breastfeeding

Unfinished Business – returning to the breast after a 12 month break – Sif’s story

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The following day he asked to breastfeed again. It occurred to me that for him this was somehow “unfinished business”. I said he needed to suck the milk out, so he attempted to suck on my breast as if from a straw (ouch!). I realized I’d have to teach him how to suck from the nipple all over again. To do this, I put my little finger into his mouth, the way I routinely did with his little brother when he needed to suck for soothing.

Two stories of tongue tie – Leah’s story

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Audrey didn’t latch well, and it took a long time for my milk to come in, maybe 5 or 6 days. I was happy to demand feed, I knew it was optimal. And I knew what a good latch was meant to look like, and only very rarely did we get anything resembling one. I was always being asked when and how long she’d fed, in a clockless room, on strong pain relief, which complicated my reporting of popping her on and off the boob on cue. So more stress for not being compliant.

Breastfeeding Modified – Anne’s story

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Breastfeeding was always the plan. I thought I was prepared. I took the class, bought the books, researched the best pump; I was ready. What I wasn’t ready for was a little girl who couldn’t latch, cried when I tried to feed (she was later diagnosed with reflux) and a small hospital with 12 births that weekend, 11 of whom were breastfeeding. Needless to say the LC was stretched thin and I never got 5 minutes with her. I went home completely defeated but still determined that my little girl would be breastfed.

I was always going to breastfeed – Jo-Anne’s story

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So we had a go at breastfeeding. Trying to attach a very small baby (he was 2.4kg) was tricky and time consuming. He had no idea and didn’t think a nice wide mouth at all necessary. It also turned out he was just too small to suck hard enough to draw out my inverted nipples. Luckily for me there was a lactation consultant on. She came and assessed the non attaching feed and suggested using nipple shields. Once I started using nipple shields it all fell in to place. Oliver was able to attach and suck well. It was certainly not comfortable feeding, in fact down right excruciating would be a good term. Sucking basically rips all the tissue attachments that keep the nipple in. I screwed up my toes and breathed deeply. Feeds hurt the most at the start and then settled to a dull pain which I could cope with.

Someone Else’s Milk – Steph’s story

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Many women who deal with breastfeeding challenges start having issues in the early days or weeks immediately following their child’s birth. This was not the case for me. Breastfeeding started out well and went smoothly for three months after my son was born. I thought I was in the clear.
At that point, we discovered that [...]