Monday 10 November 2014

Milk Anyone?

Ah, the fine art of milking oneself. A skill I have perfected over the last 5 months. (Compared to the difficult days, the ones I live right now seem pretty perfect to me)

Breastfeeding and me

Milk coma - Baby Petit :-) x
I breastfed my first child for literally 3 weeks before throwing in the towel. I was tired, scared, worried, sore, fed up, young etc etc.... A 7 year gap between babies gave me enough time to forget I didn't enjoy it much the first time around and allowed me the chance to have another go. I was more determined this time around to stick at it and whether I went down the route of bottles again, I was always going to breastfeed for the first few days anyway. 
I was lucky and my little one latched on quite well from the very start. Her nickname is the 'little monster' (boobie monster, to be exact). She loves her grub and was never going miss a drop. I decided to just take it day by day and see how we both got on. 
Oh man, there were days that I struggled. The worst part of which was the fact that I didn't know which aspect of feeding I was struggling with.

Pain: Yes I was sore. I know all the experts say that if you are sore then you are not doing it right. I don't believe this. I think everyone is sore at the very beginning. If something has to break through thick skin, i.e. milk through the nipple...it's gonna get sore. Plus, you have a baby sucking the life out it 24/7. Anyway, Lanolin cream will be your 'breast' friend (see what I did there lol) in the first few weeks and no new breastfeeding mum should be without it. 

Tired: I was tired, but compared to my first post baby experience I actually felt grand and pretty on top of things (that means I managed to get dressed occasionally) 

Feeding in public: Never bothered me and I had no negative experiences either. 

Feeding schedule:Ah ha! Sweet baby jesus......Why did no one tell me I would have no life. This, for me is exactly where the problem lay. For 6 weeks I struggled with this big time. I just kept thinking, why did nobody warn me. When my little one was about 4 weeks old, I fed her and then went to collect my other little girl from a friends. I was gone for 30 minutes. When I got back, my husband was pacing the floor with a screaming baby. It is in that very moment that I realised I couldn't leave the baby. (Unless I expressed beforehand....this could never happen as she constantly drained both breasts)
Ssssshhhhhh, I can hear loads of breastfeeding mums shouting at me telling me their child fed every 3...maybe 4 hours. Great, fantastic..for you! I'm just saying, my little monster wanted boob all day every day :-) 

Now I will admit here that I focused so much on getting breastfeeding right that I kinda ditched a sleep routine. Big mistake as poor Petit baba was unable and unwilling to fall asleep anywhere but on the breast. 

Anyway, once I realised, that I was no longer able to just get up and go, or that such things as 'cluster' feeds existed, I started to chill out a bit. So what, I can't get up and put a wash on. So what, I can't change the beds today....So what, I didn't get dressed. 

Once I had made peace with things, I rejigged a few other things too. I focused more on nap times which in turn gave me a little, predictable break. I made sure, that when I did get dressed, I wore something that had easy access to the boobs plus was comfortable for me to hoist up and down all day. At 4 weeks, the nipple pain eased and at 6 weeks was completely gone. The let down discomfort was not as noticeable and my breasts no longer became engorged as quickly. 

6 weeks to now..... I LOVE BREASTFEEDING. ! All those happy endorphins being released with each feed has me feeling great. Yes, it's hard when your sitting up in the middle of the night alone, feeding your little one but embrace it. Time passes so quickly and you will not have the opportunity with your little one again. There are many years of sleep ahead for me but only this one opportunity to Breastfeed baby Petit. I get such a buzz out of picking her up and watching her little head bob around until she finds her liquid gold. 

I look at how much she has grown and stretched already and think, wow, I grew that little beauty inside of me and then nourished her til now. 

With my return to work date looming, I have started to wean her off the breast. I do hope to keep feeding her morning and evening after I return to work but we will see how things go. For now we are both happy out :-)

How was your experience of breastfeeding?

Kel x



*(Each to their own, I'm not concerned with whether you breastfed 1 child or 16 children. This post holds no judgement and I would appreciate the same in return)


2 comments:

  1. Great post and your boobie monster is so cute!!! I lasted 7 weeks and that was combined feeding, my nipples were apparently too flat so unless the midwife was physically contorting it into Oscar's mouth it was just a nightmare! I absolutely loved the bonding of it and I really miss that aspect but overall it just didn't work for us and we were both much more relaxed once the formula stepped in! Was hoping to only breastfeed but you have to be prepared to work with what happens!

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  2. Exactly. There is absolutely no point in only using 1 method if it makes both you and baby miserable. You knew as Oscars mammy what worked best for you and baby :-) no book or website could have got that right x

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