Story of week :)
SARAH'S BFSOD
Before I was pregnant I knew that when I had a baby of my own I would breast feed and do anything I possible could to make it happen. From the day I found out I was pregnant I would constantly research about breast-feeding. I was prepared for everything or so I thought! Around came the 26th of December the day that changed y life! My life was changed in more ways than one. Of course that day marks the birth of my beautiful girl but it also marks the day that all my research on breast-feeding was thrown out of the window. Breast feeding was so hard and it hurt so much.
The first feed seemed to go great, Layla latched perfectly and i was so excited and thought yes I’ve got this! The second time was a fair few hours later and was not so easy! The picture at the beginning of the article was this exact moment. I don’t look sad in this picture but right before it was taken I was bawling my eyes out. Breast feeding hurt so much. No one told me this could happen. I persisted thought that feed but I already started to get grazing on my nipples!
The next feed again was so painful I cried and held on so tight to the arm-chair my knuckles turned white. Every time Layla would need to feed I would ask for a midwife to come and help me but I got no where! The midwife would come in and look she would see that she has latched on perfectly and then she would leave but I would still be there crying. Their answer was to give her a bottle but when I said that’s not what I wanted they would say ok then and just leave. I felt so alone.
It wasn’t until I had one midwife on night shift who sat down and actually wanted to help me. This was the second night I was in hospital and by this stage my nipples were grazed and split. She sat down and made me express just so she can see what’s going on and give my nipples a rest! I couldn’t believe the difference in the feeling! There was no pain! After expressing we put it in a syringe and gave it to her that way. So I had to put my pinky in her mouth while slowly syringing the expressed milk while she was sucking. We did it this way so she didn’t get use to a bottle because they are a lot easier to suck out of and babies can become lazy and want what’s easier. So I did this and was still trying to put her to the breast to try again, hoping it will have changed and the pain would have gone, nope. Eddie came into hospital after getting food and he got to help feed her so he used his finger and he said to me ‘no wonder your boobs are sore that even hurts my finger’ this is when bells started going off for me. So I booked the midwife in for Layla’s next feed. I wanted her to see what was happening. So she used her finger instead and she realized why no one could work out what was going on, Layla was sucking wrong and doing some weird flicking with her tongue. So we put her back onto the breast and realized that she would make my nipple go a funny shape and where she was flicking with her tongue is where I had the grazing. I was excited we had figured it out, but unfortunately there was nothing I could do to change it straight away. One thing I noticed that helped was giving her a dummy because it was teaching her to put her tongue down to suck. I also wouldn’t let her have her hands because the midwife and I noticed that she sucked on her hand which had taught her this bad sucking habit and we assumed it started in my tummy.
Now I could relax knowing it wasn’t what I was doing it was Layla and I had to teach her the right way!
After leaving the hospital I went and got nipple shields (not shells which I have heard a lot of people get instead, even though they are a big help) and these were honestly my life saver! The pain was in no way as intense and stopped not long after using them. They are a like a silicon cover that goes over your nipple. I would still get upset every time Layla was due for a feed until I got these! After two weeks of using them my nipples had healed and I had to feed in public but the shields are fiddly so for the first time since getting them I tried without them. This can be hard because a baby can become dependent on them but I thought if your hungry you will feed and sure enough she was hungry! I used them again once but after that never used them again woooo.
We just hit the 6 months mark and I don’t see me stopping anytime soon!
I can see why pain is the biggest reason mothers stop breast-feeding but the other reason is because mothers get the bottle shoved in their face from day dot! We need to help each other.
I know the only reason I’m still breast-feeding is because I was so persistent and had my mind set very strongly on breast-feeding! I believe you can always breast-feed unless there is a medical reason you can’t. At least give it a good go at first before giving up. It’s the best experience I’ve ever had
http://anaussiemumsdiary.com/sarahsbreastfeedingstory/
You can find her blog and other stoires
The first feed seemed to go great, Layla latched perfectly and i was so excited and thought yes I’ve got this! The second time was a fair few hours later and was not so easy! The picture at the beginning of the article was this exact moment. I don’t look sad in this picture but right before it was taken I was bawling my eyes out. Breast feeding hurt so much. No one told me this could happen. I persisted thought that feed but I already started to get grazing on my nipples!
The next feed again was so painful I cried and held on so tight to the arm-chair my knuckles turned white. Every time Layla would need to feed I would ask for a midwife to come and help me but I got no where! The midwife would come in and look she would see that she has latched on perfectly and then she would leave but I would still be there crying. Their answer was to give her a bottle but when I said that’s not what I wanted they would say ok then and just leave. I felt so alone.
It wasn’t until I had one midwife on night shift who sat down and actually wanted to help me. This was the second night I was in hospital and by this stage my nipples were grazed and split. She sat down and made me express just so she can see what’s going on and give my nipples a rest! I couldn’t believe the difference in the feeling! There was no pain! After expressing we put it in a syringe and gave it to her that way. So I had to put my pinky in her mouth while slowly syringing the expressed milk while she was sucking. We did it this way so she didn’t get use to a bottle because they are a lot easier to suck out of and babies can become lazy and want what’s easier. So I did this and was still trying to put her to the breast to try again, hoping it will have changed and the pain would have gone, nope. Eddie came into hospital after getting food and he got to help feed her so he used his finger and he said to me ‘no wonder your boobs are sore that even hurts my finger’ this is when bells started going off for me. So I booked the midwife in for Layla’s next feed. I wanted her to see what was happening. So she used her finger instead and she realized why no one could work out what was going on, Layla was sucking wrong and doing some weird flicking with her tongue. So we put her back onto the breast and realized that she would make my nipple go a funny shape and where she was flicking with her tongue is where I had the grazing. I was excited we had figured it out, but unfortunately there was nothing I could do to change it straight away. One thing I noticed that helped was giving her a dummy because it was teaching her to put her tongue down to suck. I also wouldn’t let her have her hands because the midwife and I noticed that she sucked on her hand which had taught her this bad sucking habit and we assumed it started in my tummy.
Now I could relax knowing it wasn’t what I was doing it was Layla and I had to teach her the right way!
After leaving the hospital I went and got nipple shields (not shells which I have heard a lot of people get instead, even though they are a big help) and these were honestly my life saver! The pain was in no way as intense and stopped not long after using them. They are a like a silicon cover that goes over your nipple. I would still get upset every time Layla was due for a feed until I got these! After two weeks of using them my nipples had healed and I had to feed in public but the shields are fiddly so for the first time since getting them I tried without them. This can be hard because a baby can become dependent on them but I thought if your hungry you will feed and sure enough she was hungry! I used them again once but after that never used them again woooo.
We just hit the 6 months mark and I don’t see me stopping anytime soon!
I can see why pain is the biggest reason mothers stop breast-feeding but the other reason is because mothers get the bottle shoved in their face from day dot! We need to help each other.
I know the only reason I’m still breast-feeding is because I was so persistent and had my mind set very strongly on breast-feeding! I believe you can always breast-feed unless there is a medical reason you can’t. At least give it a good go at first before giving up. It’s the best experience I’ve ever had
http://anaussiemumsdiary.com/sarahsbreastfeedingstory/
You can find her blog and other stoires