Desperate breast-feeding moms reveal secrets

(CNN) -- All newborn babies cry, but Anika Reese seemed to be in a category all her own. She screamed in pain nearly all the time, grabbing her own little cheeks so forcefully she sometimes drew blood.
Her mother, Suzanne, describes Anika's first four months as "living in hell with an angel."
"There are almost no words to describe what I thought was only some form of prison camp torture," Reese says.
Reese noticed her baby's stomach was swollen and her poops were green and frothy. Several friends and family members suggested it might be a problem with Reese's breast milk, and urged her to give Anika formula instead. But Reese was "hell-bent" on nursing and refused to stop.
Only 43% of moms breast-feeding at six months
Unlike Reese, many mothers, for various reasons, give up on nursing. While 75% of mothers breast-feed their babies soon after birth, only 43% are still nursing six months later, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends moms breast-feed for at least a year, but the first six months are especially crucial, says Dr. Lori Feldman-Winter, a spokesperson for the academy, since most babies that age aren't yet eating solid food and rely solely on milk for nutrition.

Reese was committed to nursing because of the significant health benefits to her baby: fewer cases of gastroenteritis and ear and upper respiratory infections, to name a few, and now a new study out of Australia shows some breast-fed babies do better academically later in life.
While it's not easy to overcome the hurdles of early breast-feeding -- whether it's sore nipples, a screaming baby, or a low milk supply -- Reese managed to do it.

When she noticed Anika's belly swollen and strange, frothy green poops, Reese called lactation consultants, who told her all babies have gas and to be patient. Then, when Anika was 7 weeks old, Reese noticed blood in her daughter's stool.

The Reeses raced to the emergency room near their home in Ramona, California. Doctors gave Anika a barium enema to get a good look at her intestines.
The test showed Anika's colon was normal. The Reeses then took Anika to a pediatric gastroenterologist, who advised Suzanne to stop eating foods that might be bothering Anika. But

Suzanne was already down to a diet of chicken, beef, sweet potatoes, and rice -- there was nothing more she could cut out.
Feeling like "a total failure," Reese still wasn't ready to give up nursing her baby. She called another lactation consultant, who listened patiently to her story and immediately offered this tip: pump some milk, throw it away, and put Anika to her breast.

"OVERNIGHT, we had a new baby!" Reese recalled in an e-mail. "INCREDIBLE! We were utterly relieved -- to the point of tears."

The lactation consultant explained Reese was producing too much foremilk, which is full of sugar and can irritate a baby's delicate gut if she gets too much of it. By pumping off the foremilk and getting rid of it, Reese was giving Anika more hindmilk, which has significantly less sugar.
"I was also utterly angry that we had to go through all of this when it was such a simple fix," Reese says.

Breast-feeding advice from moms who've been through "hell"

Reese found when it comes to breast-feeding, sometimes the experts who should know the answers -- pediatricians, lactation counselors -- don't.

"We're getting better at training residents to learn more about breast-feeding, but we still have a ways to go," says Feldman-Winter, a professor of pediatrics at Cooper University Hospital in New Jersey.

Reese is glad she kept looking for answers -- she's still nursing Anika, who turns 2 next month.
Various websites offer helpful breastfeeding tips, such as the American Academy of Family Physicians, pregnancy.org, and La Leche League International. In addition, La Leche League and babycenter.com offer forums where moms can seek advice from each other.

Read the full article to hear what other mothers who have to been through it have to say:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/12/23/breastfeeding.secrets/index.html
By Elizabeth Cohen, CNN Senior Medical Correspondent
cnnAuthor = "By Elizabeth Cohen, CNN Senior Medical Correspondent"December 23, 2010