Breast Efforts.com

So we have had a rocky couple of weeks with the misfortune of recently being hospitalised with a bacterial bowel infection.  Two trips to the Emergency Department resulted in an overnight stay and two full days of being hooked up to a drip for dehydration.  Not having eaten for almost a week, needless to say I was quite distraught at the thought of having to give up on breastfeeding Alexander.

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This week I finally went along to my very first ABA (Australian Breastfeeding Association) meeting.  The meeting unexpectedly brought back a flood of emotions from my birth, bottle and breastfeeding journey and I was quite taken aback at how raw my emotions still seemed to be from this trying time.

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Breastfeeding has made headlines in the news today with reports of a new study that finds formula to be as good as breastmilk.  The Norwegian Scientist who has made the claim, and unfortunate foray into an already extensively researched area, claims that breastmilk isn’t responsible for the health of a child but rather hormones provided to the infant in the womb prior to birth.  The researcher claims that women who have a healthy pregnancy are more likely to breastfeed and therefore results in existing research showing that breastfed babies are healthier than formula fed babies.

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We are now at the almost 15 month mark and we are still breastfeeding, yes, still!  For me personally, breastfeeding is still the most rewarding and comforting part of being a mother but there are times when I sit and think, how long will this go on for?  Alexander shows no sign of giving it up and now that he can grab at it whenever he likes I’ve yet to refuse his requests.  I have noticed however, that I can easily distract him with a book or a toy so it’s more about spending time together.  I can’t really imagine feeding a three or four year old child but when can you start to reason with a child that they no longer need the boob?

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While visiting a one year old’s birthday party I overheard one small child say to a breastfeeding mother – “You must be like a farmer, getting all that milk!”  How cute!

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Here are a few books that I found helpful on my breastfeeding journey:

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My first four days as a new mother had already presented a number of hurdles and challenges that were to be ongoing for many more weeks to come.  There seemed to be no simple solution to the challenges I had already faced and so when presented with yet another hurdle, I was near breaking point. 

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The day after my emergency caesarean and a long and trying 24 hour labour, it was time to get up out of bed and moving again.  This was very difficult and very painful and my first time up and about had me holding a rolled towel against my wound to support my stomach muscles and my mother on the other arm supporting me.  We were making our way to the bathroom (very slowly) as by this stage my catheter had been removed and I had ‘the call’.

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Poor attachment.  Getting attachment right was a very difficult thing for me to achieve.  I think it was a mixture of having a ’snapping turtle’ on my hands and I had a large blood loss that wasn’t picked up until day four, which resulted in a blood transfusion.  Low haemaglobin levels resulted in a very ‘fuzzy’ head and I found it hard to concentrate and couldn’t take in or retain new information.  This made it very difficult for me to learn this new skill (although at the time and for some weeks after, I wasn’t aware that this was a skill I had to learn, I thought it should come naturally as breastfeeding is natural, right?)

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Cracked nipples!  And boy did I have them!  By the time I left hospital Alexander had, according to one lactation consultant, ringbarked my nipples.  Which is as painful as it sounds!  The skin where my nipple joined my areola had split and had started to become deeply lacerated.

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