The photo above is of me, at a matter of minutes old doing the most natural thing possible and thanks to what my mother learnt from her own breastfeeding journey and the support and advice she could pass on we're reached month 5 of exclusively breastfeeding Alfred and have the confidence to continue. If it wasn't for my mother, telling me to follow my instincts and stick at it, I'm not sure we'd have made it this far so thank you mum, Alfred and I owe you big time.
The photo below is also of me, with my son only minutes old doing what generations going back as far as time itself have done.
As natural as breast feeding is, I now realise it's as much a skill that has to be learnt as every other aspect of parenting. In ante-natal classes you're told how it all just falls into place and told about a video of a newborn crawling to get up to the breast. No one tells you it's actually quite frustrating, both Alfred and I had to learn how to breast feed. It sounds daft, learning how to feed, but it is hard work in the first few days. Initially Alfred could latch on, and could suckle but not together and despite trying different placements, it was upsetting to struggle so much. They also didn't tell us how tired he would be after birth, he was born in a birthing pool naturally after about 8 hours of labour. He was breathing fine but didn't cry (cue influx of doctors) was loving the cuddles but just wanted to sleep. Eventually the midwife got us to express and fed Alfred with a syringe. I had major mixed feelings at that stage, happiness that at least he'd eaten and was settled down, but also complete and utter terror that we may not be able to feed as we'd intended. When he woke up at about 4 a.m. and still wasn't feeding properly my heart sank, and after getting no real help at the hospital I was on the verge of devastated. Luckily I had my mum on hand to re assure and re position him so he could feed.
Over the next few days we spent a lot time perfecting it, my darling husband even took pictures of our most successful latch ons for "reference purposes" if we were struggling. My husband was fantastic throughout, supportive and understanding he knew when to leave us to work things out, kept us supplied with drinks and snacks and was just there. He only offered the breast pump once during a difficult feed, I think he got the hint...
A combination of events with the midwife meant that I was left feeling like an absolute failure by her on more tan one occasion, I vividly remember one of the early days sitting in floods of tears wondering if I was doing the right thing sticking with breast feeding, my mother told me how well I was doing, told me to stick at it and I'm so glad I did. At 5 months my little man cub has only had one mild cold, has beautiful skin, is developing perfectly, is active and hitting milestones. We have an enviable close bond, perhaps because he know every time he's a bit upset because he's hungry he's guaranteed close individual mummy attention. I will probably be breast feeding him for the next 7 months, for the knowledge of the benefits it carries, for the bond it builds and of course for the post feed, milk "drunk" cuddles;
Breast feeding has awarded me with such confidence now I've got the hang of it, I've fed him in so many places when before having him I thought I'd be too nervous to feed him anywhere. My husband finds it a beautiful thing, me feeding our son, so there are actually quite a few photos of feeding in strange and wonderful places.
Some of my favourites are below, thanks for reading and if you ever doubt your ability as a mama to nourish your baby, trust your instincts, and your own mama!
Post feed at Whipsnade view, by the penguins. Excellent view.
At Truck (music festival) hardly anyone noticed that we were actually feeding Alfred! Loved the mama smiles you get from ladies who have babies
I didn't know this picture had been taken until I uploaded my camera! This is on a steam train at Didcot Railway Centre, takes about 4 consecutive rounds trips to feed a hungry man cub.
At our NCT group, it's lovely to be in a room where no matter how you feed your baby you can feed them without judgement. Alfred has a tendency to get Boob envy though, so has to directed away from our breast feeding mamas!
(this was inspired by another blog,
http://ht.ly/cJ1J1 , pop by and have a look)
No comments:
Post a Comment