Testimony of Healing January 13, 2003 Issue

Breast-feeding pain and infection healed

Melanie Wahlberg

With my first daughter, Jacqueline, nursing was a bit painful early on, but we eventually got into a good rhythm and I nursed her comfortably for over a year. Minutes after my second daughter, Lindsey, was born about six months ago, I began to nurse her. I continued breastfeeding her for the first few days, but it became increasingly painful.

At times the pain was so severe that I felt on the verge of passing out. My entire body would react, and for hours afterward I would be feverish and bedridden. While recovering from these reactions, I couldn't nurse, and then I worried that my milk supply would dry up. Keeping Lindsey adequately fed was constantly on my mind. I didn't want to nurse her because of nutritional concerns, but because breast-feeding is so convenient and natural.

At a follow-up visit with my certified nurse-midwife, she diagnosed me as having an internal infection that made nursing virtually unbearable. She said she could prescribe a three-week course of medication for me if I wanted; however, this treatment would indirectly medicate the baby as well, through my milk. I didn't feel comfortable giving Lindsey medicine for a condition she wasn't suffering from. Plus, during the pregnancy I had had success healing complications, including anemia, by using Christian Science treatment, a prayer-based method that awakens thought to God's perfect creation. So I decided to pray about the situation.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Testimony of Healing

A transformation took place in my life