Ksenyia

Meet Ksenyia, a first time mother who struggled with oversupply.

Hi y’all! My name is Kseniya and my nursling Anita is 13 months old. Even though I had a natural birth we were separated for several hours after and when the nurse finally brought her back to me she was too sleepy, but I began to breastfed her the same day she was born.

I anticipated some problems with nursing because I remembered stories of my Grandma who had 2 abscesses on her breast while breastfeeding my mother. And my Mom’s miserable breastfeeding experience, as she said she had “bad, flat and always sore nipples” (no one knew that I had a lip tie until I was 6 yo) and several rounds of mastitis and eventually she was told to stop giving me breast milk when I was 5mo.

So sad that there was no one around to help them solve their breastfeeding problems. They also didn’t have access to literature on breastfeeding (they lived in the USSR). In those days when women encountered a breastfeeding problem the most common advice was to switch to formula.

My own breastfeeding journey in the early months wasn’t easy. I had sore nipples, constant engorgement, plugged ducts, mastitis, milk bleb and… streaks of blood in baby poop. 🫣 I was really ready to give up in the first few days, when my nipples were sore and I was sure that “bad, flat, unsuitable for breastfeeding nipples” were inherited from my Mom😄.

But my family supported me and then I got LLL book “The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding” and realized that I had an oversupply (apparently my Grandma and Mom had it too). Then I found the group on Facebook LLLI Breastfeeding Support and saw dozens of women who had similar problems. And then when we moved from Texas to Chattanooga, I joined this group.

During difficult times, I prayed and told myself: just keep going on breastfeeding. It turned out that all problems are solvable. The nipple pain lessened and disappeared, the mastitis resolved and even oversupply appeared to be manageable and improved over time. I consider LLL a blessing, this combined experience of hundred of thousands of mothers over the years is such a big help!

The picture of my milk drunk baby and me on the rocking recliner, our favorite nursing spot.

I’m looking forward to meet you and your babies in person at LLL meeting and online. Happy breastfeeding journey to everyone!