Breastfeeding week

Seeing as it's world breastfeeding week, I thought it only apt that I talk about breastfeeding!

Today also marks two weeks since my daughter was birthed into this world, so a good time to reflect on this oh so lovely bonding experience (!).

When I was pregnant, all the midwives would talk about is how breastfeeding is such a good bond between mother and baby (said in a hippy accent),  which kind of annoyed me before I even started-what about those people that can't breastfeed?!

Anywho, enough of that. 

When baby Grantham (or Wearing as she was formally known) was born, about 30 minutes later the midwife latched her on and feeding began.  Soon after this, she did a mamouth green explosion. 

After this we were left fairly to our own devices to get on, although all the staff made sure to let us know they were around if we wanted to ask for help.  We were lucky in that our gal has a latch as strong as a vacuum, but I was surprised at how much help babies actually need, not necessarily as instinctive as the midwives make out!  I liked the hands off approach the hospital had as it didn't make me feel under pressure to perform but I also felt supported.

Milk production has never been a problem for me, i've been literally streaming colostrum from both boobs since I found out I was pregnant.  In fact, if anything i'm producing way too much (i'm having to hold bottles up to both boobs!) and this makes it hard for baby girl to latch on-think trying to suck a wet beach ball. 

We got lots of support from the midwives in our first week and at first baby wasn't really getting enough milk because of several things; she was being a fuss pot, I found it hard to be comfortable getting positions I felt comfortable doing, she wouldn't wake herself when hungry and it was a new experience for us to get used to.  She lost nearly the 10% of her weight so we were given a feeding plan which involved us having to wake her every 2-3 hours to feed.  The methods the midwife recommended to wake her up (blow on or water on the face) didn't really work-our little girl is quite the heavy sleeper!

It was made harder by the fact she was carrying on her sleeping habits from the womb (nocturnal) so our first four nights were spent getting no more than an hour sleep all day or night!!! Thankfully the 2-3 hour waking, mixed with keeping her awake from 7pm til 12am (recommended by lifesaving friend!) has led to some improvement.  We have since been getting generally at least two lots of three hour sleep a night, which is a vast improvement!!

I have grown in confidence since first breastfeeding and this is thanks to support from Callum, midwives and a few specific friends (Keely and Lydia if you're reading)-I really would be struggling otherwise.  Don't get me wrong, i still find it tricky particularly-particular low points are when she feeds near on continuously for the whole day and I feel like I can't do anything or in the middle of the night.  I'm slowly getting better at feeding in public, although there is still improvement to come there but hey, its only been a fortnight!

Overall its def been a learning curve but it's one that is really teaching me so much about myself and my daughter! There is nothing better than having a tough feed and seeing my daughter's eyes gazing up at me.