam my baby was sporting a bumpy “rash” on his back. Patches on the elbows were more skin discolorations than actual bumps but with Caeliac’s Disease in my family, it wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.

Next I tried dairy. I started simple. Butter on boiled new potatoes. Within hours my son was screaming in agony and by the next morning we could see trace amounts of blood in his stool again. I felt exactly like the most horrible monster the planet had ever seen.

Wow. No gluten and no casein. My diet was about to change. This ultra-strict vegetarian was about to re-visit her food options. I had a newborn and a three year old and I couldn’t think straight. My husband and I talked about reintroducing meat to our diet. (He was eager and I was reluctant.) At the time I couldn’t see any other way for me to be able to find the necessary daily dietary requirements while still trying to stay sane.

Ah, sanity. It’s a slippery slope that one, isn’t it?

The strict diet and worries about my son’s health were only a couple of the stressors that presented that particular summer and fall. When my baby was only 6 months old I was finally diagnosed with postpartum depression. I knew I’d needed help when I found myself bawling in the car on the side of the road, children in the back seat, chanting over and over again: “I’m not coping. I’m not coping.”

I don’t know that I would have survived the whole ordeal of all the challenges 2001 brought to our family if I hadn’t continued to breastfeed. The reality was that it was the one thing that I felt like I was doing right. I wasn’t going to give that up any time soon.

My youngest consumed nothing other than my milk until we gradually began to introduce solids around 9 or 10 months of age. Given his sensitive tummy I was reluctant to start anything else too soon and he didn’t appear to be in a hurry either.

Our respect of his casein sensitivity allowed his body time to grow and mature. We, as a family, recognize that we are not designed to drink the milk of another species and so don’t have much of it in the house. My boys don’t drink big glasses of animal milk but they do like to treat themselves to ice cream or cheese products from time to time. They both seem to know when they have had too much and back away. Neither of them like the way that human bodies produce excess phlegm and nasal mucous when too much casein has been consumed. We just weren’t meant to have it past infancy.

Were it not for breastfeeding, I don’t know what kind of health issues my youngest may or may not have had to struggle with all of his life. I will be forever grateful to my body for producing the miracle food he needed.

And here are my two breastfed boys in 2009! Long since weaned but still pretty cute in my opinion!

Posted by Sam