I've been asked by the lovely people at Milkysnugz to guest-blog
and to chat about my personal experience of breast & bottle feeding.
I'm mum to Tristan (4) and Scarlett (17-months old), and I always
intended to breast feed. They always say 'breast is best' and I truly wanted to
give my new-born’s a good nutritional start in life. Unfortunately, it was not
to be. This is my story....
I was pregnant with Tristan during my husband's 3-year secondment
to Germany. After a reasonably easy pregnancy, Tristan made his arrival at a
German hospital two weeks early at 8lbs 11oz. Tristan was a good suckler and I
was producing milk for him quite easily, but when he was two weeks old I
developed awful pain in my nipples. After a few painful days and nights, my
husband and I decided to start formula feeding to give my boobs an opportunity
to recover. But seeing my husband relish every opportunity to lovingly feed and
bond with his first born made it hard to go back to breast and it just never
happened.
After Tristan, I was strongly motivated to try again with baby
number two. After an exhausting second pregnancy (borderline gestational
diabetes, borderline anaemic, dizziness, constant nausea, near-fainting,
followed by catching a nasty vomiting bug at 7-months pregnant), Scarlett
decided to make her arrival a whole month early at 7lbs exactly! Being
premature via a c-section took its toll on breastfeeding: I was weak and in
pain from the surgery, and Scarlett was required to stay in a heated incubator
due to her low body temperature. Scarlett was struggling to suckle and couldn't
latch on very well (a minor tongue tie didn't help either). The nurses were cup-feeding
her (feeding her with a little plastic cup, similar in size to a shot glass,
and slowly tipping the formula milk into her mouth), while I tried the
hospital's expressing machine. Frustratingly, I was producing only a few mere
drops. The nurses kept cup-feeding Scarlett for around 48 hours after her
birth, whilst I tried again and again with the expressing machine. But a few
drops become nothing - an empty bottle. After an emotional and lengthy chat
with the friendly ward nurse, I decided Scarlett needed to go onto formula milk
via a bottle as she was getting hungry. Thankfully, Scarlett took to both
a plastic teet and formula milk without any problems, but if and when we have
baby number three, I will try again with breastfeeding.
My advice for every mummy-to-be is to do their research during
pregnancy, and after the birth to ask the ward nurses questions and for their
help (or midwife/health visitor if home-birth or after being discharged from
hospital). They are busy, but they are there to help all the new-borns and the
mothers. I wish I researched into breast milk donation as this would have been
a decent option with Scarlett.
It's really disheartening when people are critical of those who
don't breast feed, but everyone needs to realise it's not always possible or
easy. It's a fine balance between what is best for your new baby AND for
yourself.
Just like child-birth where not everyone has their desired
birthing plan (I certainly didn't, but that's another story for another
day)....it's the same for feeding your baby. I now have two healthy cheeky
little toddlers, with my eldest about to start school in September!
You can
read more about our family and our adventures, on our family lifestyle blog at http://jellyroseyate.blogspot.co.uk/, follow me on Twitter: @JellyRoseYate and Like on Facebook: /JellyRoseYate
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