As promised, I am continuing the 'breastfeeding cafe' I hosted with Medela with a series of breastfeeding stories from other mums, as I thought it would be a good idea to share some boobie love on the blog regularly. Today, Marissa (who is a lovely mum I chat to on instagram) is sharing her breastfeeding story with her little boy Iver.
MARISSA'S STORY
As the birth of our first baby drew near, there were only two things I knew I really wanted to happen. I wanted to try my hardest to breastfeed and, if for any reason I couldn’t, I wanted my husband to do skin to skin with our baby as soon as he was born until I was ready.
After being in labour for five days, I finally ended up giving birth to our little boy via an emergency c-section under general anaesthetic. When I finally got to do skin to skin, Iver latched on almost immediately and that first feed just felt magical, as cliche as it sounds!
Our second night in hospital, Iver tried to nurse all night and was very fussy. My milk hadn’t come in yet and I was exhausted and distraught. He ended up jaundiced but my milk finally came in on the third day and we were fine after that. I had asked for extra help after that second night as I was worried, and I didn’t feel that confident with the way I was holding him. Generally, the care we got in hospital was very good and I did get extra help when I asked for it. However, I really really wish someone had told me that my newborn wanting to nurse constantly was perfectly normal, and that having him at the breast as often as he wanted was the most natural thing to do and would help my milk come in.
My son is now 9 1/2 months old and we are still going strong. We have no plans to stop anytime soon and I would love to continue until he self-weans. He loves to nurse all the time! I never expected how much I would love breastfeeding, the incredible bond it gives us, and how natural it feels. We have so far been very lucky to have such an easy journey. He wakes in the night to nurse but we bed share and this makes it so easy and restful for all of us! I love it.
Although I knew I wanted to breastfeed, I didn’t learn a huge amount about it before having Iver and I think if I had, I would have been much more confident in the early days. Breastfeeding can be incredibly difficult and exhausting, but I really believe it is the best and most natural thing you can do for your baby. It feels so incredible to grow this tiny baby for nine months and then nourish them solely from your body for another six months! I knew breastfeeding was ‘good’ but I didn’t realise how truly amazing it actually is. As the UK has the worst breastfeeding rate in the world, I think it is really important that people receive the right information and support if they need it. There are so many good groups, websites, books and resources if you look in the right places; my current favourites are http://themilkmeg.com/ and http://kellymom.com/
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I hope you enjoyed reading Marissa's story. You can find her on instagram here.
PS. As Mia's 1st birthday is just around the corner (in just 1 month), it looks like we will manage to reach our goal of breastfeeding for a full year. This makes me incredibly happy and I will talk about it more in an upcoming breastfeeding update post.
If you would like to share your breastfeeding story, please email me at contact@theblackpearlblog.com
Sandra xxx
