At this point in their parenting lives, Audrey and Jeremy Roloff are experts.
To the extent that any relatively new mother or father can be an expert, that is.
Audrey is even out there offering advice to other women in similar situations.
But let’s rewind about eight months, shall we?
That’s what Little People, Big World did on Tuesday night by airing an episode that was filmed not long after Ember Jean entered the world in September of last year.
As previously detailed, Audrey suffered from frequent bouts of mastitis – an infection of the breast tissue that is painful and that also makes breastfeeding very difficult – shortly after giving birth.
Moreover, as we learned on this installment of the TLC series, Ember was born with tongue ties that required surgery so as not to prevent her from feeding properly.
“She’s just so young, and we’re already having to do something that hurts her,” Jeremy said on air last night, referring to exercises he and Audrey had to do with Ember to keep the cut tongue ties from healing again.
It was a challenge for Matt Roloff, too, having to watch his children struggle with their newborn.
“Seeing your kid hurt when you don’t want them to hurt, that’s a challenging time,” Matt told the camera, adding:
“But seeing my kids go through it, now you understand the heartache your mother and I went through when you were coming through the rags.”
Back in November, Audrey candidly told Instagram followers about these breastfeeding problems early on.
She confessed in a lengthy post that her condition really took a toll on her mentally for awhile.
“l always thought breastfeeding was a choice,” she wrote on Instagram late last year.
She continued:
“People would often ask me if l was going to breastfeed when I was pregnant and l always answered with a determined yes. But after Ember was born, l realized that for some people, it’s not a choice.
“My breastfeeding journey has not been easy.
“After sharing with you all a little bit about the struggles l have had feeding Ember, l realized that so many of you have gone through, or are currently going through, similar pains, heart aches, and challenges.”
Ember had trouble putting on weight over the first few weeks of her existence, but Audrey pushed through her pain, Jeremy supported her throughout and here the family is now:
Happy and healthy all around.
“l was reminded that even though this journey still poses its challenges, being able to feed my daughter from my own body brings me incomparable joy,” Audrey said when Ember was about two months old.
She laster said that that she hopes her story can encourage any other new moms having difficulty breastfeeding.
Elsewhere on this episode, Zach and Tori struggled to sleep train Jackson… Matt webt to work on a fun solution… and Amy looked forward to her birthday.
Click on the video below to watch Little People, Big World online and see how these storylines played out:
