我独特的哺乳经历|my uniq e breastfeeding experience
摘自《新起点》,2008,第三期 翻译:鲁鹭 审校:missy,hetty,daisy 我生第一个孩子的时候非常年轻,只有16岁。那时,我对母乳喂养的重要性有一些了解。在医院时当护士过来,准备把我刚出生的儿子带去育儿室过夜的时候,我向她们请求把宝宝留在我身边,这样我们就可以在自己安静的房间里学习给他哺乳。那时,母婴同室在那家医院并不是常规,但是我知道我需要去回应宝宝饥饿的信号,并且不去尝试按时喂养。后来第一个孩子吃奶时间并不长,要是当初我像现在一样了解母乳喂养,会喂更久一些。 当我的宝宝几个月大的时候,他哭的很频繁。一位好心的亲戚说,我的奶不再够宝宝吃了,必须要补充配方奶粉。这就开启了断奶之路,宝宝不久后就完全吃奶瓶了。然而,多年以后,我仍然告诉任何愿意聆听的人,我相信这个宝宝不怎么容易得小儿常见病得归功于他至少吃了一段时间来自妈妈的奶！他现在是一个健康的20岁小伙子,在大学读二年级。 大儿子断奶后,在我20岁出头的时候,在一次例行体检中,医生发现我的乳房上有一个囊肿,并且建议我进一步检查。初步检查的结果不明确,医生建议下一步做活体检查。我立刻就想到,如果将来我生更多孩子的话,得保护自己用乳房喂奶的能力。我去看了很多位医生,其中一位专长于母乳喂养。我向他们寻求建议,希望保留我的母乳喂养能力,同时确保囊肿的情况不是太严重。检查结果显示囊肿不是恶性的,它是一个容易被移除的良性纤维瘤。我以为麻烦就结束了。 接受外科手术几周后,我遭遇了细菌感染,医生给我开了好几个疗程的抗生素,但感染仍在持续。感染持续了两年多。一位医学专家告诉我,哺乳可能是治愈感染的最好方法,但我没有能帮忙吃奶的孩子！最终我又接受了一个小手术,移除了被认为是造成感染的部位。我那时并未对此做太多了解,只是相信事情会好转。但情况并没有好转。不仅手术切除的部分比术前计划的要多的多,在拆线前就又开始感染,并且又持续了几年。感染成为我日常生活中的一部分,我不想冒险接受更多的手术,它们可能造成更大的伤害。 34岁时,我终于准备好孕育第二个孩子。当然,我知道我仍会用母乳喂养他。这一次,我掌握了更多有关乳汁分泌和供需方式的信息,我发誓要母乳喂养得久一点。我并不知道曾做过手术的乳房能否顺利泌乳。我的二儿子一出生,我就尽早并频繁地给他喂奶。我尝试给他吃两侧乳房,但不知道接下来会发生什么。双侧乳房看起来都很充盈,但有个问题很快就出现了:左侧乳房里的乳汁流不出来。乳腺管受损阻碍了乳汁的流出。我仍在每次哺乳时,让儿子在两侧乳房都吃奶,希望被切断的乳腺管能重新连接或"再生"。几周后,我发现左侧乳房又患上了严重的感染。 我去看了一位外科医生,想知道采取什么方法才能让我继续哺乳。这位医生建议我给孩子喂配方奶,因为她相信,如果我的患侧左乳无法正常喂奶,那么我健侧右乳的泌乳量也会下降,我的宝宝就得挨饿。这时,我给国际母乳会的哺乳辅导打了第一个电话。她帮我确信,如果我不得不单侧哺乳,那么仅靠一侧乳房喂奶,我的宝宝也能获得足够的乳汁。她告诉我,只要我持续地回应宝宝的信号按需哺乳,我的身体将会自然调整适应宝宝的需求。她还告诉我,就在当晚有一场母乳会聚会并邀请我参加。这真是发生在我们身上最棒的事！在聚会上,每个人都表现出对我们的支持和真诚的关怀,她们一次又一次告诉我单侧哺乳是可行的。当然,他们也告诉我如何观察孩子可能没有获得充足母乳的信号,但随着时间的推移,一切正常,我的儿子长得很好。我们此后也尽可能地参加母乳会的月度聚会。 图|国际母乳会中国图片库 我继续用单侧乳房进行纯母乳喂养,直到二儿子八个月左右时表现出对固体食物的兴趣。巧合的是,那个月我又怀孕了。此时的二儿子还很小,没有准备好离乳,所以我在孕期继续哺乳。有一次我去找一位外科医生,因为我听说有办法能重新连接受损的乳腺管。这位医生不是很赞同我的观点。当我告诉她,我正怀着第三个孩子,所以想做更好的哺乳准备时,她告诉我,我必须给二儿子断奶,因为我没办法同时给两个宝宝提供乳汁。我不认为她的观点是对的。我转而向母乳会了解信息和获得支持。在整个孕期里哺乳,我经历了奶量减少、乳头不适、初乳分泌并找到一种恰好适合他在我日渐隆起的肚子上吃奶的方法！二儿子满周岁后,我还找了份全职的工作,只要我们在一起,我仍给他喂奶。 我的三女儿在舒适的家里一出生,我立刻给她喂奶。她马上就含乳成功了,那一刻我知道一切都会很顺利！只要她想吃奶,我就立即给她喂。此时已经17个月大的二儿子会(稍微)耐心地等待,通常妹妹吃完就轮到他了。一两天以后,当二儿子吃完奶,从乳房上滑下来时,他兴冲冲地看着我,做出我们约定的"吃奶"信号。那一刻,我感觉孕期哺乳经历的所有不适都是值得的！ 感染又复发了。这一次我没有再尝试用左侧乳房喂奶。感染继续了几个月,现在似乎消失了,我希望它永不再来！ 图|国际母乳会中国图片库 手足哺乳带来了些独特的挑战和福利,特别是只能用一侧乳房哺乳。我的二儿子会说的第一个真正的问题是:"轮到我吃奶了吗？"在妹妹刚出生的前几个月,二儿子会越过我的肩头瞅着妹妹问。三女儿显然吃到了足够的母乳,并达到了每个成长的里程碑。和她哥哥一样,她也是在近10个月大的时候,才对固体食物产生兴趣。她的哥哥每天仍然会吃几次奶,我们也会继续按照两个宝宝的意愿母乳喂养下去。一起吃奶,这是让兄妹学会分享的多好的方式啊。尽管我没有同时给两个宝宝喂奶的优势,但我每天都能和日渐长大的宝宝分别共度一段安静的时光,我希望所有母亲都能拥有这样的经历-而且我觉得持续哺乳真的有助于保持我们已经培养的亲密感。 从母乳喂养的经历中,我学到了很多。母乳喂养教会我相信我的本能,相信我的身体知道要做什么。它教我坚持寻求支持和帮助、直至找到。它教会我,即使我的身体远非完美,但它不仅能孕育孩子们的生命,还能用最自然的方式滋养和培育他们长大。我因此了解到,母乳喂养的意义不仅仅是乳汁,它使我成为一位快乐的母亲,也令我所有的孩子成长为快乐、健康的人。 英文原文: i had my first child when i was very yo ng, at 16 years old. even then i knew something abo t the importance of breastfeeding. at the hospital, when the n rses came to take my baby boy to the n rsery for the night, i begged to keep him with me so we co ld learn how to breastfeed in the q iet of o r room. rooming in was not a common practice at that hospital at that time, b t i knew that i need to be able to respond to mybaby s h nger c es, and not try to p t him on a sched le. i didn t n rse my first born for as long as i might have now that i know even more abo t breastfeeding. when my baby was a few months old, he cried often. a well-meaning family member s ggested that i m st no longer have been making eno gh milk and to s pplement with form la. this began the weaning process and my baby was on bottles f ll-time not long thereafter. over the years, however, i ve told anyone who ll listen that i m s re his lack of many common childhood illnesses is d e to the time that he received at least some of that great mother s milk！ he s now a healthy 20-year-old in his second year at niversity. after he was weaned, when i was in my early twenties, the doctor at my reg lar check- p was concerned abo t a l mp in my breast and recommended that we look into it f rther. the initial tests were in concl sive and biopsy s rgery was considered to be the next step. instantly i felt protective of my ability to breastfeed in the f t re sho ld i have more children. i met with n mero s doctors, incl ding one who specialized in breastfeeding, to seek advice with regard to maintaining my ability to breastfeed, while making s re the l mp wasn t anything serio s. ultimately itwasn t. it was a benign fibroid that was easily removed. i tho ght my tro bles were over. a few weeks after s rgery i developed an infection. i was prescribed many co rses of an tibiotics, b t the infection persevered. for over two years this contin ed. one health professional told me that breastfeeding wo ld probably have been the best thing to help c re the problem, b t i didn t have a child to oblige！ finally i had another minor operation to remove the tiss e that was tho ght to be ca sing the infection. i didn t do as m ch research this time, b t was confident things wo ld go well.they didn t. not only was m ch more tiss e removed than had been planned, theinfection started p again before the stitches were even removed. this then went on for a few more years. it became a normal part of my life and i didn t want to risk more s rgery, possibly ca sing even more damage. at the age of 34 i was finally ready to bring a second child into the world. of co rse i knew i d breast feed him, too.this time i was armed with m ch more information abo t the s pply and demand way that milk is created, and i swore to n rse for m ch longer. i did not know if the breast that had been operated on wo ld prod ce any milk. when my son was born i n rsed him early and often. i p t him to both breasts, not knowing what wo ld happen. both breasts did seem to be filling p with milk, b t it soon became obvio s that the milk co ldn t find its way o t of the left breast. the d cts had been damaged, preventing the milk from coming o t. i contin ed to p t my son to both breasts at each n rsing session hoping that the severed milk d cts wo ld reconnect or "recanalize."after a few weeks of this i fo nd myself s ffering from a massive infection in my left breast again. i went to see a s rgeon to see if there was anything we co ld do to help things along. the s rgeon s ggested that is tart to s pplement my son with form la, since she believed that if i was nable to n rse from the left breast my milk prod ction wo ld drop in the breast that was working fine and my baby wo ld go h ngry. this was when i made my first call to a la leche leag e leader. she ass red me that it was possible for my baby to get eno gh milk from only one breast, if that was what i had to do. she told me that as long as i contin ed to n rse him at his every req est my body wo ld simply adj st to his needs. she also told me that there was an lll meeting that very evening and invited me to attend. it was the most wonderf l thing that co ld have happened to s！ everyone showed s pport and gen ine caring for s, and told me again and again that one sided n rsing wasindeed possible. of co rse, they told me how to watch for signs that my son might not be getting eno gh milk, b t as the days wore on everything j st seemed to fall into place and my son was doing j st fine. we ve since attendedas many monthly meetings as we possibly can. 图|国际母乳会中国图片库 i contin ed to n rse my son excl sively with one breast ntil he was abo t eight months old when he showed an interestin solids. by coincidence, that month i became pregnant again. he was too yo ng to be ready to wean, so we contin ed to n rse thro gho t my pregnancy. at one point i went back to a s rgeon beca se i had heard that there might be some way to reconnect the damaged d cts. she was not very receptive to my idea and when i told her that i felt it was imperative that i try to do something more beca se i was expecting another baby, she told me that i d have to wean my son beca se there wo ld never be eno gh milk for two. how wrong she was！ i went back to lll for some information and s pport. i contin ed to n rse my son thro gh o t my pregnancy thro gh milk prod ction decreases, sore nipples,colostr m prod ction, and finding a way to comfortably fit him over my pregnantbelly！ i also went back to work f ll-time once he was a year old, and we still contin ed to n rse whenever we were together. when my da ghter was born in the comfort of o r home, i began to n rse her right away. she latched on immediately and i knew then that things were going to be j st fine！ i n rsed her as often as she was willing. my then 17-month-old waited (somewhat) patiently for his t rn,which came always after his sister had had her fill. the look on his face a day or two later when he popped off the breast, looked p at me and made o r signfor "n rse" made every bit of discomfort i d experienced while n rsing thro gh pregnancy worth it！ the infection did ret rn again. i wasn t attempting to n rse with the left breast this time. it went on for a few months b t now seems to be gone, forever i hope！ 图|国际母乳会中国图片库 there are some niq e challenges and benefits accompanying tandem n rsing, and in partic lar with only one breast ton rse from. my toddler s first real q estion was, "my t rn n rse？