breastfeeding

My struggle with Nipple Vasospasm – Lily’s story

The following is an excerpt. Please click the title above to read the entire story.

So we continued to express and bottle feed. The scabs healed fairly quickly but the pain I was still feeling was terrible. No one could tell me why, until one day my lactation consultant asked me if I had any spasms in my nipples? I said no, not really understanding what she meant by spasm. I felt periods of intense pain between feed but didn’t know this is what she meant. Anyway so she then said “oh it’s just that there is this thing called Nipple Vasospasm where your nipples go white and you have these spasms which can be very painful”. The bells started ringing and I explained to her that I did get this blanching of the nipple and had done all through my pregnancy. In fact my nipples had always been very sensitive.

Two stories of tongue tie – Leah’s story

The following is an excerpt. Please click the title above to read the entire story.

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.

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

The following is an excerpt. Please click the title above to read the entire story.

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.

The best thing I have done! – Alexia’s story

The following is an excerpt. Please click the title above to read the entire story.

My gorgeous wee man was born at 37 weeks exactly. His suck was excellent despite being early and we tried to feed straight away. During the first few days I had a lot of difficulty latching him and blisters and sores started appearing on my nipples. I was sure this wasn’t right and asked for some help, but everyone said I was doing fine and to continue.

It pays to be persistent – Liz’s story

The following is an excerpt. Please click the title above to read the entire story.

Meanwhile, I was pumping and trying to build my supply so that I could nurse them when they were strong enough. At first, we were adamant that they not have pacifiers or bottles, but when the nurses said that bottle-fed babies go home sooner, I gave in. It was two days before they even were able to have the first drops of colostrum swabbed on their gums. Slowly, they started to be able to take little bits of my milk from a bottle nipple, once they were off the ventilators. It was five days before we got to hold Jonah, the stronger of the two. I kept asking when I could nurse them, but the nurses told me that it would make their oxygen levels drop, and they had to be on a certain type of ventilator, and all kinds of other excuses.

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