breastfeeding

A rollercoaster of pain and frustration – Ditte’s story

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I had flat nipples and she had a tongue tie. We had her scheduled to have a frenotomy and till that happened I expressed (at that stage colostrum) and fingerfed her. On day four my milk came in – with a vengeance. I had way too much and my daughter couldn’t even begin to empty my supply. So my breasts were never fully drained and for that reason I got mastitis.

Breastfeeding pain defeat me not – Cheryl’s story

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I had great success with avent breast shells (not to be confused with shields). I used this in conjunction with a lanolin nipple cream. They keep your nipple moist (healing quicker and no pain when baby latches on, which helps perfect latching position pain free). They protect nipple from materials rubbing on them and they help stop engorgement as the milk leaks into the shell and you then tip it out. They also catch milk whilst you are feeding which you can then store in a bottle so no expressing needed for a few emergency bottles.

Expressing for twins – Linda’s story

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It would have been easier to just give up but I knew that breastmilk was so important for their brain and immune development, and I hoped that by keeping up the expressing I would slowly build up my very tiny supply. I also knew that I needed to have milk if I was ever going to get them to take the breast, which we were still trying continuously. I was very proud of the 30 or 40 millilitres I could give each of them each feed, topped up straight afterward with formula, a small percentage compared with what most healthy women can express, and it took me fifteen minutes at the pump to get even that.

Breastfeeding my allergic baby – Mary’s story

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Cyrus is the second of my three children, born nine years after his big brother. I breastfed my first child with no major problems except some learning-how-to-breastfeed difficulties in the early days and some mastitis later on. While my eldest was small I trained and qualified as a volunteer breastfeeding counsellor so I knew plenty about breastfeeding, [...]