A Teen's Breastfeeding Story

Hello, my name is Tayteon Smith and I just had my beautiful son on June 11th, 2015. Over the time of me being pregnant I was nervous about breastfeeding because I was told by so many people different things about it. Some of the things that were told to me were that breastfeeding hurts, my nipples would be sore all the time, my nipples would bleed, and the baby may even bite you. You would think that if you had a little person on your boobs every hour and a half to two hours. After my first time breastfeeding, I can definitely say that breastfeeding does not hurt. It’s all about the latch of your baby, in which you’ll be able to talk to a lactation consultant about. If you simply wet your nipple with your own breast milk before having the baby latch on it will help with them latching on and your skin is less likely to be torn. Making sure that their mouth is completely open and covering up your areola will help too. I was told that by the second week of me breastfeeding that my nipples would be sore, my nipples have yet to be sore and my baby is almost a month old. Making sure that you feed your little one every 2 hours will help with your breast not getting engorged. If you happen to start making more breast milk than you started off with, it would be a good idea to get a breast pump. I’m using one now and it’s amazing.
There are definitely a lot of good things that come along with breast feeding. Not only is your breast milk full of nutrients and antibodies for the baby but it’s also a way that helps your body get back to its usual figure. With your body recognizing that your breast feeding it sends messages to your uterus to let it know to go back down to its normal size so you won’t have that little pudge. I was 148 pounds right before I had my son, 19 days later my weight is at 126. The main thing that I love about breastfeeding is that it’s free. You don’t have to go to the store and buy baby formula that’s $30 a can. On top of that you hear so many bad things about baby formula, things like it’s not natural, babies tend to stay sick a while longer on formula than breast milk, and that the babies are always spitting up. My sister had her baby in March of 2015 and her baby girl still throws up after every time she eats. So if you think about it you’ll be spending a more money on your water bill too because you have to continuously wash your baby’s clothes that have throw up all over them. Making a bottle every time your little one is hungry is a task too. It’s easier to just pick your baby up and start feeding them, especially on them long sleepless night that every new mom encounters.

Thanks to Centering this teen is now breastfeeding and proud of it!  What an amazing letter our clinic received!