As its national breast feeding week I figured I'd do my second mommy talk post on that exact topic!
I always knew I wanted to breastfeed, even before I became pregnant, just because my mum always did and growing up seeing her doing it, it was just a natural thing. I was quite surprised once I'd had skye and began breastfeeding at just how much hype there is over it!!
It came very naturally to me and I never had any problems luckily. I love the bond it gave us and I loved having the quiet time just me and her when she would need a feed. It's so nice as well being the only one who can do it, so you get to have that alone time with your child, which you can never seem to get with a newborn!! Especially when everyone wants a cuddle!!
I felt quite nervous taking her out to start with especially during the first few weeks, incase she would scream for a feed!! Luckily she mostly slept whilst we were out during this time! However if we were out for the day, obviously we would have to stop for a feed, usually I would feed her just before we got out of the car so she would be ok for a little while, but if she did need a feed we would usually stop for a cuppa and snack. I don't really remember feeling nervous about feeding her in public - usually people don't even notice!! I made sure to take a muslin cloth everywhere and would just drape it across my shoulder! This obviously gets more difficult when they become older and start to wriggle more!! - More on this in the next post!! Obviously you get the odd person who notices and sometimes they look at you funny but I'm not sure if that was because I was breastfeeding or because they were shocked she was mine LOL !!
Other than my mum and a few ladies online I didn't really know anyone who breastfed and many seemed quite shocked when I said I was! I found this quite difficult, especially when returning to work. People didn't seem to understand that while Skye was ok, as I had left milk for her, I may not be as milk is still being produced! 5 hours is a fair while to go without a feed and it gets extremely painful!!
I was lucky enough to be able to stay off work until Skye was 9 months old, so when I did return to work she wasn't as reliant on milk as she would of been if she had been younger! However she was still feeding whenever she liked, and this was quite difficult! I tried to do shorter shifts, as she was going around 4-5 hours without a feed at this point, and on my long day I would come home for lunch and feed her. I found returning to work quite difficult as I had to prepare for this for about a month before hand! I even took my pump on holiday as this was a month before I was due to return to work, and I had to "trick" my body into producing enough milk for an extra feed so I had enough to pump for her for when I did return to work. Luckily I didn't have to do this for very long though as she adjusted really well and barely asked for milk when I wasn't around!
I found it quite sad to read online others arguing over choices other mums had made regarding feeding - I think every mother does their best and I felt breastfeeding was best for me and my child, however it's not for everyone and everyone has their right to feed their child as they wish. It is great though that breastfeeding is more spoken about these days and women are so much more confident about it!
I have found it to be an absolute joy, and loved every minute of it!
Here are a few things I found useful or found out from breastfeeding..
- Keep a drink to hand, I literally felt as though she was taking all my moisture when she fed! I got so thirsty!
- Try and eat extra calories as you really need it when feeding! I lost a lot of weight due to feeding even though I was eating a ton!!
- Keep muslin cloths handy as they are great for keeping feeding discreet if you wish to.
- I didn't really know what to expect when I began pumping, and was shocked at how little actually came out!
- Use a nipple cream to prevent soreness, look for one which doesn't need to be washed off before a feed.
- I learnt to try holding baby in different positions if feeding does become sore.
- I gave up using disposable breast pads and got washable ones. Best decision ever!!
My next post will continue on from this and will be on breastfeeding after a year.
Please feel free to leave any comments if you have any tips to share for other mamas!
