Hannah’s Breastfeeding Stories.

I’m Mum to two lovely little boys, Ted who is 5 and Charlie who is 1. It still totally blows my mind the differences I experienced in terms of both of their labours and also breastfeeding; they are pretty much reverses of each other!

With Ted, I had a long and tiring labour and when he was born he had quite severe jaundice, which required a week-long stay on the maternity ward. During this time I received lots of support from the midwives and maternity support staff in terms of establishing breastfeeding. Due to the jaundice, Ted required constant feeding to help break down the bilirubin and as a result, for the first week of his life he was fed breast milk from me, expressed breast milk in a bottle and was also topped up with formula. I didn’t experience any pain of discomfort when I was feeding him, breastfeeding was established and we were off - I was delighted. I can still remember those bursts of oxytocin when I fed him and what a special feeling it was.

Cut to four years later and Charlie was born. I feel so lucky that with this labour, I really got the positive birth experience that I had so hoped for when I had Ted. My labour was short, manageable and easily one of the most empowering experiences of my life; I felt like superwoman. We had a lovely Golden Hour and Charlie started feeding straight away – because I had done this before, I just assumed I had this nailed. We were very keen to avoid a hospital stay and because the delivery had been so straightforward, we were discharged to go home that evening.

Towards the end of day two I started to notice that feeding Charlie was quite painful. In the days that followed, all that amazing oxytocin that had left me feeling so euphoric was fading and the pain I was experiencing when feeding was really ramping up. My nipples were not in good shape; they were cracked and bleeding. I was dreading it so much that I would get full body sweats every time I was about to feed. It was tough. I had a go with nipple shields - but unfortunately they gave Charlie terrible wind and he screamed that night for hours. Everything seemed to be going wrong. I was stressed, in pain and upset. This couldn’t be more different to the experience I had establishing breastfeeding Ted.

Ted had a tongue-tie that went undetected until he was about 10 weeks old; so I had asked the midwives to check Charlie’s mouth before we left the hospital. I was told that he did have a mild tongue-tie, however, because he seemed to be feeding so well, we didn’t need to worry about it. I decided to get it double checked and had been recommended a local tongue-tie specialist who fortunately could visit that day. She was lovely and confirmed that Charlie did have a severe tongue-tie and a very strong sucking reflex – she said, no wonder I’d been in so much pain. She was able to perform the ‘snip’ right then and there, on the kitchen table and this did provide some immediate relief with feeding.

My nipples were still a bit of a mess – I needed them to heal and so relied on paracetamol, lansinoh cream and breastmilk to help. Even with the tongue-tie improvements I still didn’t feel like we were fully in our stride wit breastfeeding and I really did consider giving it up, many times.

The real turning point was when I went to my local breastfeeding hub and met the most amazing Health Visitor, called Michaela. She welcomed me with open arms, demanded I accepted a cuppa and said biscuits were mandatory. Michaela was approachable, knowledgeable and so, so kind. She gave me some advice regarding Charlie’s latch and also about different feeding positions. She reminded me to smile, relax and drop my shoulders. I’d become so tense and stressed that my shoulders were rigid!

From that point onwards things really clicked into place and Charlie and I enjoyed started to enjoy breastfeeding and did so for 8 lovely months.

This different experience of breast-feeding was really eye-opening. My biggest advice to anyone choosing to breastfeed would always be to find out where your support is, in advance. The last thing that you want to be doing when you’re tired and in pain is researching when and where the support groups are; I’d also recommend researching private lactation consultants – if you’re in a position to book an appointment it could be invaluable in terms of getting things off on the right foot. There are also lots of breast-feeding consultants who post lots of free resources and advice on Instagram. And of course, do attend a Happy Parents. Happy Baby antenatal course – where an infant feeding workshop with an IBCLC breast feeding consultant is always included!