My breastfeeding journey started out very emotionally and physically exhausting. To begin with having an unplanned cesarian section, created more challenges that I wasn’t aware of. The medication and the trauma my body endured to birth my baby into this world, safely of course but not without consequences. I had been awake for more than 24 hours when my baby was handed to me, to be able to find the breast and have her first feed. Being opioid sensitive I was struggling to keep my eyes open, but with the support of my husband and wonderful midwives, my daughter was able to be placed on my chest, and then she demonstrated her natural ability to find the breast and have her first feed. After that we went to our room where I was struggling on my own to lift her up and bring her to the breast to feed her. So the night midwife manually extracted milk from me to deliver to my baby in a syringe.
The next morning we then tried to attach and feed for the first time. Being a first time mum I had no idea what to expect but latching was painful. It was like she only latched on to the end of my nipple. The LC in the hospital tried to assist and thought that maybe it was because I had flat nipples and to try nipple shields. It was helpful to use nipple shields but it still didn’t feel right. We continued on with different reviews and got sent home using nipple shields.
My MGP midwife tried to assist with attachment with different holds as I had a cesarian wound limited comfortable positions. My daughter then continued loosing weight each visit and had overall lost more than 10% of her body weight. But I knew my supply was not the issue. Using the Hakka on the other side while feeding I was gaining a good amount of milk collection from my let down. I could hear the milk transfer. I could see the milk on my daughters face after feeds and I couldn’t understand why she was loosing weight. I was so conscious about nourishing my body with the right nutrition. Thanks to Asha being a beautiful friend who made me a batch of healthy, milk production supportive cookies (which when i was recovering post operatively and sleep deprived being able to reach for them was a godsend). As well as drinking plenty of water. I knew my supply was good.
I then phoned an IBCLC and got an assessment. She immediately diagnosed my daughter with a tongue and lip tie. We had her lasered at 2.5 weeks old and attachment after that was instantly better! The 6 weeks of stretches post laser was the worst but I knew it was helping. She could open her mouth enough to get a great attachment and not just on the end of my nipple.
She began to pile on the weight. Feeding no longer became a painful thing that I dreaded. I still suffered from suspected raynards of the nipples, I was not treated but I just managed it by keeping warm as possible when feeding. Having a baby in winter sure made it challenging. The pride I had to be able to continue to feed my daughter was massive. We battled challenges along the way, the nipplash stage where she was so easily distracted. The teething stage where her saliva changed and would burn my nipples and all the other challenges in between. I can proudly say I managed to feed until 21 months, this included returning to work and managing shift work also!
Nourishing my daughter with breastmilk is something I will cherish forever. One thing I knew was that I was not going to be too proud to ask for help early from an IBCLC. That is my biggest advice to anyone who is facing challenges with breastfeeding. Society portrays that breastfeeding is something so ‘natural’ and easy to do. But going through some of the challenges at the beginning I can see how easy it is to give up and not continue to try. The biggest thank you to Asha who was there to support and reassure me along the way to persist through the challenges (because it was something I wanted to do) and all the incredible nutritious cookies and hot chocolate (highlighting the fact that they are super allergy friendly and for me that was amazing as I am dairy and gluten intolerant) certainly made it much easier to persist and keep my supply up enough to continue to feed for as long as I did!