My Breastfeeding Story: by Cierra K.

I'd like you to meet Breastfeeding mama, Cierra K. She currently resides in Elliston, Va and is a mother of 1. She wants to share her journey with other mamas to give them the support she never had. She believes that "Breastfeeding is beautiful and it will never be normalized until every woman takes a stand.".

Read all about her breastfeeding story ⇓. After feel free to leave a comment and let us know if you can relate?

Our breastfeeding journey started out very tough. I was only 20 and had only been around one other person who breastfed, My mom. She was only able to breastfeed my baby sister for 6 weeks, she tried with all her children but to no avail. No other woman in my family has been able to produce so I had no real experience or knowledge of breastfeeding before I found out I was pregnant. My son was born 6 weeks early and spent 26 days in the NICU. Being a 34 weeker, he had to take my pumped milk in a bottle for the first few days because he was too weak to try to latch. He weighed 4lbs 2.1oz at birth and when he was 4 days old he dropped to 3lbs 15oz because he refused the bottle. At 5 days old he had the feeding tube installed but he was still losing weight. At a week old they finally let me try to latch. We had to use a nipple shield since he was so weak and because my nipples were a little too flat for him to directly latch. After about 5 minutes of nursing, he threw up because he was eating so good and so fast! We were only able to nurse once a day for a few days and then slowly progressed until we were able to nurse at every feeding. At night the nurses had to just feed him through the tube because he absolutely refused the bottle, he only wanted the breast. When he was discharged from the NICU He weighed 5lbs 8oz all due to nursing. Breastfeeding saved my sons life and I am proud to have successfully breastfed him for a year as of Oct 11th. I don't see our journey coming to an end anytime soon and I will honestly cry when that day comes. It really depresses me when I hear of a mother stopping at 6 weeks or even 6 months. If I can push through all our obstacles I want other moms to know they can as well. I push the normalization of breastfeeding because its what nature intended. I was told I had to cover from family and they silently judge me nursing him at a year old. The way I see it is they are just boobs, everyone has seen one and it is not like I'm exposing my breast in a sexual way. All I am simply doing is nurturing my son, you know since that's what breasts are for. I want to tell all mothers out there to keep nursing, don't be afraid to openly nurse, don't let other people tell you it is wrong or gross because it is not. It is one of the most beautiful things on earth and people need to realize it. If they don't like what they see then they can look the other way. You do you and what you feel is best for your child, after all, it is your child and your body, not anyone else's. Normalize breastfeeding, nurse without fear and keep being awesome 

Facebook: Cierra Kittinger

Instagram: raylans_mama