NorthernStar Milk Donor Kristen shared her story about her breastfeeding journey with her baby Reaghan:
"Our breastfeeding journey ended up looking different than I had planned. Breastfeeding is hard work, and it took us a lot of practice to get right.
When Reaghan was born, we learned she has a congenital condition called Craniofacial Microsomia; the right side of her face is smaller than the left, and we believe she is missing a muscle that is key in opening her mouth all the way. Because of this, we couldn’t get a good latch until her mouth got bigger as she grew. She was about 2 months old when we finally got it! Up until then, I was on an exclusive pumping/bottle feeding schedule and developed quite a big over supply, as I was pumping on a schedule rather than feeding on demand.
The wonderful bright side of this was I was able to make a substantial donation to the NorthernStar Mothers Milk bank on my first visit, of nearly 23L, and I will be able to continue to donate to the sick and fragile babes in need. Reaghan is nursing successfully, and she has enough extra milk from Mama to share."
