For me, my breastfeeding journey started in 2020 when I was 37 weeks pregnant expressing colostrum for my son who is now 2.5 years old.
He came at 41 weeks, so I had so much liquid gold collected, which was very lucky in this case! As he was swept from me as soon as his cord was cut and rush straight to NICU, where I didn’t get to see him for hours.
They let me my first a hold for about 10 minutes, we got to do our first breastfeed, which was magical (minus the stressful atmosphere). They then had to take him, so they could insert a central line into his umbilical vein due to his low sugars to stabilise him. This meant I could not hold or breastfeed my son for potentially two weeks as they didn’t want this bumped out of place.
The struggle was real trying to pump every 3 hours, take care of my post partum self, eat enough to support my milk demand, be at the hospital multiple times per day and trying to rest where possible. It was extremely mentally challenging for me and there were tears every single day but I was so determined to have our breastfeeding journey no matter what it took.
I managed to collect the most amazing freezer stash over this period of time!
He was eventually discharged after two weeks and our breastfeeding journey only got stronger from there and is still going strong 2.5 years later.
I now also have a baby girl, who is 9 months old. Our breastfeeding journey started with no issues and is also still going great today. I fed my toddler through her entire pregnancy, dry nursed for maybe two weeks thankfully and fed him whilst I was in labour and I truely believe this really sped my labour up for me!
I have been tandem feeding my babies for over 9 months now and to say it hasn’t been a tough road, would be a lie! Asha has been such amazing support, endless tips, advice and not to mention her products are so tasty and have helped this mama along and given me energy on those days where I’ve wanted to give in.
Breastfeeding has its mental and physical challenges but when you see those little eyes you created looking up at you, you know it has all been so well worth it and you wouldn’t change a thing! I will always be so thankful for being able to nourish my babies for so long and will cherish every little moment and memory forever.