By Victoria Galloway
I became a mom at 16 years old and breastfed for 8.5 months, when working and going to school, despite very little support and a ton of stigma and judgement!
Fast forward 8 years later I had my second and third children, twins! Even though everyone said I couldn’t, I nursed them exclusively for two weeks. They both got sick and had to stay in hospital. I pumped to provide for every single tube feeding. I stood up for myself during rounds to advocate for my breastfeeding journey. They wanted me to bottle feed so they could measure and write it on charts exactly how much they were getting.
Tragically, one of my twins did not survive the illness. I continued pumping while exclusively breastfeeding my surviving twin for 13.5 months to donate to Milk Bank in her sister’s honour.
I continued breastfeeding my surviving twin through my pregnancy with my youngest and took up pumping again in my third trimester to maintain my supply the days my toddler didn’t nurse. She was nursing about once or twice a week for the last bit as my aversions got so bad. When my babe arrived, I was able to tandem nurse a handful of times and gently wean my toddler officially as the aversions never got any better and I needed to prioritize the relationship rather than breastfeeding her.
I am still nursing my youngest who’s almost 2 and a half. Also, pumping to donate milk through informal milk sharing sources like Human Milk For Human Babies. I have spent the last 1,576 days so far breastfeeding and nearly 3 years of that I also pumped exclusively for the purpose of donation. I have donated almost 13,000oz of milk and nursed a few friends babies too.
