World Breastfeeding Week Story | Melanie Sparks | GreenBubz
3 babies, 3 entirely different breastfeeding journeys.
My experience Breastfeeding my 3 babies has been very different, luckily it has become easier with each baby.
My 1st born was extremely challenging from the moment she was born. She was unable to latch on and would not take a bottle. For the most part of the first few weeks I had to express milk and syringe feed her, eventually with help of a few different Lactation Consultants I was able to get her to latch to 1 breast only using a shield. The other one I would pump and feed her with a bottle. At 4 months she went through breast refusal but I still felt like I wanted to try and continue our journey. We went for a stay at the Ellen Barron Clinic where we were sent home after a day as they were unable to help.
I managed to get her feeding again on 1 side and at 9 months she self weaned.
My 2nd born was an entirely different story. Within seconds of being born my son latched on, on his own during skin to skin time.
He was a very rough feeder and the first few weeks I dealt with blood blisters.
We dealt with reflux with him over the 1st year and as he got older and solids were introduced it settled. It was an amazing experience. I weaned him at 16 months.
Now my 3rd Baby is currently 5 months old. She also fed whilst having skin 2 skin time after being born, I think maybe not having this with my 1st baby was some of the issue. She is a very big girl and feeds every 2-3 hours around the clock. I have discovered she is dairy intolerant so am eliminating this from my diet to make sure I have another lengthy breastfeeding journey.
What I love most about feeding my 3 is the bonding time it allows, the immunity it gives to my babies to a lot of illnesses myself and surrounding friends and family had exposed us to and the convenience of not having to worry about bottles and the cost of formula.
By MELANIE SPARKS
Melanie is the owner of Greenbubz and provides mostly Organic, Eco Friendly & Green products and accessories for Babies, Toddlers and parents including popular products like the Baby Shusher and Lulla Dolls.