Seeing as it’s #NationalBreastfeedingWeek I thought it would be great to share what I had written when Zara was still a little bubby in 2016. She’s 3 next month, I’m not quite sure where the time has gone. Zara fed all the way up until she was 21 months and I was pregnant with Zayah, I think she would have carried on if my milk hadn’t of changed and dried up. I will have a new blog post up soon all about our experience with breastfeeding so far 🙂
WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK🌍
I am so proud of our breastfeeding journey. It’s something I always knew I wanted to do even before we lost our beautiful Zachary. It broke my heart even more when my milk came in and I had no baby to feed, love and care for after carrying him for over 9 months.
When Zara was born I was so determined to breastfeed. We were kept even longer in hospital as they wanted to see we’d established breastfeeding but they were so busy they kept missing her feeding and I didn’t know if I was doing it right as it was all new. All they’d given me was a leaflet and the information from the midwives in the labour ward was so different to what they had to say on the post natal ward. I was so confused and just wanted to go home. A lovely nurse came and helped me after I burst into tears and showed me loads of different feeding positions.
Once we had got the hang of things it was the most natural thing in the world. We’ve had our problems, baby gets distracted, baby gets razer sharp teeth, bites – $#!* OUCH! The fear of feeding in public, fear of negative comments, hiding in smelly feeding/changing rooms, not feeling normal as so many of my friends and family formula feed, Zara not taking a bottle of expressed milk (It takes so long to express enough for a bottle 😱)We have overcome quite a bit!
I love that I’ve nourished her inside and outside of the womb, I love being her comfort, I love those sleepy milky snuggles.
Zara sticks her little toes in my face, picks my nose, scratches the inside of my mouth with her fingers, pulls my hair and necklace and waves random objects in my face whilst feeding but I wouldn’t have it any other way! If I smile at her she will pull off and give me the cheekiest grin, and that milk drunk face is just awesome 😂
This post is not to make you feel bad if you couldn’t or didn’t want to breastfeed but to celebrate those who have done, still do and those who have tried as its not an easy journey! Just over a year and no signs of stopping just yet. I really hope that there can be more support for new mums if they choose to go on this journey too! #worldbreastfeedingweek
Would you like to learn more about breastfeeding? Visit here to learn about breastfeeding vs pumping.
Laura x