*****
When I was pregnant Lee and I had many ‘talks’ about what kind of parents we wanted to be and one of the inevitable discussions was on how we would feed our little baby. Even before finding the man I wanted to have a family with let alone before getting pregnant I had always imagined and hoped that I would breastfeed any children I had. Lee was keen for our baby to be breastfed and was supportive and encouraging about my decision to breastfeed our baby once he arrived into the big wide world. I did not give myself any long term goals instead I decided that I would take one feed at a time, one day at a time and follow my instincts. Even though I did not give myself any pressurised goals deep down I hoped to breastfeed until at least 6 months and then see how it went from there.
After getting past the first few weeks of breastfeeding, the sleepless nights, little man not putting on much weight and life as a new mum breastfeeding was issue free and a beautiful experience. Breastfeeding was a natural part of our lives and I enjoyed the time with my little baby, looking into his beautiful blue eyes as we sat cuddled together as he fed.
Breastfeeding for me felt such a natural experience. For the first few times I breastfed in public I was nervous about doing so but quickly my nerves dissipated and I was happy and comfortable breastfeeding in public.
When I was pregnant and I had the ‘talks’ with Lee about feeding little man we discussed and planned that once breastfeeding was established that I would express breastmilk for Lee so that he could feed little man too. Well before little man was due we bought an electronic breast pump and bottles ready for when the time arose to give expressing a go. Once breastfeeding was established I started to express breastmilk for Lee to be able to feed little man however I just could seem to get to grips with the breast pump. I found it tricky to do and never had much success getting much of a supply of breastmilk. I had more luck with hand express and found it was quicker and easier to get a good amount of breastmilk compared to when I tried with the breast pump. Perhaps it was just me or the particular breast pump I had but expressing was never a great experience for me. I know Lee was grateful for every feed I expressed especially as in the early days he did find it hard that I was little man’s sole source of milk and I was responsible for giving him all of his feeds.
Apart from the little bumps in the road of our breastfeeding journey in the first few weeks and not getting to grips with expressing our breastfeeding experience was a smooth, trouble free journey up until little man was about 11 months old. Around that time little man began to scratch and pinch me whilst feeding. This behaviour did put a little dint into the beautiful experience of breastfeeding and I hoped it was just a phase that he would soon grow out of and stop doing. Whilst giving little man a feed if he started to scratch and pinch I would gently stop the feed and then start again a little while later and it did seem to help with the pinch-y behaviour. Even though it helped the behaviour it did not completely stop it. Another tactic that helped was using a breastfeeding necklace. When I reviewed a Babybeads breastfeeding necklace I found it really helped his scratchy behaviour as it distracted little man and gave him something for his little hands to play with whilst he fed.
Just after I had expressed an interest in doing posts for the Keep Britain Breastfeeding Scavenger Hunt little man went on a nursing strike. He totally and utterly refused boobie. A few times previous to this I had fleeting thoughts on when I was would wean little man off of boobie milk. My thoughts about stopping breastfeeding were for personal reasons but I did not want to deprive little man of the breastmilk he loved. When his nursing strike began I attempted to feed him on numerous occasions and even worried that I must be doing something wrong or my milk had changed and was no longer appealing to little man. A part of me wanted to breastfeed for much longer but as I had been considering stopping for personal reasons I decided that his nursing strike would be a good time to stop. Once I had made up my mind I stopped trying to give him boobie which he was still blatantly refusing and he never tried feeding again or asking for boobie. Even though in my heart I feel sad that we are no longer breastfeeding and feel a tad guilty that he is no longer getting the goodness of my milk it felt like the right thing to do and I am pleased that I followed my instincts. It was such a smooth, trouble free experience and I am grateful for the fact that it was not a horrific experience for little man.
I cherish the memories I have of feeding little man. I hold dear the memories of sitting cwtched up with my beautiful boy, breastfeeding my lovely child. I am feel proud of myself and little man for breastfeeding for over a year and feel privileged for being able to experience the natural beauty of breastfeeding.
*****
To read more about the Keep Britain Breastfeeding Scavenger Hunt visit the facebook page or the Scavenger Hunt blog page. I hope you enjoy reading lots of posts about breastfeeding from the other lovely bloggers taking part, a few of which are –
Downs Side Up
Boobie Milk
Diary of a First Child
Tea With Felicity
Life, Love and Living with Boys
Downs Side Up
Boobie Milk
Diary of a First Child
Tea With Felicity
Life, Love and Living with Boys
As well as bloggers helping this campaign a host of breastfeeding companies are also supporting the campaign and have provided some great prizes for the main prize as well as other competitions happening throughout the month. One of the companies is Monkey Mama Necklaces who sells beautiful and practical nursing necklaces.
Use the rafflecopter below to enter the grand prize of over £500 worth of breastfeeding goodies for the Keep Britain Breastfeeding Scavenger Hunt.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I would just love to breastfeed - my little boy refused point blank to feed so really hoping our next will take to it :) x
ReplyDeleteI was originally hoping to get to at least six months but now that has passed I just want to keep going until she is ready to stop. We have just reached the stage where a necklace is a great distraction!
ReplyDeleteMy goal is to keep on feeding!
ReplyDeleteI aim to continue feeding for as long as my son wants to. So far we're 8 months and still going.
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Great article.. baby due in 7 weeks and my plan is to breast feed :-) x
ReplyDelete