I couldn’t believe that there was a website for other women who went through much the same experience as I did. Gave birth to a very small 29 weeker earlier this year. I believe that much of the reason that she is doing as well as she is is because of my determination to EP when she was in the NICU, and until she could correctly latch on.   I was determined to continue to EP until she either learned to latch on or got to 12 months adjusted. I know many people thought I was crazy. I thought I was headed that way. It is so much work. To pump, to feed an infant, to have all of the work of bottle feeding and breast feeding, and get sleep in just tiny snips and snatches. You start to go a bit crazy. All I can say, is that someday it will be over, and watching your baby grow with your milk, faster than she could possibly grow with that nasty formula is worth it.   Take heart, keep pumping. Especially when you don’t think you can any more. Keep trying for that latch. I managed that special miracle one week after her due date. Then I was crushed to realize that she was losing weight. She wasn’t getting enough from me. I was back to bottles. I tried again about two and a half weeks later. She got it. Then she wouldn’t take bottles at all. Which was better, but still a problem, as no one else could watch her for me for more than a few hours. Another week or so after that, and all was better. She will take a few bottles during the day, long enough for me to get a little time away for errands, and then she is quite happy to return to breastfeeding.   But it was a long difficult journey. And I couldn’t have done it without the support and encouragement from a close friend, the NICU nurses, my daughter’s pediatrician, and my dear husband. And reading some of the other stories that others have posted, I think my 4+ month odyssey was an easy one by comparison. But I would like to encourage everyone who reads, to take heart. Even if you have to pump every day to give that precious milk to your little one, don’t give up. It is worth it in the end.   Ex-EP’er Sending best wishes and good luck to other EP’ers

One Response to “Switching from EPing to Breastfeeding”

1. Tabitha Says:
   January 3rd, 2008 at 7:54 pm

   Thank you for this! I am just committing to my exclusing pumping… but hope to one day have my baby at my breast… your story brings me hope!