My Goals for Breastfeeding Joel

Welcome to The Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival! This post was written as part of the Breastfeeding Cafe's Carnival. For more info on the Breastfeeding Cafe, go to www.breastfeedingcafe.wordpress.com. For more info on the Carnival or if you want to participate, please contact Claire at clindstrom2@gmail.com.

Today's post is about our personal breastfeeding goals. Please read the other blogs in today's carnival listed below and check back for more posts July 18th-31st!

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My breastfeeding journey with Joel has not been the smoothest experience. I thought that having nursed my first kiddo for 20 months, I knew what to expect this time around. But every kiddo is different, and Joel was born with both posterior tongue and upper lip ties which affected his ability to latch and remove milk efficiently, as well as causing me pain. Joel had his tongue tie revised at three weeks old, and we've continued strong since then.

This week, we passed the six month mark and we've begun the gradual baby-led weaning process! I'm feeling grateful for all the support I've had to make it this far with nursing him: to the point where it feels easy and (relatively) effortless most of the time. I've reached so many of my goals already:

• Exclusive feeding of breastmilk for six months
• After doing finger feeding along with sessions at the breast for the first six weeks, we've had all feeds at the breast since then.
• Joel is maintaining his weight on the growth chart for breastfed babies
• I didn't give up on breastfeeding during those early weeks, even though there were definitely a few moments when it felt like it might be too difficult to continue.

 I'm also looking forward to reaching more breastfeeding goals together in the future:

• We're doing baby-led weaning this time, and I hope to avoid spoon-feeding and purees altogether
• I'd like to nurse Joel until at least 24 months (2 years) old, but also
• I plan to allow him to wean on his own timetable.

I'm proud of both of us today for how far we've come from those first difficult days and weeks of our nursing relationship. Here's to the next six months of our breastfeeding journey, sweet Joel!

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Here are more posts by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.

• Claire @ The Adventures of Lactating Girl: Until...
• Ashley @ Adventures with my Monkeys: The Goals in my Breastfeeding Journey: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 1
• Amy @ Anktangle: My Goals for Breastfeeding Joel
• Timbra @ Bosoms and Babes: On the way to the Finish Line: Breastfeeding Goals
• And of course the guest poster on the Breastfeeding Cafe’s blog today is Carol: My Breastfeeding Goals