The Trials & Tribulations of Breastfeeding, Preparing to Succeed Second Time Round

When I was pregnant with Boo I was convinced and determined that I was going to breast feed. It's the most natural thing in the world, women have breasts for the soul purpose of feeding their babies no matter what some of the menfolk might think! and nothing was going to stop me, not even the tales of caution from every mum in my family (my Mother in Law included)

First things first I'm going to tell you something that no one distilling the virtues of breastfeeding at me antenatally told me: Breastfeeding hurts, at least initially, it's not a thing that your body is used to, and it's not something your baby is exactly used to doing either, that steep learning curve comes with some pain! It should be obvious, but it came as a real shock to me, and if you don't work out the latch right, or the baby has tongue tie, or you get thrush, it hurts a hell of a lot more! Not that I wish to put you off breastfeeding before you've begun, I just feel we should establish some facts and honest truth.

As I've mentioned previously, Boo suffered IUGR (her growth slowed way down) and she was induced almost four weeks early. We had been expecting her to need to spend time in NICU immediately but other than being a little small she was actually fine, she didn't need a ventilator and she was much bigger than the growth scans had estimated. We were put under the care of the Transitional Care Nurses rather than NICU and they set about helping me achieve my breastfeeding dream whilst I was on the Post Delivery Ward. Boo however was mostly small and tired and not all that interested in the idea of drinking from the breast, which meant that initially I was hand expressing into a syringe and feeding her from that 0.5 to 1ml at a time, but I had no real idea how much a baby should be having at each feed, or whether she was really managing to feed when on the breast (I mostly suspected not and was proved right on day three when she'd lost 12% of her body weight!) So I feel my first mistake was being so incredibly uninformed as to the road ahead.

Initially breastfed babies don't drink that much, also colostrum is filling.

I have since found the answer to how much does baby actually need initially, and the answer is not that much! A newborns stomach will take 5 to 7ml, so that's about teaspoon at a time. By day three it has a capacity of about 22 to 27ml and day 10 it is about 60 to 81ml in capacity. for a visual aid you can actually buy a set here with three appropriately sized items in a bag with a laminated card, and Ardo also do a set that's literally just round balls of the correct capacity (these are day 1, day 3 and day 5 examples)

A Hospital Grade Breast Pump can encourage things along!

When it was realised that Boo had lost so much weight she, my husband and I were pulled into the hospital and trapped in a tiny room (with a tv, I'll give it that) for 5 days. First things first they got me pumping, so we realised straight away where it hadn't previously been noticed that I was still producing colostrum, not 'proper milk', so Boo was given some formula (whilst I cried in a corner and felt like an absolute failure for not even managing three days breastfeeding, those snazzy hormones that turn you into a crazy woman during pregnancy don't disappear over night and day three is pretty horrible for hormones) With the pump my production went from barely 1ml to as much as 100ml each time in pretty much the space of 24 hours and my milk was finally in! I was determined to give Boo as little formula as possible, I think she had about 4 or 5 little bottles of cow and gate before I was able to swap it out completely for my own milk, and by the time we left I had half a shelf in the milk fridge filled with my liquid gold (I felt so proud and Godlike) So I learnt a valuable lesson about the use of breast pumps to get things going, they're not necessary for everyone but Gods do they help! We'll ignore the lesson I should probably have learnt about feeling proud and Godlike...

The needs of a breasted baby and a formula fed baby are pretty different

We were told by a nurse on day 2 that we wouldn't be allowed to leave unless she was drinking at least a measured amount that was the 'right' amount of milk for her weight in 8 feeds over 24 hours and putting on weight, and we couldn't get her to drink that from a measured bottle with her feeding off the boob first, so we would give her the amount she needed for the feed from a bottle and then try her on the boob and of course she was satiated by then so wouldn't drink from the boob. She very quickly learnt that the bottle was easy peasy and the boob involved effort, and by the time we got home she was refusing the breast. I've learnt that babies are far more clever than people give them credit, and that I don't want a bottle anywhere near Bel, she will feed from me, or a syringe, or a cup (the latter two can be measured for the hoop-jumping) or hell, a spoon, but the first person who mentions bottles will find themselves with an angry hormonal lady waving syringes and cups in their face wildly!

the amount that we were expected to feed Boo was 2.5oz of formula per pound of body weight over a period of 24 hours, so when she was 4lb for instance that's 10oz of milk, between 8 feeds which is 1.25ox or about 36ml of milk per feed, and we weren't discouraged from feeding her more than this at each feed, so invariably she was having much more and we thought at the time we were doing her a favour by doing so. What we didn't realise at the time is this is what a formula fed baby should be proved with at each feed, and formula feeding is very different to breastfeeding, the milks are completely different consistencies and (funnely enough) formulation, and as such are digested at completely different rates. As a result of the overfeeding we ended up with a very vomity baby!

The more support you have the easier the learning curve will be.

I didn't emerge myself in a particularly breastfeeding friendly scene once we were back in the comfort of our own home, most of the mummies at the sure start centre were bottle feeding, and I didn't know any other mummies but them. This time I'm going to see about going to breast feeding breakfasts starting the month before Bel comes so that I can get comfortable with the people there and turn to them for support if (and when) I struggle. We have moved since we had Boo, and both the nearest Sure Start Centres have breastfeeding specialists associated with them, so I'll also be contacting both of those ladies before Bel comes to get some help and arrange some 1 to 1 visits if need be. The sure start centre that's most convenient for me to get to isn't actually my closest one, so I'm going to try and contact that centre to see if I can join despite not being in their usual 'catchment area' as they have a weekly drop in session at the centre which will be a fantastic opportunity to meet other breastfeeding mummies.

There are a few national groups who can help with breastfeeding, and they might have representatives or groups in your area, check out the LLL website and this print out nappy count from their website to get an idea of the kind of output you're look from for baby.

There are ways to help encourage and increase your milk supply.

You produce milk on a supply and demand basis, if baby isn't having much, you won't produce much more, ensure you're feeding baby (or expressing) 8-10 times a day (and this includes at least once during those awful hours of the morning that shouldn't exist!!) this will help you increase your supply naturally. This time I will also be engaging a breast feeding friendly diet, plenty of oats to help increase and maintain milk supply, especially at breakfast (whizzed into smoothies as I can't stand cereal), as breakfast sets you up for the day, and with a newborn you definitely need that energy! leafy greens, and keeping fluids up, drink a glass of water at every feed to ensure you stay hydrated, and because when you're settled and comfy and in the flow of feeding or expressing is when the thirst is most likely to hit!

I'll also be trying lots of other 'alternative medicine' type methods to help with my production, I've stocked up on ingredients for 'Breastfeeding flapjacks' and 'lactation cookies', the flapjacks recipe was suggested to me by a friend on Facebook, and from what I understand has been floating around a while, so I'm unsure of it's origin, if I do find where it originated from I'll update you and let you know. "Melt 320g butter, 6tbsp golden syrup and 300g light brown soft sugar in a pan. In a bowl mix together 500g oats with 150g flaxseed then add to the butter and sugar mixture. Thats basically it for the mix, it makes a large batch I use a large roasting tin and line with greaseproof paper to make sure it doesnt stick and bake for roughly 25 mins at 180° or until golden around the edges (will look runny until left to set) I leave it 10 mins to cool slightly then use a knife to score it into portions usually rectangle fingers be warned it is very moreish!"

I have Neuners nursing tea (voted best breastfeeding tea for three years running) and nettle tea (to enrich and encourage milk supply along with increasing post birth energy levels), a Breastfeeding Natal Hypnotherapy CD, a breastfeeding cushion (to aid with positioning and relieve my achy post birth HMS joints), Pregnecare breastfeeding formulation and I'm trying to source an Agnus Castus tincture (to encourage milk production, it's also a pretty fab heal all for lots of other 'womens problems' though don't take it with hormone contraceptives) I'm not sure how much fenugreek is too much, so I'm going to have to speak to someone about how much fenugreek it's worth taking if I'm drinking the tea.

A bit of hard work initially saves a lot of hard work later, and you'll never forget babies food when you leave the house in a hurry!

This time in general I'm going on with a lot more determination and less fairytale expectations, I know that it will take some work on my part, baby and I will both be learning how it works, and I know that initially at least it's going to be toe curlingly uncomfortable bordering on all out painful, I have a better idea of how much milk the baby will actually need, and I'm going to insist on some patience on everyones part, babies, mine, the health staff and family, to give breastfeeding a chance to settle into a working pattern.

Every Drop Counts.

I also know that sometimes despite the best of efforts breastfeeding just doesn't work out, so if I do have to give in and get formula, I am not going to beat myself up and feel like a failure, but I'm not keeping the formula in the house as a temptation either. I will remind myself at every feed that every drop counts, if I can only breast feed for the first few weeks, I've set baby off to a good start, if I manage to breastfeed unit I go back to work, or even beyond it will be an amazing achievement.

Got any tips for breastfeeding, or advice / honest truths you wish you'd been told when you were getting started? Drop me a comment and spread the word!

#Breastfeeding #Pregnancy