THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE ENTRIES AND SUCH WONDERFUL STORIES. THE WINNER HAS BEEN CONTACTED, IF YOU HAVEN’T RECEIVED AN EMAIL FROM harriet@tobyandroo.com THEN YOU HAVEN’T BEEN SUCCESSFUL THIS TIME BUT THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING IN!
As you will know if you are a long term reader of the blog, I’m a medela mum and so proud to be so. I’ve loved using my Medela products to help me with breastfeeding and now I’ve teamed up with the brilliant brand to help one lucky mama win a Swing breast pump worth over £120.
If you aren’t sure whether the swing will suit you, you can read my review of it here, but I can tell you, after working in the baby product retail industry for the last ten years and now having children of my own, it is one of the best pumps on the market for a reason. Not only is it easy to use and clean, but it is one of the most effective pumps at helping you to maintain a natural milk production and helps you to pump in a way that mimics your child, making it less painful and quicker.
How do you win? Simple. All you need to do is share your breastfeeding story here – it can be funny, heartfelt or whatever you choose. You can include pictures, videos or just words. Every entrant will go into a random selector and the winner will be contacted via email on Wednesday 14th October 2015.
Good luck everyone!
H x
P.s – Medela have asked me to limit this competition to my UK readers, hopefully something for those over the pond will be available shortly!
Nothing particularly funny to tell you but I will tell you about my experience. I never really wanted to breast feed but thought I should give it a go, I found the fact that I have huge boobs made it quite hard, I always felt like my poor son was being smothered by my boobs! Also a tip for any breast feeding mother is to have a glass of water next to you at all times as it always made me really thirsty!
Thats a great tip Kirsty, thank you!
I am currently pregnant with my second baby.
My first breastfeeding experience was what I would consider ‘average’, not easy, not too difficult, with some cracked nipples, blood in milk and exposed nipples and squirty milk when feeding in public 😉
I am very much looking forward to breastfeeding our second daughter again, but this time I know that sadly I will need to return to work a lot quicker than the first time, so I am starting to worry about how to keep up my supply while at work.
The medela pump seems to come out as the winner in every article I can find online and it’s currently on my wish list as it can be used mains or battery operated, so I could easily pump at work.
Winning this competition would mean I wouldn’t have to worry about affording the medela pump or using the cheap manual pump we already have instead.
Oh I’m so sorry you didn’t win Marina, I hope your return to work isn’t too strenuous and you get your medela pump. Check out Medela on twitter as they seem to have a tonne of giveaways (and their Facebook page too!) H
I don’t have any anecdotes to share about breastfeeding other than I am a mum-to-be and due on Christmas Day.
I intend on breastfeeding my baby and would love to win this lovely prize. Thanks for the chance.
What a wonderful Xmas gift, I’m so sorry you didn’t win this time but check out my future comps!
My rainbow baby boy, Dominic, is 11 weeks tomorrow…time is flying! Seems like yesterday when I was heavily pregnant and wishing to go into labour.
If someone had told me that I would be exclusively breastfeeding at 11 weeks, I honestly wouldn’t have believed them!
I was personally formula fed due to my mum having a traumatic labour which ended up in an emergency section, no skin to skin and a nasty bout of mastitis, so she gave it up after a week. I was told breastfeeding hurt and pumping would hurt even more. Even those within my family or circle of friends who did try to breastfeed, did so only for a short amount of time, stressing who hard it was and how much better they felt after switching to formula.
So I kept my options open, and determined to be prepared, I decided to start reading up on breastfeeding. Ina May’s book was invaluable for a first time mother like me, and so was a breastfeeding seminar I attended online via the Calm Birth School, my hypnobirthing provider. As I gave birth abroad, and I’m also a bit of a shy person, I never attended any meeting in real life but I’ve since discovered how much support there is online.
I started joining support groups and read up lactation consultants pages, as well as taking part in the free Medela Breastfeeding Clinic on Tuesdays.
As I began to feel more clued up on the subject, I decided it couldn’t hurt to try. And so I did, taking it one day at the time, and sometimes one hour or even one minute at the time.
I’m lucky that I was able to have skin to skin straight after my boy came into this world, and being able to feed him a couple of hours after his birth.
I will never forget waking up on day three post delivery and finding my night dress soaked due to my milk coming in.
So the adventure truly started, the long night feeds that all rolled into one big sessions, the feeling of not having enough milk during the initial growth spurts (it is indeed, just a feeling), the discovery of my baby suffering from a milk protein allergy(now kept under control through my dairy free diet), but also the satisfaction of my boy enjoying his milk so much and the bond that we have established through the closeness of our breastfeeding sessions. The amazing growth that my milk and my milk only has made possible.
No one told me that breastfeeding could also be enjoyable, no one advised me that it could even become slightly addictive, making me look forward to the next feed and craving that contact with my beautiful boy looking straight into my eyes.
So with my story I want to share some positive thoughts, telling everyone who is thinking about trying to breastfeeding not to be scared about it but just try it.
Go with the flow.
Forget the clocks, feed your baby on demand, let go.
You will have the best of times.
And you may surprise yourself, just like I have surprised myself.
I’m on this magical journey now and I’m so glad I took that unknown path eleven weeks ago.
What a lovely comment Simona, I’m so sorry you didn’t win – thank you for your beautiful words 🙂
My first breastfeeding experience wasn’t great, we lasted 4 weeks due to misinformation and allergies, I’m due baby number 2 in 6 weeks and determined to have a more positive journey!
Oh best of luck with baby no2 Rebecca, I’m so sorry you didn’t win this time!
This is a very emotional topic for me but I’m sure it is familiar with so many others so here goes…
It never occurred to me how hard I would find breastfeeding. I always just assumed it would come naturally even after numerous friends had not found it easy, or in some cases even possible. My daughter was born in August and after a long labour and a wonderful birth we had a cuddle and I expected the breastfeeding to begin oh so easily. First I couldn’t figure out why it felt sore I never expected that. Then the second breastfeed came hours later and from that point on I was in agony… I would curl my toes, pull chunks of my hair and bite my lips until they bled. My poor daughter was hungry and fed constantly to establish my supply so from day one it was relentless. I got all the help I could get with latching her on and it never seemed quite right. I am quite big busted and my daughter was a big baby so the awkwardness of positioning was apparent from the start. I discovered on the day I left the hospital that I wasn’t able to lift my legs, a complication from the SPD I’d suffered mildly with through pregnancy, clearly the birth had played havoc with my ligaments and I was only able to get home by shuffling on crutches. Then feeding became one of the only things I could do to care for my daughter and my husband washed, dressed and paced up and down with her whilst she cried. I did not sleep for so long due to constant feeds and a lot of sleep deprived new mama anxiety that I began to cry and barely stopped. I hallucinated falling asleep and squashing baby and in one episode she’d turned green and grey! Things started to improve a tad through small snatches of sleep sat on the sofa. Then came the sheer agony of a nipple that cracked right down the middle and I felt sick with pain. That was nearly the end of our breastfeeding journey… I called my mum for nipple shields and cream as soon as possible but I couldn’t stand to latch my daughter back on. It was after a night of expressing and formula feeding that I realised I felt worse than ever and by the next afternoon we were back in hospital with an infection in my womb and put on IV antibiotics. Two days of sheer torture feeling horrendous and having to again, express all night long to feed my daughter I finally healed enough to try feeding again using the shields. We persevered with these for two more weeks and through the first week she steadily lost weight until she had lost 10% of her birth weight. She also rarely pooed and I became so overcome with anxiety I began supplementing her feeds with formula. Suddenly life got easier and I slept albeit for short periods but all the same we ended up on four hourly bottles with breastfeeds in between and she gained weight so fast I couldn’t really complain but I became more and more unhappy. Every time a midwife or health visitor asked if I was happy with my choice I would burst into incontrollable tears, because no, how on earth could I be happy with a situation I felt I had no control over. We were led to the decision by a set of unfortunate circumstances and could see no other option. I gradually began to feel more and more of a failure as a mother and could not see a way out of that without taking control again and finding a way to feed my daughter myself. I know rationally that I was being extremely hard on myself, and it is only a reflection of my own nature that made me judge myself when I would have no issues with anyone else bottle feeding their babies, and actively support a mothers decision to choose how they feed their child. But I was a new mum and far from rational! So I got rid of the nipple shields and slowly got through the pain, slowly learnt to latch my daughter on and I fed fed fed, I let her comfort suck at my breast for hours to bring my supply back as I had lost so much. My daughter is now nine weeks old. I have almost completely healed and manage to walk quite far with my beautiful little girl in the sling. I am usually feeding hourly and feeds can last so long they are pretty constant still, which is tiring but to see my daughters happy smiles makes it totally worth everything. We are down to one bottle on an evening and when I get the opportunity we supplement with as much expressed breast milk as I can, and only a small amount of formula. Expressing is vital to maintaining my fragile supply. My daughter never totally managed formula she has such a sluggish digestive system she rarely pooed and had a windy tummy that caused her to scream for hours and hours every day. Now she goes once every other day at least, smiles throughout the day and is like a different baby. She is gaining weight steadily and it is a long and tough journey but I see no reason why we wouldn’t be able to continue breastfeeding until at least six months, if not her first year! I do not mind giving her a bottle a day I have certainly made peace with that and myself, my determination and perseverance has won out and I’m so much happier now, as is my daughter! All babies are totally different and mummies have the right to feed their babies however they choose, it’s when the choice is taken away from them that it becomes an issue and with so much pressure surrounding feeding I believe mums have no way to feel ok with any decision they make. I hope that it becomes less of an issue over time. I certainly felt calmer breastfeeding in public than I did preparing formula for all to see. I felt I’d be judged as nobody would know what we’d been through and honestly the only person likely to judge me was me! At the end of the day feeding your baby by whatever means is the most important outcome and if you succeed in that you are doing your job as a mother.
Thank you for your lovely comment Leanne, I’m sorry you didn’t win. Breastfeeding is a very emotional thing for so many women, I know from my own experience with Reuben and being unable to feed, it’s so hard to cope with. You keep persisting for as long as you both choose, she will continue to grow and blossom!
Ahh I don’t have a story – yet! My first baby is due at Christmas time. He is our little IVF miracle. From the research I have done the Medela Swing is our choice of pump to purchase.
I have a leaking story ??
We went to a reassurance scan last week (27 weeks), my mum, hubby and myself. I noticed a tiny splash of what I assumed was water on my dress before we left and just naively thought it would dry out. As we were sat waiting this splash seemed to have gotten bigger – my mum leans over and says “are you leaking?”. I quickly replied – “no I saw that tiny dot it’s ok thought it would have dried by now”I look down and to my horror the tiny splash was no longer a dot ? but a nice obvious milk stained patch through the padded nursing bra and dress ?. I just folded my arms and hoped no one would noticed. Needless to say I have bought some breast pads. At least my body is gearing up for some mumma milking though!! ??
Oh congrats Rebecca, how wonderful that your IVF has been successful – have you read Robyn’s IVF story on the blog? They now have a beautiful daughter, despite the ups and downs. Oh my – leaking is never fun!
When my eldest son was 4months old, we took him to see his grandparents who live in Ireland which involves a 1.5 hour ferry ride. While on the ferry, I was breastfeeding him when all of a sudden, he unlatched, and my milk went squirting out on to a poor fellow passenger as he was passing by! He looked at me in horror but all I could do was apologise! 😐
Oh poor guy! Poor you! Its a really common thing to happen I’m afraid, Thankfully I’ve not had the embarrassment of a squirting incident (other than with my husband while I was in the bath haha!)
I had a lot of pain and struggles when I nursed my first son, but we made it to a year. So when I was pregnant a second time, I was determined to nurse again and try to go past a year. Nursing went really well with my second, but he started having developmental delays when he was two months old and he wasn’t gaining weight. When he was four months old, I suspected he had Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). It is a terminal, muscle wasting disease, the baby form of ALS. He was officially diagnosed at six months. Due to his disease, he was losing the muscles to help him suck. We were inpatient at the hospital when he was 7 months old and a SLP came in and said she thought he was aspirating while nursing. So he got a feeding tube in his nose and I began pumping. A few months later, he got a feeding tube surgically placed in his stomach. I have been exclusively pumping for 16 months and will continue to do so as breast milk will always be good for him.
Go you Mama! That is a wonderful story, you are very inspiring, lots of mummies would have given up.
I’m five weeks into a very difficult breastfeeding story, but it’s getting better every day!
My son was born by emergency section at 31 weeks, and weighed only 2lb 7.5oz. He was whisked off to NICU after I’d only had the briefest meeting with him and I didn’t see him again for another 12 hours. Thankfully the hospital were very keen on breastfeeding neonates and had me hand expressing as soon as I’d seen him – my initial efforts took 45 minutes to yield 0.2ml of colostrum but the consultants raved about it so I kept on!
Breastfeeding is important for all babies, but even more so for extremely premature, low birthweight babies. It makes such a difference, but it’s also extremely difficult to establish. My son has had expressed milk through a tube since birth, and first went to the breast at ten days old; though it’s only now at nearly six weeks that he’s actually big enough and strong enough to get anything – and he still needs top-ups of milk through a tube. He’s still in hospital and I can’t stay at night which makes it harder, and plenty of people have tried to push me to bottle feed him but as long as we can persevere without breastfeeding delaying him coming home then we will!!
It’s been hard going, but I’m determined to do this for my boy and he’s learning so quickly, he really is a clever little thing! I feel extremely proud and grateful to be able to feed him, and I hope we can continue for a long time to come.
Oh Clare, I’m so sorry you have had such a rough time, you should feel extremely proud, not just of him but of yourself too!
Breastfeeding has been a very difficult journey for me. I had a good (although 32hour labour) and my lb did a breast crawl when he was born – I naively thought these two things meant it would be plain sailing but far from it! I’ve been to every support group available, spent hours crying at the anticipation of the next feed on my blistered and bleeding nipples – I was told time and again that it would get better at 6 weeks… Then 12 weeks… Finally at 16 weeks we have been feeding pain free for 3 whole weeks! I was determined to preservere and I’m so glad we did ,helped by the fact he won’t take a bottle (yet!)… Now my lb looks up and smiles at me during a feed it’s all worth it and I know we’ll make it to the year even if we have more set backs along the way!
Oh Helena, it can be so hard – I’ve been there, mastitis, blood blisters, cracked skin on the nipple. It hurts, it sucks, but it’s definitely worth it in the end 🙂
Our breastfeeding story is just starting as my little girl is only 21 days old but we are struggling through. Mostly we are pumping & bottle feeding but trying my best to feed exclusively breast milk! I’d love to win the medeala pump as I’ve heard such incredible things & know how much easier it would make my life for the next 6 months!!
Oh congrats on your new arrival! Sorry you didn’t win this time, but check out the Medela twitter and Facebook pages as they run lots of awesome giveaways.
I couldn’t decide whether to go for heartfelt, or funny! But funny has won out.
After a very stressful 10 weeks trying to get my daughter to exclusively breastfeed (she wouldn’t latch until 6 weeks so I was having to breastfeed, express, bottle feed, and then top up with formula until then) we finally cracked it! To celebrate feeling like I finally had my sh*t together we decided to take her swimming for the first time.
Whilst we were changing she decided she was hungry, so whilst my OH took our bags to a locker (family changing room) I got my boob out and proceeded to try latch her on, however, because it was a busy place she was a bit distracted.
All of a sudden my let down started and a huge stream of breast milk shot out in front of us, which was unfortunate for the poor random bloke who happened to be walking by the door at the same time who, to be fair to him, didn’t even wince.
I’m not one to be embarrassed so when my OH got back he was welcomed by me in hysterics.
I’m 20 weeks pregnant with our second now (another baby girl!) and I can’t wait to breastfeed again. Xx
Oh bless you Alex! It’s hilarious when you look back, not so good at the time! Poor you, poor bloke… its always a bloke too right?! I’ve only ever accidentally squirted my hubster, who was horrified. Absolutely horrified haha! Good luck with your pregnancy, sorry you didn’t win this time! x
I was an 80s formula fed baby. My mum said I didn’t like breastfeeding and after a lot of tears reluctantly put me onto formula. Now I am in her shoes with a baby who just cannot get the hang of breastfeeding, but the difference is I have received support from every direction encouraging me to not give up. Unfortunately I no longer have my mum around to offer love, support and reassurance and I can honestly say I have found breastfeeding harder than giving birth. I have however persevered when it felt like everything was against this being a success. We have now been breastfeeding for 1 month and today my little boy latched for the first time without a nipple shield. I am so proud of us and hope things continue to improve, onwards and upwards!
Oh well done!! Melissa that is truly wonderful, congratulations and you are totally right to be proud of you both. I’m so sorry you didn’t win this time but well done and keep persevering.
Breastfeeding didn’t come naturally to my little boy. I wasn’t really prepared for the fact that some babies don’t ‘get it’ straight away and he was very frustrated. But we battled on, armed with nipple guards, and things gradually settled down.
He’s now 15 months old and we still have a feed at bedtime. I think breastfeeding has been really good for him and, although a bigger lifestyle commitment than I could have ever imagined, I’m really glad to have done it and proud to have persisted through the tough times.
It’s a bit of a shock isn’t it Emily? It’s so natural you just assume it’s what will happen right – keep persisting and feed until you both feel happy to stop, that’s how I plan to go with Edie! H x
No one in my family has been successful with breastfeeding so far. After reading all the benefits and watching friends and close family prepare powdered formula bottle after powdered formula bottle, I was determined to succeed at breastfeeding to give my baby the best. We had a rocky start to say the least and was jealous of those mummies who had formula on hand, but now, at 9 weeks old, I feel lucky to have been able to breastfeed and I feel sorry for formula-using mums with all that washing up! I would love to start expressing so that I can have a stock pile built up for when I go back to work. I’d love to continue to give my baby the best, for as long as I can!
Oh well done Nicola, keep going and enjoying it!
I breastfed my first baby for a year, however I do sometimes doubt mother natures good intentions after l endured two lots of mastitis and thrush in the first 10 weeks…agony doesn’t seem to do the pain and discomfort this caused justice! Lots of friends and family tried to persuade me to stop and move onto formula but being the strong willed/stubborn individual that I am, I battled through the latch problems, the scabs and the toe curling, tear shedding feeds and eventually proved that breastfeeding is totally worth while and beneficial to both mum and baby (once you both learn what you’re doing!) It certainly isn’t easy, and I often questioned whether the pros outweighed the cons, but I am eternally grateful that I stuck it out. It’s a precious time that you can never get back x
Oh no! I’ve had mastitis twice too, it’s bloody awful! We also had a few blood blisters, cracked nipples etc but thankfully nothing as bad as what you are describing! You are quite right though, precious time that you can’t get back and something to be cherished.
When I had my first baby, I had every intention of exclusively breastfeeding, although that didn’t work out for me. Unfortunately I managed to get a blocked duct around 36 weeks, and had a massive abcess by the time my baby was born at 42. My baby wouldn’t feed at all from the affected side, so my only option was express and feed him with the bottle.
I’m now expecting my second baby (due next week), and really hoping that I will have the breastfeeding experience I’d hoped for first time. Once feeding is established, I would like to express occasionally so that daddy can enjoy sharing the feeding too. Just need to find a pump that works well for really massive boobs, as I found expressing by hand was best first time around,
Oh no Helen how rubbish for you! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a more positive experience for you this time!
As soon as I found out I was pregnant I knew I wanted to breastfeed. I breastfed my first until 4 months and I had to go back to work. I only had a hand pump so my supply quickly diminished. My second baby is now 10 months and still going strong. I don’t want to stop anytime soon. I believe it’s given me a special bond with both of my children. X
Oh Nicole that is such a shame, I’m sorry you didn’t win this time but keep checking twitter and Facebook for Medela competitions (easier if you like/follow medela UK) as they have loads! Best of luck!
When I was pregnant with my first I thought I would “give breastfeeding a go”, we bought bottle etc ready as I didn’t know any better. When my daughter was born, she was a pro, nuzzled up and latched on straight away, from that moment I knew we needn’t have bothered with the bottles and this was is. Now pregnant with my second and want to last even longer, it was the struggle with expressing when I was at work that meant she couldn’t have mummy milk in the day
Oh thats great Tina, I hope your 2nd pregnancy goes well and you make it even longer this time!
The very first time i fed my baby in public was at a shopping center, after wondering around looking for somewhere to feed her i ended up sat in a bus stop (that was in the center opposite the shops) id worked myself into such a panic i wouldnt go into a cafe or anything which is why id gone out to get the first public feed out of the way! Any way as i sat feeding her i noticed an elderly women with a younger practically glaring at me and made me feel even more uncomfortable! They couldnt see anything as i had a nursing sheet over us but continued to stare! As my little girl finished i sorted my top out and sat her up to wind her… Which is when they came over, im a shy person anyway and could feel my face burning dreading what they were going to say to me! They sat down next to me and the elderly lady said we’ve been watching you for a while and would just like to say how beautifull and brave what you have just done is! I was gob smacked! They sat with me for neraly an hour saying i shouldnt be shy of it, shes my baby and i decide what i do for her! From that day on it hasnt botherd me where i am or what people say!! They were lovely!
Oh what a lovely positive story Ellie, sometimes people are really kind and restore your faith in others. Sorry you didn’t win this time but well done for getting more confident, it’s one of the hardest things to do!