Jackie’s Journey of Success and Love by Samantha Jessup
photo by Samantha Jessup Jackie’s journey breastfeeding began when she was 17 years old as a single mama. While she had to work through several parts of her past and her circumstances, she was able to nurse her first beautiful daughter until she was two years old! She wanted to break the cycle her family came from and so when she found out she was pregnant she started doing a lot of research on being a great mother. The staff at Planned Parenthood, where she received her prenatal care, were exceptional when it came to helping her with so many things. Giving her excellent support and even books and resources to help her learn about breastfeeding among
other pieces of being a good mother. Fast forward to today, her beautiful first daughter is nearly 18, she is married to a wonderfully supportive husband and they have a new sweet daughter to add to their family. Just the same as before, Jackie knew she wanted to breastfeed. Everything is different now. Nursing is very different when you are no longer a single mother of one. She now has other important family who want love and attention, but in the same breath, she also has even more support. Her husband and her daughter support her and want them to succeed.
Her husband helps her with daily tasks and making sure she keeps up with things like her own nutrition. Plus, her older daughter loves the calm, sweet moments being with her mother and sister for late night nursing sessions. They are all a team. It is truly beautiful to witness. Even with having more love and support in her life, there are still struggles. Like many moms, she had a hard time with latch in the beginning. Her biggest struggle so far was a severely cracked nipple. By the time they found a good groove with latching, she had a chunk of her nipple missing. 8