Your Stories - The Hecht Family

On March 7th, 2002, I gave birth to my beautiful son, Max. I had every intention of breastfeeding him. I knew it might be a bit difficult at the beginning but I was not prepared for how difficult it would be!

It seemed that poor Max had a tough time latching on. It was so hard. When it came time for me to nurse him, I'd be tense, he'd get upset, we'd both wind up crying! Nothing worse then wanting to feed your child and the having the sight of your breast upset him like that!

Well, we learned that his frenulum, the muscle under the tongue which controls motion, was so close to the front and so short that he couldn't get his tongue past his gum-line. So now we had a reason! What was the solution going to be?

Fortunately, we have a wonderful pediatrician, Dr. Kerstin Rosen, who set us up with an Ear Nose and Throat specialist, Dr. Susan Bock. She scheduled a frenulectomy. A simple quick procedure where she would basically snip the frenulum, thereby allowing the tongue much more movement. It sounds awful and it was really tough on me, but Max didn't skip a beat. It was nothing and the end result was wonderful! Max nursed right away!

We had to wait about a week to have the procedure and in that time, I pumped and bottle-fed. It was exhausting, but very much worth it. I was able to sustain him on breast milk until I could actually breastfeed him and the silver lining was that he now goes between breast and bottle with no problem at all.

I'm so grateful to my Dr's, friends and to Sheila and Susan for encouraging me to hang in there. It was a tough start, no doubt, and I never thought I'd be breastfeeding 4 1/2 months later, but here I am. I always say I'll stop at a certain time and when that time comes I always keep going. Breastfeeding is the best!

-Deborah Hecht & The Hecht Family

If you would like to submit your story, send it to submissions@babiesandmoms.com along with your family photo.