breastfeeding

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.

Breastfeeding Liam – Jayne’s story

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Around this time, I spoke to the midwife on the phone who was conducting the follow up interview on the breastfeeding study in which I had participated. She was impressed that I had continued with breastfeeding after the white spot incident. To be honest, I came close to quitting, especially when my mother suggested it might be time to stop if it was causing that much pain, but I was so glad I persevered. At this point, my PND was improving thanks to medical treatment and I was beginning to enjoy parenting a lot more. I was determined to get to 12 months of breastfeeding, and by now felt confident I would.

Six months of mastitis – Maria’s story

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I noticed a hot, red patch on one of my breasts and I felt sick and feverish. I went to the doctor and he diagnosed mastitis, prescribing a course of antibiotics, which cleared up the mastitis beautifully, or so I thought. A few days after I finished the antibiotics I developed mastitis again, this time in a different part of my breast. I went back to the doctor and was prescribed the same antibiotics. The mastitis again cleared up quickly but returned, this time in the other breast, a few days after I finished the antibiotics. This pattern continued until my baby was 11 months old, so for 6 months.

Arwen and Elisabeth’s Breastfeeding Journey

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Throughout my hospital stay I had been telling the midwives that breastfeeding was quite painful and I knew it shouldn’t be. I asked them to please have a look and make sure I was doing it right, because I was sure that I could not see any problem with my technique or the attachment. The midwives said that I was doing it right and that he was attached right, but at the same time they said if it hurt, there must be something wrong…

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.

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