Happy Breastfeeding Awareness Week!

This week is Breastfeeding Awareness Week and in homage, I'd like to document my feeding journeys with the boys. 

When Noah was born, he was a tiny 4lb 10.5oz bundle, who was very sleepy and struggled to latch. After a few days, his weight had plummeted and he had jaundice and was admitted to hospital. He continued to struggle to latch and I felt like a failure and in reflection, I just had a lack of support. I wasn't aware of support locally or of the work of La Leche League. I was in pain and encouraged to express by neonatal nurses and give him my milk via a bottle (so that they could monitor his intake and combat dehydration whilst he was beneath the bilirubin lamps.) 

When we came out of hospital a few days later, he refused to latch, so I continued to express and bottle feed. Those early days were a struggle and

I was expressing every 2 hours round the clock, feeding baby, washing and sterilising. It was a busy cycle of events; but I was determined that he'd have my milk. At 6 months post partum, I stopped expressing at night and did every 3/4 hours throughout the day. It was limiting, I had to take my pump with me everywhere and I felt quite a stigma in bottle feeding. Although, I knew that I was doing the best I could do. 

I managed to continue to express for 14 months. With support locally being fairly lacking at the time, I was able to get a lot of support online on Facebook groups of mums who'd chosen to express for a wide variety of reasons. I'm proud of what I achieved! He's now a happy and healthy 3 year old!

Second time round, I was told that it was highly unlikely that I'd be able to feed Isaac due to his cleft lip and possible palate. I mentally prepared myself for a journey of expressing again and the lovely people at Medela sent me a fabulous Freestyle pump. However, with the support of our cleft nurse and La Leche League, I was determined I give it a try if his palate wasn't involved. 

As soon as he was born and I'd checked his palate, I immediately tried to latch him. Magically, our little bundle was determined to feed. He latched perfectly and with careful positioning techniques, he was able to feed. I had a large store of colostrum and syringe fed him top ups after feeds. He lost very little of his birth weight and was a frequent feeder. We even got involved in The Big Latch On during the last Breastfeeding Awareness Week.

After his cleft lip operation, he was determined to get back to the breast, even though he was in pain, we reverted to syringe feeding for a few days. Together we worked hard to achieve and amend his latch and Isaac continued to thrive. He's now approaching his first birthday and I'm happy to say that we're still feeding. I'm not sure how long that we'll feed for, but I'm proud of how far that we've come, with a variety of hurdles along the way.

Breastfeeding is a wonderful thing, with benefits for both mother and baby. It's something that I'm keen to promote and I'm hoping to get a qualification in supporting mums in their own feeding journeys. There needs to be more support out there. Happy Breastfeeding Awareness Week!