Comments on: The Power of One…and a Contest!

By: Krista

Krista — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 10:52:39 +0000

The power of one for me was me. I always knew I would breastfeed once I became a mom, and I did just that. I never said I would just try breastfeeding, I said I was going to breastfeed, and I did. I am still happily breastfeeding my 10 1/2 month old son and will continue until he is at least 1, if not longer. I am not ready to give it up by any means! It is the most wonderful gift I have given my son, other than life itself! The bond I share with him is amazing, and knowing only I can comfort and nourish him this way gives me so much joy. I also have had a tremendous amount of support from my husband, mother, family and co-workers! Their support means the world to me and it has made breastfeeding/pumping that much easier!

By: Linda SS

Linda SS — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 10:10:22 +0000

The power of one – well I guess I was the one. Since my children are both grown and I’m now a grandma, I had no clue as to what to expect. I never even heard of a breast pump, unfortunately. When my milk came in I was in agony, and neither me or the baby knew the first thing about breast feeding. I loved it once I got the hang of it. I felt a bonding between myself and my children, it didn’t cost anything, and it was so convenient because I didn’t have to mix or fix anything. I’m so glad that most new mothers are more informed about the procedure now:) I’d love to win the scrapbook for my granddaughter’s photos!

By: Annette

Annette — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:08:53 +0000

The power of seeing my children not get sick on a regular basis, and the closeness I have with them because of breast feeding. The power of lugging my pump to work everyday so that my children would have breastmilk while I was at work.

By: Erin

Erin — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 03:02:26 +0000

I owe my breastfeeding success to The Power of One Supportive Husband. During the first few weeks, I don’t think I would have had anything to eat if he didn’t bring it to me in the rocking chair. He has picked up a lot of slack with the cleaning, since our baby loves to nurse for long periods. He always tells me that I’m doing a good job and he’s proud of me.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 19:37:03 +0000

For me, it’s got to be the Power of One Mother-in-law. I had a breast reduction when I was younger so breastfeeding was never a guarantee. My son was 11 lbs at birth and jaundiced. So a)he was really hungry and b) needed to eat often to get the billyrubin out of his system. Oh, and I was recovering from a c-section – only way to get an 11 lbs kid out of me! My mother-in-law spent 3 (maybe 4… can’t remember) nights with us because we needed to wake up and feed Ryan every 2 hours! The feeding process (wake up, diaper change, feed, diaper change, back to sleep) took at least an hour. You’d get to sleep and he’d need to be fed again. She was there for us, doing all the fiddly stuff with him and allowed us to sleep. She was amazing! Thank you!!!

By: Shawna

Shawna — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 19:02:16 +0000

My story was about nursing my first child. When she was 5 days old (we were barely getting the hang of bf) I went to the ER with a major headache. as it turned out I had extremly high blood pressure that they werent able to control in the ER. So they put me in ICU and put me on a strong medicine to slowely lower my blood pressure. being on this medicine I could not leave the ICU until my blood pressure was under control. I was diagnosed with postpartum preEclampsia. I was in ICU for 3 days away from my baby.When I would tell my nurses that I was breast feeding and needed to pump to keep up my milk, they would always dicourage me and say “You are probably not going to be able to bf when you get out because of the medication you will be on, besides we don’t have the equipment in the ICU”. I wasnt going to give up. I felt really passionate about breastfeeding. I did what I could manually that first day. late that 1st night a nurse from the maternity floor showed up and told me she heard I had been asking about a pump. she brought me the maternity floors only working electric pump every 3 hours during her shift. and she always made sure that there was someone from the next shift who would do the same. she was also very incouraging, telling me to stay positive and have faith and it would all work out. when I left she sent me with a manual pump (which I did not have)and I used it every 3 hours for 3 weeks. when I was finally off the medication and my blood pressure had stablized, I was able to get my daughter back o breastfeeding. It took alot of patience and hard work. but I never forgot that nurse and how she helped me!

By: Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:38:34 +0000

I have a lot of support with breastfeeding. I nursed my first daughter until she was 19 months old. I was VERY determined to breastfeed and told everyone around me that I don’t care how much I may cry or hurt DO NOT let me give a bottle! I can remember my husband, my mother and mother-in-law taking turns rubbing my shoulders as my daughter would latch on in those first few days. It was so painful that I would cry, but they would talk softly in my ear, while rubbing my shoulders, encouraging me.
Nine years later I’m nursing my second little girl. She is 7.5 months old. It was so much easier this go around! And, I still have all that wonderful support!
You know, I breastfeed for many reasons, but I have to say I look at bottles and formula and think, “how do you do that?” LOL That just seems so hard! What I do is the easiest thing in the world!

By: Natalie

Natalie — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:20:28 +0000

You’re right. The power of one is probably the most powerful. When I breastfed my first baby 24 years ago, I had no idea what I was doing. I had never been around it. I didn’t know anybody that breastfed their babies. I had absolutely nothing to go on. I was in my room at the hospital when they brought my beautiful baby girl to me and said, “ok mommy, you’re little girl is hungry” The nurse handed her off to me and turned to leave. I don’t know what made her glance back at us, but she did. It must have been the look of terror on my face that made her turn around and come back. This nurse was amazing to me. She was so patient and kind and had such a soft touch. She walked me through everything. The best thing she taught me was to relax. I ended up have the most wonderful breastfeeding experience with my daughter, and I attribute it to my wonderful nurse. I went on to breastfeed my next child with an equally wonderful experience. Now 24 years later, I was able to teach my first born the art of breastfeeding. I now watch her breastfeed my beautiful granddaughter, Natalie.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 04:23:13 +0000

Hmmm…my “power of one” is that I was/am the only ONE who is nursing/feeding/nourishing etc. my baby boy (foodwise, of course my husband is nourishing him in many other ways too), but I just love the fact that breastfeeding creates such a STRONG love and link between me and my baby!!! Also, I have almost reached my goal, of nursing for ONE whole year! What a good year it has been too…the power of ONE year makes me love breastfeeding and just being close to my sweet boy as much as possible!!

By: Ruth

Ruth — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 02:43:29 +0000

My power of one comes in form of my hubby. After soley nursing 6 children for up to 8 months each, our last baby – yes #7 – came to us as a power house nurser until she became ill. She did this funny sucking thing with her mouth so I did not realize she was not getting much until it was too late. My milk supply was in the dumps and she was too sick to bring it back up to the right level – so formula made its way into our lives for the first time with a newborn. Pumping became my option but with 6 other children at home the 4 hours a day to pump was just not going to happen unless I let our home fall apart at the hands of our 2 and 4 year old. My husband encouraged me that he supported me in any choice I made – to continue nursing; to stop all together; or to supplement. Each time I was discouraged he would affirm me. He also assured me that my not nursing exclusively was not a failure. In the long run it encouraged me to keep nursing until SHE quit at 6 1/2 months.
She is happy and healthy and nursing in the end was good for both of us.