Being able to breast feed my son was something I really wanted to do. I had no idea how hard it would be. I’d watched a really moving DVD about the first feed after the birth and I just expected to have a similar experience.
But the truth is, for the first 3 weeks my son and I didn’t get the hang of breastfeeding at all. I first hand expressed, then moved onto a manual pump then to an electronic pump to provide milk to feed through a mouth syringe, then cup, then bottle.
It is completely possible to express from day one, just tiring that you have to add this into the routine of trying to breastfeed and get sleep to create the milk. You need support with this. If you’re in this situation and decide to persevere; buy, borrow or even hire from the hospital the best pump you can find, they are not all noisy and inefficient.
During the time I had a couple of scares where I thought my milk would dry up. This is probably because I was so tired from the newborn stage and worried and was not remembering to eat enough and drink enough water. The best thing I found was to drink gallons of water, limit caffeine, no alcohol and eat enough. Sleep where possible. If you do this and have faith and keep using the pump the milk stays.
My son was early so he did not have the sucking reflex. After about 3 weeks we had a major breakthrough, he was able to feed via breast shields. It was magical when he managed to feed. I had had lots of great help from mid wives, support groups and home visits. You need to find someone you feel comfortable with. To some extent we had to find our own position to feed as the classic one didn’t work for us so my son fed upright rather than cradled. My excellent health professional told me my son and I would become experts at feeding together, hard to believe at the time, but it is true.
We had trouble even with the nipple guards, he could not always latch on with them so I was nervous about feeding in public. It also got really painful due to him latching incorrectly and I just wanted to be able to feed without them. I thought it would never happen. But at ten weeks close to giving up hope he managed to feed naturally and soon he was doing this consistently. It was amazing. I felt a real bond being able to feed my son and he seemed so content.
I wanted to share this experience because a lot of people seem to have trouble feeding and it can feel impossible. But for me it was so satisfying to come through this. It is not a failure if it doesn’t work out, it’s a personal decision how long to feed and with motherhood I think sometimes it is better for your own sanity to choose your battles.
If you, like me, are thinking my child is never going to get the hang of it, then they really will, they just might need to be that bit older and more developed. I have read also that 99% of women are able to breastfeed, but in our culture we don’t always get that impression and we don’t always have a community of women to learn from. It is painful often when you first start feeding but it really doesn’t stay that way. Quietly nursing my child in the middle of the night just us, is so special.
No comments:
Post a Comment