As you will know if you are a follower of the blog, I am a Medela Mum. You might have followed some of my breastfeeding posts that have been sponsored by Medela (you can find it under the My Medela button) some of which have catalogued my experience breastfeeding Edith and what I have learnt. The thing is, there are ladies out there who have so much more experience breastfeeding than me, some of which have been working tirelessly to normalise breastfeeding and are proud and honoured to share their experiences with others.
I wanted to set up an online ‘cafe chat’ with some of the ladies who I’ve met via social media who have really inspired me and helped me to continue feeding.
Jackie Schofield
What do you wish someone had told you before you started breastfeeding?
That it’s the hardest thing you ever may do for the first few weeks, but to persevere because it’s the most wonderful, rewarding & special thing you can do with your little one.
Also, not to worry if you spend the first week crying! I did! But I’m 10 weeks in and going strong.
What is your favourite thing about breastfeeding?
For that moment, there is nothing else in the world but me and my feeding baby. The bond you build through looking into your babies eyes during feeding is irreplaceable.
Do you have a funny breastfeeding story?
My neighbours house was on fire, and I noticed it from the living room window…
So I ran outside to make sure the neighbours were out of the house and a car with a family had pulled over to ring the fire brigade. It wasn’t until I noticed they all couldn’t look me in the eye that I realised I ran out with my boob out!! Oops!
Louise Roberts
Louise is feeding a little one who is right between the two ages of the Chelsee and Jackie’s little ones. She is practical and gives some great advice.
What do you wish someone had told you BEFORE you started breastfeeding?
The truth! I do believe in being positive, but I also believe in being realistic. All I was told was “if you latch baby on properly it won’t hurt”. No one said “but it CAN hurt, and it does for a lot more women than you realise!” I felt like a failure because I didn’t latch my baby on as easy as that stiff doll in my NCT class, and it HURT like there was no tomorrow. But I wasn’t prepared for it – so I felt stupid. It’s true – a proper latch means it shouldn’t hurt, but that doesn’t mean it CAN’T hurt in the early days/weeks.
There’s so much more I wish I was told about; growth spurts and the fussy behavior behind it, night feeds being normal beyond 6 months, how baby builds supply (may not have given baby dummy at 7 days!).
What is your favourite thing about breastfeeding?
I have never been a natural breastfeeder, and for the most part I haven’t enjoyed my breastfeeding journey. Even more so when my boy became a fidget monster and was more interested in EVERYTHING else other than milk. But the one thing I have enjoyed is the ease – I see mums carrying bottles, bottle warmers, warm water, powder etc in their change bags and I had to carry nothing of the sort. Also the ease of night times – baby cries, latch baby on, baby feeds, falls asleep, back to bed. So for me, the “ease” is my most favourite thing.
What is your favourite breastfeeding treat?
What I consider a treat, is my baby falling asleep in my arms (only very occasionally) during bedtime feed. He never falls asleep in my arms anymore, and hasn’t for months. So on the occasion that he is totally exhausted, it’s such a wonderful feeling him falling asleep while fully latched on. I often sit there enjoying the moment for an extra 10 or 20 minutes as I never know when it’ll happen again ☺
Harriet x
I’m a Medela Mum. My little Thomas, now 3 weeks old, will not latch on. I have seen breastfeeding support workers and had the help of many midwives but he just can’t latch properly. I felt like an absolute failure, not being able to do what I always thought of being the most natural, normal thing for a mother to do. My baby boy went hypoglycaemic in his first 2 days because he wasnt getting what he needed. I was being hand expressed by midwives because I really couldn’t make it happen myself. In desperation I asked the hospital nurses to give my baby some formula so he was at least getting something in him. I then asked if they had a breast pump I could try. They wheeled through the hospital standard Medela pump. I expressed the remainder of the all important colostrum and then the start of my milk. I was able to feed my boy and prevent him from going into specialcare baby unit.
That night I decided to buy myself a pump before I went home – I opted for Medela swing. I am as a result able to feed Thomas breast milk, giving him the all important antibodies and other breast fed benefits. Expressing for every feed is really difficult and time consuming but I want the best for him so I am persevering as long as I can to get him the best start.
Medela has helped us get off to a better ‘breast feeding’ start.
Thank you so much for sharing Sarah xx