Treasure Every Moment: breastfeeding

Thursday, 16 April 2020

PARENTHOOD: Struggling with Combination Feeding when baby has a High Palette

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Combination feeding was always the aim, but the journey there wasn't the simplest. In October of 2019 we welcomed our third baby and first son Rory into the family. As with each of our children I was nervous about being able to breastfeed him, but within 20 minutes of being born he had successfully latched on and our breastfeeding journey began. I was extremely lucky that he latched well, I only had the usual pains you experience when you initially start breastfeeding and it all seemed relatively smooth sailing. That was until we had our six week check-up and Rory had dropped from the 75th centile to the 50th; although he was gaining weight it wasn't at the rate he should be. I had also noticed that he was making a clicking sound every time he fed, then getting upset due to trapped wind. It all became a vicious cycle of struggling to feed without taking in a lot of air, then getting uncomfortable, and then needing feeding to calm down etc. I began to become concerned that he might have a posterior tongue tie, so mentioned this to my health visitor who recommended that we attended one of the county's breastfeeding clinics.

PARENTHOOD: The Differences between having a Spring/Summer Baby compared to an Autumn/Winter Baby

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Prior to having children I hadn't really thought about the potential differences between having a baby in the spring/summer compared to autumn/winter. Expecting and having a baby is such an incredible experience whenever in the year it happens, but after being lucky enough to have three children at different times of year it has been interesting to see the impact the season has. There are perhaps a surprising amount of differences I've personally found with having a baby in the warmer months compared to the colder ones. There is no 'best' time of year to have a baby, anytime is special, so let's look at some of the differences...

BABY: Our Experience of a Private Tongue Tie Consultation and Discovery of a High Palette

When it came to breastfeeding my third baby I thought I had enough experience (over 3.5 years in total) to overcome any challenges we may face. This, however, wasn't the case and after talking to various health professionals we decided to go down the private route for support and guidance. The story behind why we ended up looking into having a private tongue tie and breastfeeding consultation is here. It certainly isn't for everyone, as it can be quite expensive, however the waiting time with the NHS was around three weeks and we felt like that was too long for our situation.

BABY: The Story behind having a Private Tongue Tie and Breastfeeding Consultation

When it came to breastfeeding our third baby, Rory, I was extremely lucky and had such a positive start to our breastfeeding journey. Breastfeeding my older two children was also a really positive experience; I breastfed Isabella until she was around 18 months and Poppy until she was two years old. Despite this I was nervous about trying to breastfeed Rory because I am all too aware that every baby is different and therefore every experience can be different. It certainly wasn't a given that I was be able to breastfeed him just because I had done my older two children. However, within fifteen minutes of being born he was rooting around, so I latched him on and there started my third breastfeeding journey. I felt so relieved and beyond lucky to be able to breastfeed our third baby and, despite the usual uncomfortable episodes when you first start feeding, all was going well.

MOTHERHOOD: How will I know when to stop combination feeding?

Combination feeding has been a big part of my life for the past three years or so and still is to be honest. Back in 2015, when Isabella was born, we were hoping to be able to establish breastfeeding over the first few weeks and then move to combination feeding from around six weeks. I was incredibly lucky with my breastfeeding journey and only 20 minutes after being born Isabella was latched on and feeding away. Other than the usual aches and pains of those early weeks of breastfeeding, I had a very positive experience. That was until Isabella was three weeks old and going through a growth spurt; I simply felt like I couldn't keep up with breastfeeding alone. I was barely sleeping, feeding what felt like constantly and still Isabella wasn't satisfied. Seeing my struggles and anguish over the situation my husband suggested we gave her a small bottle of formula milk as a 'top up'.

BREASTFEEDING: What are the essentials?

Over the past three and a half years I have spent two and a half of those years breastfeeding, so I think it's fair to say it has been a big part of my life recently. I always hoped to breastfeed my daughters, but was fully aware of the struggle that may lie ahead each time. You can read more about my breastfeeding experience with my first daughter here and with my second daughter here, but in a nutshell I've been very lucky. Both times they latched on very quickly after birth and aside from the usual uncomfortable roller-coaster that is breastfeeding I didn't come across any of the big struggles I know a lot of mothers can face. We decided with both Isabella and Poppy to combination feed them, so we introduced a bottle or two a day from around six weeks. This balance between breast and bottle feeding worked perfectly for us as a family and it means that I have experience of both the bottle and breast feeding worlds.

BABY: The Multi-Use Feeding Pillow from Love2Sleep

The humble feeding pillow. It is probably one of the most underrated baby items because, despite its name, it is so much more than just a feeding pillow. After having Isabella and beginning the breastfeeding journey I quickly realised how important having a feeding pillow was. They help achieve a better position for feeding, saving you from leaning over all the time. But as time goes on they also act as the perfect support for babies learning to sit up and as protection from sharp corners/fireplaces when rolling or crawling.

STYLE: A Week of Mummy and Daughter (Breastfeeding Friendly) Outfits

Breastfeeding brings a whole array of logistical challenges, whether it be where to feed, trying to feed on-the-go or finding suitable clothing. Back when I was breastfeeding Isabella I really struggled with adapting my wardrobe to not only suit my 'post baby' body, but also that were nursing friendly. I spent many months feeling really self conscious and unsure of how to approach this new way of life.

BABY #2: Our Struggle with Combination Feeding and Tips that Helped

Combination feeding (breast and bottle) is something that we choose to do when Isabella was a baby and it worked really well. We had planned to wait until she was six weeks old, but after what felt like hours of constant feeding we ended up giving her a bottle when she was 3 weeks old. We started with the tiny bottles you can buy with ready made Aptamil in that also come with the teats. Isabella happily guzzled away and that was the start of her combination feeding journey. She would happily swap between different bottles, expressed and formula milk and drank it without a problem. Naively that was what I expected this time around. How wrong was I.

PARENTHOOD: Cheeky Chompers Muslin Collection

Cheeky Chompers is a brand I've loved since having Isabella; their unique baby teething products were such a hit and the pattern range are so beautiful. Isabella used the Neckerchew and Comfortchew lots when she hit the joyous phase of teething, which really helped to relieve her discomfort and were ideal as teething relief 'on-the-go'. Now, two years later Cheeky Chompers have extended their incredible range to include the Cheeky Blanket, Chewy the Hippo Teether and the exciting new Muslin Collection.

MOTHERHOOD: Easing Back Pain in Pregnancy & whilst Breastfeeding with Deep Freeze

It's only been 3 months, but already I miss being pregnant; lovingly stroking my bump, wandering what she'll look like and how our family will adapt to life as a four. There are a few things I certainly don't miss though, heartburn being one and back pain being the other. Throughout both my pregnancies I've struggled with back pain, trapped nerves and muscular pain, probably due to my rather large baby bumps! Isabella weighed 8lb 3ozs and Poppy weighed 8lb 13ozs, so both of my girls were on the larger size, not to mention the incredible size of my placenta both times (who knew a placenta was that big?!). All of this contributed to me struggling with back pain, especially in my lower back, as I was carrying around all that extra weight. According to Deep Freeze I'm not alone, they conducted a poll back in March 2013 and found that as many as 98% of pregnant ladies suffered muscular back pain at some stage in their pregnancy.

BREASTFEEDING: Brand New Range of Nursing Friendly Clothes from Frugi

Over two years ago I remember coming home from hospital with a tiny Isabella, our breastfeeding journey had started a mere 20 minutes after giving birth and I had been feeding in my pyjamas for most of the time in hospital. Suddenly, I was looking at my wardrobe contents with despair - there was nothing breastfeeding friendly. Not only had my body shape changed a lot post pregnancy, but I wasn't prepared for the world of breastfeeding. Over time I discovered the whole wearing two layers trick, so that the top layer can be lifted up and the bottom layer covers your modesty. As someone who never wears trousers or jeans I still struggled with finding suitable clothes, a lot of time was spent browsing online.

#LITTLELOVES: Building Towers, Wedding Anniversary & a Psychological Thriller

Happy Friday Everyone! What has the weather been doing this week? One minute it's bright sunshine, the next it is raining like it's never rained before. Luckily it didn't ruin any plans, as we had my auntie over on Monday to meet Poppy for the first time. It was such a lovely day, one of those days that really warms your heart. We also had Poppy's six week check from the health visitor; she's actually 8 weeks now but our usual HV was on holiday so a different one had to make a special visit to us. Poppy now weighs 12lb 2ozs, following her centile perfectly. Yay!

SUMMER DRINK: Non-Alcoholic Pimms

Yet another summer...yet another one I can't really drink alcohol. For the past three summers I've either been pregnant or breastfeeding, meaning I've either avoided alcohol completely or only been able to have half a glass. To be honest this doesn't have that much of an impact because I barely drink even when not pregnant/breastfeeding. I just prefer not to, paired with the fact that I don't like a lot of alcohol anyway.

BREASTFEEDING: My Journey with the help of Bravado! Designs Nursing Bras

Breastfeeding is something I really hoped to be able to do this time around, but was very aware of the struggles of both establishing feeding and then maintaining it. I was lucky enough to find breastfeeding Isabella a pretty smooth journey, but was nervous that I wouldn't be so lucky this time. Poppy's birth was extremely quick (read my birth story here), so when it came to trying to feed her I was worried that my body wouldn't have had time to adjust.

10 THINGS: To do whilst feeding your baby

Bottle or breastfeeding babies takes a lot of time in those early months especially. Days would pass and I swear I hadn't done anything other than feed Isabella, all in a sleepy daze. Before you know it those long feeds are distant history and you have a baby that crawls/climbs around so you can say goodbye to any level of relaxing during the day! Below are my top 10 things to do during the longer feeds, they may seem like they'll never end but they will and you will have lost that precious 'sitting down' time. Embrace it!

BREASTFEEDING: Our Experience

Back on a cold, windy Wednesday night in February my husband and I ventured out to our fourth NCT meeting - the focus of this class? Breastfeeding. You may be surprised that we both went to the breastfeeding class, after all isn't it just the women that needs to know about the hows/whats/whys/whens of breastfeeding?

FASHION: My Breastfeeding Friendly Capsule Wardrobe Outfits

As I explained in a previous post I have found finding suitable outfits for both breastfeeding and my changed body pretty difficult. So, after lots of searching online I have finally put together a capsule wardrobe of items that can be mixed and matched to create an array of breastfeeding friendly outfits. As part of all of these outfits are the H&M nursing vests, which I wear underneath tops. This means I lift up the normal top and unclip the nursing top, resulting in the minimum amount of skin is exposed! I loved wearing dresses before giving birth, so the there's a lot of skirt and top combinations, as it's the next best thing to dresses! To see what the whole clothing item looks like and it's price check out the previous post.

Which is your favourite outfit?

Feel free to leave me a comment :)

Helen x

FASHION: Breastfeeding Friendly Capsule Wardrobe

I have found finding suitable outfits for both breastfeeding and my post birth body very difficult. Before pregnancy I was an avid dress wearer, pretty much my whole wardrobe is dresses! So when it came to getting a bump I had to but some slightly different style dresses, which wasn't a problem. However after giving birth was a completely different story. Finding outfits that looked ok on my swollen, wobblier and just generally larger breastfeeding body was a daily struggle. My wardrobe of dresses became useless because I couldn't breastfeed in them and most of my tops were too tight around my tummy area. All of these issues didn't help my already lack of confidence about what pregnancy and giving birth had done to my body.

After lots of online searching and shopping I finally have a capsule wardrobe suitable for breastfeeding and my changed body shape. As I'm sure I can't be the only one struggling to find suitable breastfeeding outfits I thought if share my capsule breastfeeding wardrobe with you.

In this post I'll show you the items in my new breastfeeding capsule wardrobe and in another post I'll show you how you can mix and match these items to make many different outfit combinations.