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Reach out for support : you deserve it!!
Dr. Gazala Khan | Lactation Consultant
Mum shares her breastfeeding journey; the challenges she faced and the support that helped her to overcome them.
“I’m a first time mum to four month old amazing son, born in april 2022. I was prepared for a lot of things to change when my baby came along – the lack of sleep, early morning starts, having less time to myself, changing dynamics. Etc but I was not prepared for how difficult breastfeeding would be.
My antenatal course mentioned a few of the issues that could crop up but the take-away message was that it would only happen early on,post birth everything would settle.
For me it took nearly three and a half months before I could breastfeed easily and comfortably.
I had nipple pain, thrush and blocked ducts. I also struggled with my baby’s latch since the beginning, always trying to remember ‘nose to nipple’ (a common phrase repeated by my lactation consultant but failing miserably to align baby’s mouth in this way.
Why did I keep going? There were stretches of two or three days at a time that were lovely, where I enjoyed feeding, pressing his little hand against my breast, making cute little cooing sounds to suggest that he was enjoying it – my breast seemed to be his happy place, somewhere he went when he was unsure of things, sad, tired or just wanted a bit of comfort.
I didn’t want to take this away from him by stopping. I was always also mindful of the research highlighting the many benefits to breastfeeding both in the short and long term which gave me another good reason to try to continue if I could.
Some days I expressed milk and gave so that i could get a break I also tried to get practical advice from professionals with each issue and help from friends and family so that I could take a break when I needed it the most.
I found the Best Beginnings from the hospital lactation consultant and doctors who always empowered me to do more than my limits.
