Nursing and Breast Cancer

Kristy had nursed our first child, Ammon, for his first 15 months and was convinced that breastfeeding was the optimal way to feed any child. Kristy researched if and how breastfeeding could work in with breast cancer treatments.

What she found was that everyone said you could breast feed through the lumpectomy, there would be more risk for infection with the lactation, but she could do it. She could breast feed until she started chemo and then she couldn't feed the milk to the baby.

Kristy had a really hard time with the fact that nursing would be different. She really believes in it. And she thought that she would champion the cause for breastfeeding while doing cancer treatments (up until chemo, of course)....... BUT....

When Aaron was born, the first thing she noticed was that Aaron had a difficult time latching on... and when he did, it hurt when he sucked. Kristy just figured every child was different...

Then the 3rd day, our pediatrician, Dr. Johnny Wall, came in and asked if Aaron had a problem latching on.. Kristy said, "YES!" And Dr. Wall explained that Aaron was a little bit "tongue-tied". And he had a little more muscle underneath his tongue than most infants. It wasn't bad enough to clip it or anything, but Aaron can't suck as well and won't ever be able to touch his tongue to his nose (darn it!) - so after 4 days of excruciating pain while nursing, Kristy emotionally was able to give up breastfeeding and be happy about it.