Breast Feeding Issues :(

I know, I know. The title of this blog post doesn't sound reassuring to all you expecting Mum's but it's not that bad, I promise. Just isn't for me...

When my baby girl Elle was born, she was very much a "sleepy eater" which means she would fall asleep on the boob while feeding. She still does this unless super cranky.

So because of this, my milk had struggled to come in for the poor girl and started to get cranky. When it did come in, she wasnt putting the weight on. I started expressing to build more milk up, still didnt gain the weight. Working out how much to express for her became a nightmare. It was so up and down, and well with breast feeding they only eat what they want.

My first doctors visit, she still hadnt put on much weight and so we started to top up on formula. Slowly by slowly she became to used to the milk at the ready for her, once she had gotten back past birth weight, we struggled to wean her back to breast, and I had no milk or let downs between 12am and 3am. It was horrible.

On top of the feeding issues, with Elle being a sleepy eater and two other children that need attention, I am struggling with breast feeding as I cant sit with Elle for hours on end feeding her while she eats for 10minutes, sleeps for 10 minutes, sleep eats, smiles for 3minutes, repeat. I have to admit it was hard for two little gremlins because they clearly became upset and angry and their vengence would show in drawing on walls, temper tantrums, stealing etc. They didnt adapt well to less attention from me.

To top it off, Adrian struggles to settle Elle because she think Boob = Sleep. I majority of the time deal with all 3 children. The house was a bomb site, no one was cleaning up after themselves, I became change, feed, put baby to sleep, clean, repeat for the whole day, run off 4 hours sleep, children nagging me, the house a bomb again by the end of the day, and with all the stress my milk supply went down and down and down and an upset mumma and upset bubba.

So now, I mix feed. Elle now sleeps majority of the night, but the first two hours of that, I clean, have a bath, clean bottles etc. She has boob at mid point through her sleep, and a mixture of bottles and boob when she wakes up. I also work on a freezer stash every day just incase I cant continue breastfeeding and she gets sick throughout winter. I have really really struggled with breast feeding. Not giving up though!!

Putting all that aside though, I am still happy I gave breast feeding a go. I have a unique and beautiful relationship with my baby, and it's a natural thing. I suppose we are very lucky in modern day society to have formula for just incase breast feeding doesnt work. My message to all mummies and mummies to be, dont give up. If you struggle, it doesnt mean you have to give up completely. A lot of people form that conclusion. Both myself and sister-in-law have and are successfully mix feeding our bubs. But be prepared, have a couple of different back up bottles for just incase. I used the Tommee Tipee Miomee bottles and she kept her latch very very well.

Breast feeding is such a wonderful experiance, comforting, relaxing and beautiful. Every breast feeding story is different, some successful and some not as much. I support breast feeding fully so give it a shot!