Last month it was National breastfeeding week so I wanted to do a short blog on the topic. Before I go any further I wanted to say that while I talk a lot about breastfeeding, that is because thsts the path we have taken in this house. As with everything we mamas do for our children, the most important thing is we choose the options that work best for us and our family. There is no one path fits all when it comes to parenthood.
I am currently on my 3rd breastfeeding journey and honestly I am exhausted. It has been a hard start to this journey but I do think that, in the past that has led to very rewarding journeys for me and I hope this is no different.
My first BF journey started almost 5 years ago, Christmas 2016. This was the hardest start to any journey I had, primarily due to the lack of support out there and the fact I had no idea what I was doing. My son was readmitted at 48 hours old with low blood sugars and they had to bottle feed him overnight while I was sent home to rest. The next day we were told to BF first and top with a bottle. No lactation referral to understand why I was struggling to begin with and no pathway to remove the bottles. I had never heard of a lactation consultant so I just muddled through and luckily we managed to exclusively BF for 8 months before I combination fed again in advance of going back to work. He was fully weaned after 10 months.
Feeding my first little boy
By the time my second son arrived I was determined to exclusively feed and had a goal in mind of over 1 year. Again we had a rocky start, with me having a lot of nipple damage. But I was refered to the community Lactation PHN who is incredible and a few positional tweaks and I was on the right path again. I also was able to text her when I ran into trouble a few weeks later after getting mastitis and again she was able to work her magic.
My second was a partial covid baby, with lockdown happening when he was 6 months. With me working from home I was always around and we actually ended up feeding until he was 21 months. I eventually stopped as I was 4 months pregnant and finding feeding very uncomfortable with the horemone changes in pregnancy. I was also so content with our journey and how far we got with it.
This journey is in its fifth week. My third baby was my biggest baby, being 3.97kg. For the first day I struggled to latch him and struggled to wake him up for feeds given the heat in the hospital. The nurses were worried and were pushing for me to syringe feed or bottle top. I am terrible at hand expressing so was struggling to do that. I would let him rest then tried feeding again. I had confidence my body could do it although my confidence was going by the hour! I got some short feeds in frequently and all seemed to go OK in the end. By the time my milk came in he was flying it and he was back above his birth weight at under a week old. I am hoping for a nice long journey again so fingers crossed our success to date continues.
While each journey started very differently abd each has its challenges, equally each had huge rewards. Each night time feed is down to me and my husband can’t take these. So whether I am deliriously sleep deprived or I am well rested, I am on duty next time he wakes. It can be so exhausting. But the satisfaction when you see all those little fat rolls and you know they are all down to my milk is incredible. The bond you get with your babies too is so special. I am looking forward to seeing where this third journey goes. Nomatter what, I am not going to pressure myself, I will just go with the flow.
If anyone has any breastfeeding related questions, please feel free to drop me a note!
MY ADVENTURE INTO THE WORLD OF MOTHERHOOD 