Some tips that helped me to Breastfeed Succesfully

I would like to share with you some must have tips on how to make breastfeeding easier. I have breastfed both of my children for their first year and I am also a Children’s Nurse who works in Public Health. This has given me a valuable insight into breastfeeding from a professional and personal experience. I did not find breastfeeding easy initially and did consider giving up, however I am so pleased that I persevered and would like to think that I may inspire other people to continue breastfeeding after reading some of my tips:
Be Prepared
Most Maternity units have breast feeding workshops. Through attending these workshops it gives you an idea as to what to expect, what equipment you may need and some useful tips to help you when your baby arrives. Reading up about breastfeeding, the good points and negative ones, will also help you to be realistic about what to expect.
Going to Support Groups
I found joining breastfeeding support groups invaluable. I have met some of my closest friends there, who I still socialise with regularly. When I initially joined the support group I just wanted advice. I had no friends and little family at the time to support me as I lived 400 miles away from my home. I also had the added pressure of close people telling me the negatives of breastfeeding and how I should bottle feed!
To top it off I had cracked nipples as well and a baby who seemed to constantly want to feed. I wanted to know that this was normal and that things would get better from people who were or who had been through the same.
Practice Makes Perfect
You would think that breastfeeding would be the easiest thing to do since it is the way nature intended us to feed our babies. However it can take weeks for both you and your baby to learn this skill. It usually takes 3-6 weeks, so please do not be deterred if it doesn't happen straight away.
Once you and your baby have mastered it, you'll be so glad that you persevered. The great thing is that you always have milk at the right temperature on tap. No need to sterilise, no need to heat up and no need to make up. When your baby asks for the milk you can give it without the wait!
Breastfeeding and Pain
Breastfeeding should not hurt. Some people find the letdown painful for a few seconds. I use to get an uncomfortable feeling for 10-20 seconds, but I found this comforting knowing that the milk was coming through. Don't be alarmed if you do not feel the let down, not everyone does.
Cracked nipples and mastitis are conditions that can cause pain and these are explained next.
Cracked Nipples
When I had cracked nipples it brought tears to my eyes every time my son latched on.
Here is how I got through it:
a. I bought some bottles and some cartons of formula milk and sat them next to a steriliser. The thought that if the pain got too much I had a back up, helped me.
b. After every feed I rubbed breast milk around my nipple as this has natural healing properties.
c. I bought some nipple shields, which helped to protect my nipples under my clothes but I was unable to feed with them.
d. I found lansinoh cream the best. I used a couple of cheaper brands, however I made my husband spend the money on this cream and found it worth it.
e. I tried to express milk from the breast with cracked nipples as this was not as painful as feeding from it. However I gave up on this as I found it difficult to express more than an ounce of milk.It took me a week of doing the above before the pain had disappeared and was hard going. However after a few days it did start to get easier, which spurred me onto continue.
Mastitis
This is when the breast becomes red, inflamed and painful. It usually only affects 1 breast and some women get flu like symptoms. Although you may not feel like it, breastfeeding helps to clear mastitis quickly by removing any blocked milk from the breast and to also help prevent the mastitis from getting more serious. Therefore breast feeding more frequently and expressing any left over breast milk can help.
In some cases mastitis can be infectious and requires prompt treatment. Therefore advice should be sought from Health Visitor or GP particularly if you feel unwell or have a temperature with it.
I experienced mild mastitis after I stopped breast feeding due to blocked ducts. I found massaging my breasts in hot baths helped ease the pain. Although I did need antibiotics to help clear the infection.
Involve Your Partner
Some people express their breast milk for the father to feed their baby. This will not only allow vital bonding between the baby and Dad it also allows the Mum some me time. Another positive of this method is that you will be able to allow a family member to baby sit so that you can get out with your partner to keep your relationship strong. Both of my children refused the bottle, which meant that on my wedding day I was breastfeeding my 16 week old. This is not easy in a wedding dress!
My husband got involved by bathing our children. He would get in the bath with baby number 1 and then baby number 2 when she was born. This allowed me to catch up with anything that I needed to do.
Thinking Ahead
Every time I sat down to breastfeed I would realise that I had forgotten something, usually a glass of water. Here are some items to have to hand before a breastfeed:
a. A comfy chair and foot stool
b. A pillow to support the baby when feeding.
c. A large drink.
d. A snack
e. Something to do i.e. tv remote, book or magazine
Breastfeeding in Public
With my 1st child it took me 4 weeks to feel comfortable to feed him outside my home. However with my 2nd I was out breastfeeding at my local coffee shop when she was 4 days old. Being able to breastfeed in front of friends and family and feeling comfortable going out and breastfeeding in a cafe or restaurant is important. It allows you to get out and not have to panic when a feed is due.


Again everyone is different so if you can not bear the thought of breastfeeding out in public then here are a few places I have been to, which cater for those who would like to breast feed in private.
a. Most Mothercares
b. Some big boots stores
c. Most large shopping centres
d. Most health centres
e. Many motorway service stationsEnjoy
Breastfeeding is quality time with your baby. I found this such an enjoyable time and look back on it fondly. I was pleased to give breastfeeding up after a year with both of my children, however it was this part that made me feel sad to stop.
Breastfeeding also makes you sleepy, which is fab if you are having difficulty in getting to sleep. I found it very useful the night before my wedding!
Remember
If you can not breastfeed or do not want to breastfeed then do not beat yourself up. Plenty of people feed their babies formula milk and they grow into healthy and intelligent children.
Good Luck to all of you, whether you are breastfeeding or bottle feeding, being a parent is the hardest but best job in the world.

Home Sick

I was born and brought up in London, my parents, brother and sister still live in London, my maternal Grandparents live in Dorset and the majority of my Dad’s family live in Cornwall. As a child I spent most of my school holidays in Cornwall and always longed to live there. Once I had qualified as a Children’s Nurse I started working in London gaining a variety of experience in a variety of hospitals whilst saving up to be able to afford a house in Cornwall. However plans change, my boyfriend and I of over 6 years split up and 6 months later whilst on holiday with a friend of mine I met my husband. We moved in together after 8 months and lived in Brighton for a while, a place I found that I loved to live in and the need to move down to Cornwall did not bother me anymore.
It was in December 2004 that my Husband and I moved to Scotland. We moved for my Husbands career and as a nurse I did not think it would be that hard to get a job. A promise of my Husbands job progressing with the view that we would be able to afford holidays abroad at least 2 times a year and that when we start a family I would be able to give up work and be a housewife. This lifestyle appealed to me and having been up to Scotland a few times and enjoyed it, I thought why not?

Why Not….. My Husbands family have been great, couldn’t have wished for a more welcoming family of in-laws and I did not feel home sick at all when I first moved up to Scotland. We have moved around 3 times since we have moved to Scotland to different places around Glasgow. I love it where we are now, the town is a small, with a castle ruins, some shops that cater for peoples daily needs and for any tourists that may visit the town. The Schools in the area are of a fantastic standard and my son who has already started Nursery School at one of the Primary Schools loves it. I have also made some really nice friends through a Mums group run 1 afternoon week at the local Church. This is not to mention the lovely group of friends that I still meet up with in the place where I use to stay, which I made when Alistair was a baby. I also only work 3 days a week in a job as a School Nurse, I get all the school holidays, get on well with my colleagues and actually do not mind the work.

Despite all I have going for me here, I still miss home, I still feel that my home is in the South East of England. I have been the driving force behind the moves in Scotland trying to find a place that I would call home. But I feel that I am not going to get anywhere better than where I live now, everything that I would like in a home I have, but I still do not feel at home!

I want to stop that desire of wanting to live elsewhere, the looking on right move to assess house prices in for that all important move down South. Then the searching for jobs. It sounds completely and utterly mad, I want to move away from a decent size 3 bedroom house with large front and back gardens, where there are parks at either side of the road, where the schools are good and the town is pretty, in a rural location with good local amenities and not too far away from Glasgow. My Husband does not want to move to the South East of England and his welcoming family are only a short drive away. Yet since I fell pregnant with my son I have longed to be home. It hurts when I think of the 400 miles between my parents and I, I crave a closer relationship with my brother and sister and I long to be nearer the rest of my family in the South. Most of all I feel at home in the South-East, be it London or Brighton. I just hope one day that I will feel at home here…..

So Cute

I was washing up the lunch dishes today and thought after 5 minutes that it was very quite in the house. This was not too alarming as my husband had taken my son and our dog out for a walk. However I popped into the living room to see what was possibly being quietly dismantled and found Isla fast asleep.

So I finished washing up then sat down on my rocking chair in the living room with a cuppa coffee and a book and enjoyed my 5 minutes peace. Obviously I had to take a picture first, it was soooo cute.....

5 Minutes Peace

When my son was 2 years old my Dad bought him a book called ‘Five Minutes Peace’ by Jill Murphy, Alistair enjoyed this book but the true meaning of the story really struck a cord with me. I love my 2 children more than anything in the world and would never wish that I never had children, however the lack of time that I have to myself is truly evident and at times depressing. I have a boy who is 4 and a 2 year old girl but the constant need to cuddle me, talk to me and play with me leaves me asking at times for just 5 minutes peace, to sit down with a cuppa tea, drink it before it gets cold and read a few pages of a book (which is not a children’s book!). In theory it doesn’t seem that hard, surely a programme on Cbeebies or Nick Junior will give me that time to myself that I crave at times. However the calling of the cooking, tidying and cleaning is always louder and inevitably the cuppa tea and book gets put off, or the tea gets made with the intention to drink it whilst cooking, cleaning, hanging out washing etc and invariably is cold when you get round to drinking it!

Then there are the evenings when the children are in their beds sleeping, which in our household is generally by 8 when the living room becomes our quite sanctuary, but no, there is the final tidy up of the day to be done, then the ironing and possibly cleaning the bathroom etc. On the days where the household chores do not need to be done then I feel the need to go to the gym.

It is not as bad a picture as I have painted I do usually get to watch an hour or 2 of TV of the evening, generally whilst do other things and I also do manage on the whole at least 30 minutes in the evenings with a coffee and sometimes a wee naughty treat before doing anything.

I ask myself am I selfish, do I need time to myself to do nothing? I am not the only person with this lifestyle and many have it worse that me, I have a husband who helps out and only 2 children, nothing out of the ordinary. I remember life prior to having children when my housework didn’t seem a chore, money was available to spend on non essentials and a quite hour went by with no need to rejoice in the peacefulness that was just experienced! Life changes suddenly when babies come on to the scene and nothing can prepare you for how big that change is.

I have learnt so much about myself and I have really learned to appreciate peace and quite, spontaneity and money in ways that I never felt possible. My life has been enhanced by having children and I am so lucky to be blessed with 2 healthy children who are generally very good, kind loving children. I would not change them for anything and I have a lifetime of learning about my children ahead of me. I would also feel totally devestated if my children didn't want cuddles, kisses and my attention.  However it still doesn’t mean that I do not at times crave 5 minutes peace!