The Baby Feeding Series with Pickle and Poppet

Hello and welcome back to another instalment of The Baby Feeding Series, that features real stories from real parents who have experienced how hard and baffling feeding your baby can be. I want this series to be a place where parents can share their own experiences in the hopes that other parents who are struggling can feel less alone. Being a parent is the hardest job in the world but it's one of the most rewarding jobs too and so I want to share their stories.


Last week we had the lovely Emily from Fresh Milk Mama who kindly shared her weaning journey with her little boy. Weaning can be such a daunting thing for a parent. I remember being feeling so anxious when we started to wean and I would panic at the slightest noise my daughter made, which is completely normal for a new parent. We tried weaning our daughter at 6 months because she was showing the signs, but she actually wasn't ready, which baffled us a little bit. We left it for a while and went back to weaning and for us it seemed as if a combination of soft foods and baby-led snacking seemed to be the best way. If you have a weaning story to share then please get in touch, we would love for you to guest post for us. 
This week we shall be talking about breastfeeding because it's such a great topic to talk about and one that gets parents talking. Breastfeeding is beautiful, it's natural and we all know that it's the best thing you can do for your baby. But breastfeeding is not for everyone and that's OK. The whole reason I started a feeding series was so parents could have a place to share their stories in the hopes to help and encourage other parents that could be facing similar situations to feel like they are not alone. Parenting is baffling. There are moments where we feel elated, there are moments where all we feel is sadness and not forgetting moments where we feel as if we are never going to be good enough. Despite all these feelings we have to be thankful and grateful for them, treasure them almost. In a round about way because of these moments we have become better parents, parents that our children will be proud of, so it's important to not see them as a failure but the making of you.


I think I've rambled on enough already and so I would like to introduce my lovely friend Jo, from Pickle and Poppet who has written a lovely post about how different it was to breastfeed her two children and in ways that you wouldn't imagine.


My Breastfeeding Journeys with my two children

When I was younger, before I even thought of babies, I always associated feeding babies with formula milk and bottles. I can vaguely remember one of my mum's friends breastfeeding. I remember being asked to leave the room and the curtains were closed. Other than that I had never seen mothers breastfeed.

That was until my sister done it. I think that she inspired me into trying it when and if I had babies. So, when I became pregnant I was adamant that I was going to breastfeed.

I am one of the lucky ones, I managed to breastfeed both my babies.
I had two very different experiences and would you believe it if I told you that my youngest was the hardest?
Feeding my First Born.

Reuben took to the breast immediately. There was no problem what so ever. Every single feed he latched on perfectly. The nurses at the hospital helped me with different positions so that I was comfortable with him whilst feeding, they suggested using the rugby ball hold sometimes as he was a heavy baby (9lb).

He was such a natural that he didn't lose any birth weight, he gained from the start.

I did everything I was supposed to do. Timed each feed and noted them down. Noted down which side he fed from so that I could happily switch between breasts. It was a grade A effort!
Feeding my Second.
Jessica was harder. She didn't seem to be able to open her mouth wide enough to latch on. I assumed I would be able to feed her as easily as I did Reuben and so left the hospital without getting them to check she was latching properly, after all I knew what I was doing.

It only took a couple of days before the pain started. Not the pain of initially breastfeeding (it does hurt even if you get the latch right) but a pain so intense I knew it was an incorrect latch. The midwife tried to help me but she struggled, I don't think she was confident with it anyway. Jessica lost some of her birth weight which is completely normal but I blamed myself for it. I resorted to YouTube videos and said if she gained weight at her next weigh in in a few days then fine, if she hadn't I was switching to bottle.

I was so worried with the latch, I concentrated on that so much that I would forget which side I needed to feed from and for a while I had one breast considerably bigger than the other and it took a while to balance them back out.

She did eventually get the latch right and gain weight. But it was so much harder than the first time round.

If I had to give myself advice on breastfeeding I would say:

Don't put yourself under too much pressure.

It does hurt, buy a good nipple cream.

Go out! Feed in public. Don't worry about other people, they will not be staring at you. To be honest they won't notice you, you are feeding your baby really

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About Jo

Hi there, my name is Jo and I am a parenting and lifestyle blogger over at Pickle and Poppet. I’m a 30-something year old mummy of two and wife from East Anglia. I work part-time in insurance but I am currently on maternity leave, enjoying the madness of a new baby whilst juggling the busy life of a 3 year old. I have recently found a love in baking and love trying out new toddler friendly recipes.
Some of my favourite things to do include family walks (especially in autumn when the colours are so beautiful), reading, and knitting (although I’m still practising this one).


Remember you can find Jo over at Pickle and Poppet.

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If you'd like to be a part of the series then please feel free to send me an email to mimiroseandme@gmail.com  and I'd be thrilled to get back to you with more information! Please get in touch even if you don't have a blog and you would simply like to share your story.

1 comment

  1. Some brilliant tips. Especially the nipple cream! I was never able to feed in public confidently and I really regret that now!

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