Breastfeeding a Newborn

As some of you know I was quite concerned about getting breastfeeding established properly with Bel given all the problems we had with Boo. With Bel being small and early I was already panicking during induction that it would all go wrong again, but luckily I'd been booked into the postnatal ward for after the birth so I had a wealth of midwives on my side to help establish feeding.

I spent the night before induction devouring The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding and watching youtube videos, and I'd had my husband up until the crazy hours cooking lactation cookies (these went terribly and turned out a bit like concert crumble) and breastfeeding flapjacks (which we unfortunately overcooked, but were lovely once you got your teeth into them)

Bel latched on pretty much straight away after birth, which was a surprise as I kept reading that babies didn't need to feed in the first hour, but she latched on for 40 odd minutes, came off briefly to be weighed and measured then latched back on again for another 40 minutes. She fed enthusiastically for pretty much the first 36 hours, even to the point that I spent a large portion of the night wandering round the ward with her feeding because I was scared of falling asleep in the bed with her (our hospital has a strict no bed sharing rule). By day 2 Bel had 'changing' stools which indicated my milk was already on the way in. On day 3 her weight was at it's lowest, and it soared back up so quickly that she was back to birthweight (on the dot) by day 10!

Feeding is going well, Just got to hope it continues!

#Newborn #Breastfeeding #Babies