To B or Not To B?

When people asked me if breastfeeding was painful I’d say ‘No. Not once I’d reached my second pair of nipples!’ My first literally peeled off!

Before I became pregnant I would have said that I wasn’t bothered about breastfeeding. When I was expecting Bob I said that I would give it a go but that I wasn’t going to beat myself up about it. By the time Bob was born I felt like I must breastfeed! Not sure how this happened. Maybe the birth flicked a switch. All I know is that giving up wasn’t an option.

My first few attempts we’re so painful! It felt like Bob was biting me, even though she didn’t have any teeth. By the time I left the hospital my nipples were covered in tiny blisters.

To begin with Bob wanted to feed every hour. I hoped that this was because I was only producing colostrum but by the time my milk arrived (my breasts swelled up to the size of footballs, felt like hot rocks and leaked everywhere) I think she was in a routine. Getting her to go two hours between feeds was a challenge. Overnight as well as in the day.

I persevered, wanting to give Bob the best start in life. Luckily I had a very sympathetic husband, who had first hand experience of how painful breast feeding could be. One day, when he was carrying Bob, without his shirt on, she took him by surprise and latched on! He nearly hit the roof!

This sympathy came in handy, as I have lost count of the amount of times he had to do emergency toast and jam runs in the middle of the night. If it wasn’t for this I think I would have passed out. Every night I thought about giving up but, as I had a lot of contact with my fabulous midwife, I would wait until her next visit. Things didn’t seem as bad in the light of day.

I breastfed Bob exclusively for the first 3 months. At this point she became unable to feed from me if I was sitting up. Something to do with my flow being too fast?!? She was fine if I lay down to feed her but if I were upright she would get terrible wind after a few seconds and would refuse to feed. As she was still feeding every 2 hours it wasn’t possible for me to lie down, every time she wanted feeding so I decided to supplement with formula.

I mixed fed for another 6 weeks, until Bob started teething! Having come full circle and being faced with a biting baby, with teeth, I decide enough was enough. I am proud that I gave Bob the best start in life and that I somehow managed to feed my greedy vampire baby until she was ready for weaning.