#vrikshambreastfeedingjourney Hai Anu Akka. I’m your December 2020 pre-pregnancy, October 2021 early pregnancy, April 2022 infant care, May 2022 labor management, and July 2022 breastfeeding webinar student.

I’m so happy to inform you that I and my daughter have successfully completed 180 days of exclusive breastfeeding. My breastfeeding journey started with a bloody nipple crack on day 3 of postpartum. I could feed her only on right side for 4 days because on my left breast the wound was so painful that if I try to latch her, I would shiver in pain.

Due to one-sided feeding, my supply got almost drained up on left side in a week. After the wound got healed, I slowly started latching her and made her suck on the left side for a longer duration which helped in re-establishing the supply.

But again, my daughter was a cluster feeder for 2.5 months. She used to cluster feed throughout the day and night. Taking a break for even half an hour would seem impossible. I used to cry and feed her because my butt and hip would ache like hell due to continuous hours of sitting.

After 3 months, breastfeeding got so easy. We could see a gap of 2 hours between feeds. All those cluster-feeding days made so much sense because my baby’s weight gain was awesome (1kg per month) and I was able to donate 2.5 liters (still counting) of breast milk in 2 months.

Now when I look back, at every point in time when I had self-doubt or when my family members doubted my supply. I would only remember your words in class and keep chanting ‘Trust your body’. And I explained all the logical reasons for how a mother who can give birth can produce enough milk too for her baby to people around me whenever they poked me to supplement with formula.

My sister-in-law gave birth to her second son last month. I used to share all the knowledge I gained through your classes. Before her delivery every time we meet I used to motivate her to exclusively breastfeed her second one ( she couldn’t feed her first baby even once a day because of premature birth and c-section) and tell her facts about our body’s breastfeeding ability which I learned through your class.

Now she has completed 1 month of exclusive breastfeeding and she’s confident to complete exclusively breastfeeding for 5 more months. All these happened only because of your class anuka. Typing this makes me so emotional. How much a woman has to endure in pregnancy, labor, and breastfeeding.

so many doubts, so much unsolicited advice, hell a lot of pain. There were numerous times when I wanted to give up. It’s only because of people like you women of my generation are able to have easier and more empowered motherhood.

Since I follow you for more than 3 years now on Instagram all the successful breastfeeding journey stories I read made me never give up. The tougher it got the more determined I became to do it. Every night when I woke up to feed her only your words and my feeding chair would support me.

Thanks a ton for the work you are doing. I love you so much 😘❤️