I could cry

I found out yesterday that I have a blood infection from a cut I had that got infected. Now Im on super strong antibiotics and can't nurse DD. She is going to be 1 this Sunday so luckily I was able to start her on cows milk. However, now I need to pump and dump all day just to keep up my supply. Every time I sit here for 20 mins pumping, just to dump it down the sink, I cringe! Now Im really worried that once Im done with these 10 day antibiotics, she won't want to nurse and I would have been pumping for nothing. I am not ready for us to be done nursing

Re: I could cry

I had a root canal done when DS was a few months old and because of the antibiotics I was put on I couldn't nurse him either. I was so upset, I cried the whole way home from the dentist's office. But I was able to eventually nurse again and it was not the end of nursing like I feared. I know how you must feel but don't give up hope yet. And no matter what happens, at the end of the day you are doing what is best for her and you were able to nurse for a really long time which is a huge accomplishment. Hang in there.

Re: I could cry

I stopped nursing DD over 3 months ago and she STILL sometimes asks to nurse. I bet your DD will still be interested once you're clear to BF again. I'm sorry you're dealing with this though!

Re: I could cry

Be strong! Your babe will latch on again. Don't worry.

Re: I could cry

When ds2 was 6 weeks old last year I had to get my gallbladder out. I was ebf and was really sad that he had to have formula for a few days because at 6 weeks old I hadn't gotten the chance to pump yet to build a supply. Well what was suppose to be a quick hospital stay turned into a nightmare. When they went in to take out the stones that made their way into the bile duct right before they did the surgery they accidentally hit my pancreas, it was lacerated and I also had a large hematoma. I was immediately taken to the icu after surgery and was fighting fevers and infections for two weeks and they wouldn't even allow me to see my son because he was so little he could get sick. I was so swollen that they couldn't find any veins on me so while under I had a line put in my neck. They couldn't figure out what was wrong with me and eventually transferred me to Mt. Sinai in the city. I was so determined not to give up nursing that I pumped with the hospital pump 4-5 times daily. I was still producing milk even though I wasn't allowed to eat the entire time there because of my pancreatitis. I should have been pumping more, like every two hours or so like a newborn eats but I was in a ton of pain and the high pain meds made me fall asleep all the time. The ordeal was a nightmare. It was most painful not being able to see my 19 month old and 6 week old and i felt guilty that i had to stop nursing both of them, yup i nursed both at the same time, they thought i was a crazy woman. Everyone told me to just stop pumping, that ds2 would be fine on formula but I couldn't. I pumped as best as I could and dumped it all. I came home after two weeks and they put me on the same pain meds I had after my c sections so that I could start to nurse again. I tried to take them right after he fell asleep so that they could leave my system by the time he woke up and needed to eat again. I felt guilty about that and the fact that at first I only produced half of what he needed and had to supplement the other half. That lasted a week and by week 4 I was off the meds and he was back to ebf. We just stopped last month.

My point is....if you have the will then there will be a way. I know it's so heartbreaking and painful to not be able to, to pump which is torture lol and to them dump all that hardworking but think of how strong of a woman and mother that makes you to carry out your will.