Natalie“I have loved breastfeeding my 2 boys. It was definitely not smooth sailing to begin with. My
Natalie“I have loved breastfeeding my 2 boys. It was definitely not smooth sailing to begin with. My first baby was severely tongue tied and I was sent home from hospital 21hrs after he was born having never fed him, only being shown how to hand express. My milk came in the second night and it was horrendous. Following lots of trials and tribulations I ended up exclusively expressing for 4 months. This attributed to my post natal depression and anxiety and I missed out on so much. I used to work so hard to get bottles for my baby, lost sleep, missed cuddles and people still gave me dirty looks when they saw me feeding my baby a bottle in public. After a particularly awful comment from a health nurse I went back to to hospital and said “either I leave here being able to feed my baby or we go to formula because I just can’t do this”. That day I sat in a chair feeding my boy for hours and it was amazing! We continued until he was just over 2 years old. I definitely had more struggles along the way (mastitis x3) but was determined to see it through until at least a year old. I have never felt prouder of myself for seeing it through. Thankfully I had a very supportive mothers group filled with wonderful women who helped me. I’ll never forget 3 of them surrounding me and helping me get my baby latched on in a cafe, just amazing.With my second it was so much easier. I was terrified of feeding a newborn & to have the same experience as first time round. I made sure I told my midwife my concerns and was fully supported. When he was born with a tongue tie I just expected to wait for them to cut it before feeding but a midwife just came in and put him on. I fed him for just over 24hrs before his tie was cut! Those first few months were so much smoother just being able to feed/comfort my baby when he needed me. Some advice that I was given that i’d love to pass on to first time mums is ‘just give it 3 weeks’. A mum from my work told me this when I told her my concerns on feeding a new baby. She had just had her 3rd and told me each time it hurt and took about 2-3wks to settle in. This got me through those difficult first few weeks and we are still feeding now, just a week off my babies 2nd birthday!” -- source link
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