I am feeling very compelled to respond to this post. I am super passionate about breastfeeding and love sharing my story and hearing all the other mommies share theirs! I nursed my son for 13 months (he is now 16 mos). While I was pregnant, and until my son was about 6 months I was not veggie, vegan or superhero. My son was born large, 9lb 5oz and literally ate every 2 hours for the first 4 months of his life. He had reflux, eczema and colic. I had experienced low milk levels around 4 months and was concerned so I visited a lactation consultant (fyi, make friends with yours in the hospital!!). My milk levels were low due to obvoius stress and the amount of peppermint I was intaking. Peppermint lowers your milk production-I never knew that. More importantly, the lactation consultant noticed his eczema and commented that eating dairy can CREATE eczema!!! With this new knowledge, and true to form I raced home to research and found out that was more than true, it also creates reflux so I decided then and there to cease dariy, very hard for me at the time. Every few weeks I would cheat and notice his reflux and eczema came back. Needless to say I cut it out of my diet and noticed almost instant results with his colic. Slowly he started sleeping better, his reflux pretty much disappeared and his eczema started clearing up. I do not give him any dairy now and everything is wonderful. He still has eczema, not bad but just somewhat genetic. My internal pipes work much better now too :)

My firstborn was a very sick baby and I nursed him till 3. I felt he needed the nutrition and the comfort. Because he was sick I never got any grief from anyone, I think they understood, but I don't think people realize that there is not a switch that you flip one day and say, "you're too old to nurse now". It is a gradual process based on the needs of the baby and sometimes the mom too if she feels she just can't continue or doesn't wish to for her own personal reasons. It is not usually something that happens overnight. If a child is still wanting to nurse and mom is ok with it I see nothing wrong with nursing that long. Not that my opinion matters! Just saying!!!!

I suppose that I was lucky? I did not have any serious problems, and honestly didn't know anyone else who had. Just the normal things, sore nipples at first, I did have mastitis once, no antibiotics, just warm compress and nursing as much as possilble cleared it up.

With my daughter I had a homebirth so I had the support of 2 midwives and my very wonderful supportive doctor as well. I was just 20 when she was born, not really sure where the strength of my resolve came from, but I KNEW that all that I had done, with the homebirth, and nursing her was the best I could do. I was absolutely determined and it was the best experience, those moments with your baby are like nothing else. She weaned herself at around 15 months.

With my son, there was just the sore nipples at first, oh and the contractions as my uterus tightened back up while I nursed him were VERY intense at first. I did join a La Leche League group in my area, just for the support of other mothers. My only 'difficulty' in nursing my son was that he was so attached to the boob, I felt like a milking machine sometimes. :-) I was SO tired at times that it was just good to share with others. I nursed my son until he was 3, even then I had to wean him, but by that time it was just a bedtime ritural.

I know it's not easy for everyone, but to those of you who are having difficulties, seek out the support. It's not only the best thing nutritionally for our babies...it is magical.

I nursed my first for a little over a year while I was working. I was able to stay home for my second child and I nursed him for 3 years and 4 months. I has c-Sections for both. Two things I could not be without was a boppy and a Glamour Mom nursing tank. http://www.glamourmom.com/store/shopproducts.asp?type=tanks_and_tops They have so much more to offer now, but it was really supportive around my "tummy". It was very comfortable and soft. The boppy took alot of pressure off my back because it cradled my baby. The more comfortable you are, the easier it will be to nurse. I hope this helps.

I breastfed my first child for 3 years and am currently still breastfeeding my two year-old. I've had a few small bumps in the road, but really nothing major. Going to La Leche League meetings helped me alot. Good for you Alicia for using your blog and your pregnancy to promote and normalize breastfeeding. Because it is normal! It really is at the base of good nutrition, that's where it all starts out. It's one of the most precious gifts you can give your child (good health!) and yourself. I completely agree with Esperanza D, it should not hurt and do it as often as your baby wants. A small baby's wants are the same as his needs, so you can't spoil a baby by nursing often. Best of luck in your pregnancy and parenting journey :)

I want to make sure new moms know there are many FREE and low cost ways to find breastfeeding support.

I am a nurse lactation consultant and gasped at the post about a $300 lactation visit! GASP. That is unreal. Here in Texas, the fees range from $60-$100 for an in home visit.

Your state WIC office should have peer counselors (Free), La leche league support (free), your OB/Midwife often can help (office visit charge), Lactation Consultants (varying fees I charge $30 for a visit in my home and $60-75 for a visit in clients home).

Many breastfeeding clinics will file your insurance for breastfeeding visits and there is no out of pocket for you.

I also have had people buy a consultation as a baby shower gift for new mommies.

It makes me want to cry my eyes out to hear about someone discontinuing breastfeeding because of problems that can be resolved with proper help. I do not know of one lactation consultant who would not work with a mom on a payment she can afford, in order to help them continue breastfeeding. I will not do a consultation for free, but I will do a payment plan and have traded services before. (house cleaning, meals)

Another KEY factor to breastfeeding success is education. So many assume breastfeeding will come naturally and it often does NOT. Learning as much as you can before the baby comes is extremely helpful.

Keep looking for help and support, and you will find it.

I am writing again because I need to implore this Kind community to drop the phrase "breastfeeding nazis". This term is offensive, horrific, and ridiculous to the point of absolute absurdity.

I feel that success comes largely from the baby latching on properly. When I had my first baby my hospital roomate just had her 6th! When the nurse gave him to me and gave me a 10 second lesson in breastfeeding, she got out of her bed after her C Section(!) came around to me and taught me how to nurse! I owe much of my success to her!

I feel your pain julie! I finally came to terms with not being able to successfully nurse when I realized my tremendous stress was affecting my entire family and not good for anyone@

I was so excited about breastfeeding. When I started out with my daughter, who is now almost 3, I didn't realize she was latched on improperly. I nursed her that way for a week and by the end of that I was so sore, cracked and bleeding that I was sobbing from pain every time I fed her. (My doctor suggested at lactation consultant and when I called they said it would be $300 because my insurance wouldn't cover it. As a recent stay-at-home mom I couldn't afford it.) I switched to pumping and was able to exclusively breastfeed for 2 whole months. My supply dwindled and by 3 months I dried up. I was so sad about my failure that I cried a lot. I finally came to terms with it. When I had my son I was bound and determined to breastfeed him. I thought things were going fine but after several days he was cranky all the time. I tried pumping and almost nothing was coming out and I was getting more blood than milk. Again, I was very, very sad. I felt like a failure. But I switched him to formula and he was a different baby because he was getting enough to eat. I encourage women to try their hardest but not feel like a failure if you try and it doesn't work out. Also, my daughter had formula from 3 months on and has never had an ear infection. And my son is 4 months and has had almost nothing but formula and has never had an ear infection. So a lot of the information about breastfeeding preventing ear infections doesn't necessarily mean that if you don't your child will definitely get ear infections. Also, if I have a third child I will try just as hard. I still haven't give up on it!

I'm glad to see the varied experiences on here. I planned on nursing my first child for a year. His premature birth, poor suck, and general easy non-fussy, non-hungry personality made that a challenge. I nursed for 3 months, made it through the pain, saw a lactation nurse no less than 4 times (after we left the hospital). I had to set my alarm every 2 hrs overnight to wake up and massage and do heat pads to stimulate my poor milk flow, and help him get the milk easier, wake him, then after nursing, use cold pads to help with pain. It was quite a process for first 4 weeks. I continued for 3 months, seemed like forever, and quit. My milk kept running out and I had to pump between feedings, thats a lot of stress on the body!!!! to get more milk, but never could. My second child I nursed 1 months but of course then you have the challenges of nursing a newborn with a 20 month old running around. My 3rd I nursed 1 week b/c she lost a dramatic amt of weight and I just couldn't increase my milkesupply!!! I absolutely wanted to nurse, and know I did my best. It isn't always easy, and sometimes it's just more than getting through the pain. Trust me, I had that too. Everyone does the best they can, and thank god for formula if for whatever reason you cannot! This is such a charged issue, and I felt judged by people assuming I just couldn't toughen up through the pain for my baby. Just keep in mind many, many circumstances may be going on and we don't know what it's like for anyone else!!

I think it needs to be said that some mothers cannot breastfeed for medical reasons. My son was 6 and 1/2 weeks early and 4 lbs. I had been in the ICU for 2 weeks with life-threatning toxemia. I tried to breastfeed but he was too small. I then pumped and then tube fed him-however his blood sugar was always a dangerous 29, 31, and 37 never over 40. At the neonatal drs. request we switched him to formula and his BG doubled. We met with a endocrinologist and lactation consultant. the determination was that my body had been under such stress that I was unable to produce quality milk. I was upset but wanted to take my baby home from the hospital- so I gave in. this is a rare case and of course if you can you should, but i wouldn't want a mother to feel as if she was a failure because she couldnt. My son was a very sickly child with asthma and ear infections-very possibly a factor in not breastfeeding. But 9 years later the same situation arose with my term healthy daughter-She couldn't tolerate breastmilk. So I again turned to formula- she is 3 and has been extremely healthy and very intelligent. I would always hope a mother could breastfeed it is natures way, but if you can't have faith that your doing what you must for your baby.

I breastfed all 3 of my kids. The first one latched on and did a great job but I ended up back in the hospital after a week with an internal infection ( after c-section) and did not have enough milk for him. I pumped the entire time I was in the hospital but he had to be supplemented with formula since my milk was full of antibiotics. I had trouble getting him to take me when I got out of the hospital but a nipple shield did the trick and I was able to feed him without the shield within a couple of days. I had to supplement him though, I was never able to get my milk supply up. The second and the third child were both incredible suckers and I cracked and bled. The latching was the most painful but after the pain seemed to ease. Again that nipple shield came in handy and I used it to nurse when the pain was bad and put it on the other nipple to catch the milk and keep it on the nipple while I was nursing on the other side. My breast milk really helped heal the nipples. You want to keep your nipples soft and the creams do help but the milk really heals the best. I also had pads that I put in my bra that soaked up the leaking and kept the nipples soft as well. If you have problems with cracking and bleeding it really does not last that long but can be really painful. Whatever happens or whatever you decide, you just have to be at peace with it. Best of luck and love to all.