This is an example of a mom's 6-month struggle to breastfeed, that ended with early weaning. It is from a podcast from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Tara experienced:
-low milk supply
-latch on difficulties
-sore nipples
-insufficient weight gain for baby
-premature weaning
This story is from a podcast that I listened to in February 2024, where a mother named Tara, discusses her breastfeeding experiences with her friend, Jessica. Jessica is a lactation consultant (LC).
This podcast is publicly available on the Breastfeeding Center of Ann Arbor (BFCAA) website. It is from the 'All Things Breastfeeding' page,
Episodes 79 and 80, Tara's Story, Parts 1 and 2.
Note: I do not recommend the Breastfeeding Center of Ann Arbor.
I am sharing this conversation because I believe that it provides a powerful illustration of what many women go through while trying to breastfeed. I have heard variations of this podcast conversation since the 1990s.
While there are beautiful moments in this story, there are also many moments that leave me feeling sad and frustrated. There are missed opportunities throughout Tara's journey where Jessica could have provided more effective instruction, instruction that might have allowed Tara to breastfeed for as long as she originally wanted to.
You may want to listen to the podcast yourself, each part is about 36 minutes long.
Here is Tara's story.
Tara had planned to breastfeed her baby for 12 months.
Her love for her baby and desire to give her the benefits of breastfeeding
are evident throughout this podcast.
During her pregnancy, Tara had done lactation consultant (LC) Jessica's online zoom class about breastfeeding.
Tara saved (harvested or pumped) some of her colostrum when she was pregnant.
She had heard about colostrum harvesting from Jessica's zoom class.
Tara had a hard time getting baby to latch.
Her birth doula helped her to latch in the hospital, but she could not latch after the doula left. They do not mention which position she was shown by the doula.
She was told that her baby's mouth was 'too little to latch'.
But her baby could take a bottle nipple...
What position was Tara using to breastfeed? Again, this podcast did not say, it only talked about getting a good latch.
Tara was told to pump because she did not have much colostrum.
Tara then found a chart online giving the amount of colostrum that babies should be getting.
I want to interject here again - because this is a technique that I would caution against: the pumping and measuring of colostrum before and after the baby is born.
Nature provides optimal nourishment for babies, colostrum for the first few days after birth, and then the mature milk comes in.
Colostrum harvesting developed after the Cross Cradle Hold started being taught and moms were subsequently having problems latching on and bringing in a full milk supply.
The benefits of colostrum and breast milk are well known, moms want those benefits for their babies. But if baby won't latch on and nurse effectively, he won't get the colostrum.
For babies held in the Cross Cradle Hold, this is often the case.
'Colostrum harvesting' involves pumping the breast when colostrum is present, before and after birth, and giving it to baby with a syringe or small bottle.
Please remember, one way to start labor is to stimulate a mother's nipples.
This has been known for a long time, since at least 1956.
If LCs want moms to pump for colostrum before birth, might this cause moms to go into labor before their body is ready?
I understand the desire to problem solve, but I also think it is important to examine all the subsequent effects of the actions we take in the name of problem-solving.
With natural breastfeeding techniques, the baby learns how to latch on at birth and gets colostrum, without any interventions. Nature has an effective delivery system. Let us not interfere with it.
For information about colostrum harvesting issues see Product Cautions and Technique Cautions.
Tara struggled with latching on and with bringing in a full milk supply.
Her baby got formula in bottles starting in her first days and was supplemented with formula the whole time that Tara was trying to breastfeed her.
Tara was told to try different size flanges on her breast pump so that the pumping would increase her milk supply.
Jessica, the lactation consultant, spent a fair amount of time discussing pump flanges and pumping on the podcast. Maybe you all might come away with a different conclusion, but I got the impression that Jessica was suggesting, that if Tara had come in to her, they could have made the pumping more effective.
Tara tried cranial sacral therapy for her baby, to help her to latch and nurse.
Tara got sore nipples, so she used nipple shields the whole time that
she breastfed.
Tara tried heaters, different types of pumps, Elvie Wearables, nipple shields, and pacifiers. She tried bottle nipples that were 'breastfeeding friendly', all to increase her milk supply and to get baby to breastfeed effectively.
Nothing worked.
Tara spent 'tons of money' on products to try to make breastfeeding work.
Tara said, 'Breastfeeding is supposed to be free, these products were not free'.
Jessica said to Tara, that this was one of those cases where nursing just did not work out.
I believe Jessica meant that when she said it. It is clear in this podcast, that Jessica and Tara were close friends. That makes it even harder, to think of how
Tara might have been able to breastfeed for as long as she desired, if Jessica, as a lactation consultant, had been taught natural techniques to share with Tara and other moms.
Jessica said 'Yay, 6 months of breastfeeding!'
You can understand why Jessica said this; breastfeeding is not always easy.
But Tara did not want to breastfeed for 6 months, she wanted to breastfeed
for one year. I wish that Tara has been given the tools needed to be able to have made it to one year.
Tara's efforts were heroic, as she continued to try to nurse her daughter despite all the problems that she had. And her baby did get her breastmilk some of the time, through a nipple shield and in bottles.
I am not sure that Tara felt that her breastfeeding experience was a success....
Tara gave breastfeeding her best shot; she did everything she was told.
She put a lot of money, effort, and time into her goal of nursing for 12 months.
But she weaned at 6 months, out of no fault of her own.
I really wish that Tara's story had gone differently.
I applaud Tara's efforts, and I also applaud Jessica's attentiveness to Tara.
That said, if the information that you are being taught, and then teaching to mothers, is incorrect, there is only so much that you can do. There was only so much that Jessica could do.
Tara's story is an example of what many mothers are experiencing when trying to breastfeed their babies. Instead of the natural breastfeeding experience they had planned for, they end up with many problems, many products, and weaning prematurely.
My heart goes out to Tara and her baby, and I pray that somehow, she will learn natural breastfeeding techniques from an experienced nursing mom or from this website, BreastfeedingSense.Com.
Then she will be able to nurse her next baby for as long as she and her baby desire.
Please know Tara, and all mothers who suffered from breastfeeding problems caused by the Cross Cradle Hold, Football Hold, Log Hold, or Laid Back Nursing position, that I believe that even though breastfeeding did not go as you planned, that your baby understands that you love them and were trying to make breastfeeding work for her / him.
And I pray that you understand that your baby was not rejecting you when you tried to nurse her / him, but that your baby was reacting to the position,
Cross Cradle Hold (all HSH holds), that you were taught to hold her in.
For Jessica and lactation consultants and La Leche League Leaders everywhere, I know you want to help moms and babies. I know that you have dedicated much of your time and efforts into supporting mothers through what can be a difficult time. You are important.
Once baby is born, you are on the front line of getting baby onto Nature's optimal path, the path of natural breastfeeding.
And I really, really hope that you will be open to the possibility that many mothers are having problems and weaning prematurely because of the HSH position they are using, the Cross Cradle Hold, Football Hold, or Log Hold.
These holds are ineffective for many reasons and initially because of the
Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex (TLR), which triggers a newborn to turn towards whatever is touching his face or head. And while it (TLR) is part of the birthing process and helps baby to root towards the nipple, it also interferes with latching on when mom is holding the back of baby's head.
Please learn about the problems that often happen when babies are given artificial nipples before they are 6 weeks old, at the time when they are trying to learn how to suck effectively but are introduced to products that they can chew on and when they do the same on mom, the pain it causes.
No product, herb, or cookie will heal sore nipples or bring in a full milk supply.
When baby doesn't latch and nurse effectively, the milk supply will not be sufficient for baby. Then bottles of formula or expressed milk are given.
Baby must eat, one way or another.
But then the bottles of formula, pacifiers, and nipple shields all create more issues.
Pumping, washing bottles and pump parts, and caring for a newborn is exhausting.
And premature weaning is often the result.
However, if mom stops using the Cross Cradle Hold (and Football and Log Holds), and uses the Cradle Hold, healing will begin.
The comfortable, all natural, effective way to breastfeed is to use
the Cradle Hold Position (or Lap Nursing Hold) from birth.
Key Points of this Mother's Experience
This podcast tells the story of:
-Insufficient weight gain in baby from an insufficient milk supply, necessitating the use of formula the whole time
-Nipple soreness so bad that nipple shields were used
-Products including bottles, pumps, formula, nipple shields, milk collectors, pacifiers, being introduced to baby in her early days.
-Latch on problems
-Tara reaching out to lactation consultants, a cranial sacral therapist and researching online for answers to her breastfeeding problems, since nothing that the professionals told her to do helped her baby to latch on and nurse effectively, product-free
-Tara was exhausted by the constant pumping, cleaning of bottles, pump parts, nipple shields, and pacifiers, by the struggles to get her baby to latch, and by the struggles to find helpful answers
-Tara came to a crossroads at 5 months. And looking at all her options, she decided to wean. After spending 5 months trying to build a full milk supply, it was very difficult for her to wean. But she did wean, slowly, and at 6 months her breastfeeding journey was over.
For information about the problems that the Cross Cradle, Football, Log Hold and Laid Back Nursing positions cause
For information on how to breastfeed effectively using the
Cradle Hold Position, see Breastfeeding Positions that Help