Breastfeeding Journey

On November 3rd, 2015 I was admitted to the hospital for severe high blood pressure. I was 21 weeks and 4 days pregnant.It was a very scary situation as the doctors tried their best to lower my blood pressure. They said the baby was stressed but so far was handling everything the way he should. They would try to keep him in as long as possible.  November 23rd 2015, the doctors said we would be having our baby. The daily ultrasound showed that he was no longer receiving anything from the placenta. He had to be delivered as soon as...

For me breastfeeding and food have always gone hand in hand, which makes sense. Breastfeeding is food and nourishment for a baby or toddler. I've always associated breastfeeding and food, even in some unconventional ways.  My first breastfeeding experience was at my birthday dinner. I was pregnant with my first at Benihanas with my family. Midway through dinner the lady across from us whipped out her boob and started nursing her baby. Okay, she actually so discreetly put her cover on and quietly nursed her baby at the table. Either way, at the time, I was in shock. After all...

Hello! My name is Stephanie Silva and I am a married 23-year old mother of three and full time college student. My two oldest are 4 and 3 and they were FORUMLA fed! I believe I formula fed them for two reasons: 1. being a young mom at 18 I was more concerned with why the baby wouldn’t stop crying then weather it was breastmilk or formula that was filling the tummy and 2. I believed all the myths; I wasn’t educated about breastfeeding at all! I knew it was “better” but no one ever explained to me WHY! When...

When I was pregnant, I read everything I could about natural births, a birth plan, midwifery, labor, doulas, the whole shebang...but I didn’t even begin to prepare for what it was going to be like once my son was actually born. I knew we would breastfeed though & I always pictured myself breastfeeding for 12 months. For some reason, that always sounded like the magical number--12 months; a whole year, an even number, what most US doctors recommend. But our journey lasted 27 months, more than double what I had planned, and it truly was such an amazing experience. I...

Breastfeeding saved my life. I don’t know how else to put it. I know we as humans have fallen into the habit of saying things and people “saved my life” more frequently and metaphorically than we may realize (“this coffee saved my life.” “Thanks so-and-so, you really saved my life.”) but really, breastfeeding saved my life Let me back up a little bit and give you some back story. I was fortunate enough to find the love of my life when I was only 18 years old. I was also unfortunate enough to find the love of my life when...