Isla is officially 6 weeks old now so ive successfully made it past the first month and I feel extremely proud for it, so I should! It’s not easy, it’s emotionally draining when you have 2 and also draining on your body. Keeping up your energy levels by eating and resting, sometimes just simply doesn’t happen in my house, the amount of times my day has started at 4am and running around after Noah I forget to have a proper lunch.
Because I only breastfed for a short time with Noah, I never developed a milk supply, like I have with Isla. This time around there have been quite a few surprises along the way. When you have an established milk supply, usually after 4 weeks, your body knows when to produce milk and gets prepared accordingly. I know it’s time for milk because my boobs feel extremely heavy and I get a strange “fizzy” feeling, which is the rush of milk coming through. It amazes me!
The first time Isla dipped out of her 4 hour routine, she slept 6 hours at night and for 24 hours my right boob was so sore where it had become engorged, I had flu symptoms and just felt awful, but I persevered and Isla still fed, which was great, but sore. I didn’t realise this would happen, I suppose it makes complete sense when you think about the cycle my body has created around Isla.
Unfortunately it’s come to the time where I need to start thinking about weaning Isla onto formula, I don’t want to but hubby needs me to go back to work, helping him take photos at weddings (I can’t do that whilst breast feeding). At 6 weeks, Isla now has 1 formula bottle at night time and rest of day is breastfed and next week I will drop another feed and at the wedding I will have to make sure I remember to express! There’s a new experience for my lunch break. I did laugh at myself, I originally planned to go to the first wedding shoot (of 12 hours), still exclusively breast feeding and just thought well I can express before and Isla can take it from the bottle. Silly me! What about when I’m at the wedding and a) get sore/leaky boobs where they’re expecting Isla to feed and b) how can I express every 4 hours at someone’s wedding? It’s all rather complicated, trying to work out what’s best, especially as I don’t really want to give up breast feeding, but I know she’s had the greatest start and I’m proud i made it this far.
A top tip for other mums in my position is to think properly about weaning off the breast, do it gradually and enjoy your moments with your baby whilst they are still solely using mummy for dinner! I have loved every moment of breast feeding Isla and I have got some memories I’ll treasure forever, she’s grown and it’s all because of me. If the business wasn’t there, I’d certainly carry on for months and give her an even better start in life, but at the end of it all a few months breast feeding isn’t too bad.
There are some other mummy bloggers that are writing about their experiences with breastfeeding too, please take a look at their blogs:
http://thegothicmommy.wordpress.com/
http://www.thesecretlifeofkate.co.uk/
http://mummyisagadgetgeek.co.uk/
http://www.naturalmamas.co.uk/blog/
Competition with Mummy Constant and Theraline to win some Mamma Pads. Check out the comp here: https://mummyconstant.com/theraline-mamma-pads-competition/
You have found a Keep Britain Breastfeeding logo, congratulations! This means you can be in with a chance of winning some fabulous prizes. Why not take a peek at the Boobiemilk blog to find out what is going on with all this Breastfeeding Scavenger Hunt talk and how to take part: http://www.keepbritainbreastfeeding.co.uk/and also on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/KeepBritainBreastfeedingScavengerHunt and Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/KeepBritainBF.
To enter in to the Grand Prize to win some fabulous prizes, please comment below on how long you breastfed for and why (or plan on feeding)?
For extra points follow @mummyconstant on Twitter and @KeepBritainBF. Tweet the following: “I’m on the @KeepBritainBF Scavenger Hunt with @mummyconstant and I want to #win lots of fab prizes https://mummyconstant.com/breastfeeding-beyond-the-first-month/” and leave another comment telling me you have done so along with your Twitter name.
It can be a bit of a logistical nightmare when you have to fit in work or some event around breastfeeding!
tweeted @esthermate
My goal is always to reach at least 2 years, my first son is 4 years old and still going strong so I hope that he will wean when he is ready to. My second son is 10 months old. I’ll be going back to work soon but will continue to breastfeed, I found last time that the baby just ends up feeding at night to make up for my absence during the day!
I fed my first till 15.5 months which is when he chose to stop most likely because I was 7 weeks pregnant, this time I am three months in and plan to go as long as he wants it so we shall see but would love to get to two.
Also following on twitter
For my first I breast fed for 6 months and stopped when I began weening onto solids, I only fed my second for a few weeks, to sore and not producing enough milk. with my next I would like to try and go longer than 6 months, hopefully a year.
Tweeted and following @MissHolloway1
I’m 37 weeks pregnant, I orginally planned on breast feeding for 6 months, but due to all the blogs I’ve read lately, I think it’ll probably be longer, want whats best for my baby boy and you woman are so positive and supportive, Breast Feeding Week has been a fab experience for me.
Following both and tweeted @robynlclarke
https://twitter.com/robynlclarke/status/218452546019266561
It’s lovely that you’re enjoying breastfeedng Isla. I just wanted to say though that there are ways of working around your work situation with the weddings and exclusively breastfeeding if you want to. If you would like chat about it you can email me at adele@circusqueen.com or tweet @adelejk. Or find a local breastfeeding group. This is not at all meant to pressure you – I hope it doesn’t come across that way. It’s just good to know that there are options and to go from there.
Congratulations on reaching 6 weeks. As your body gets more used to breastfeeding you can go longer without feeding or expressing. On the occasions that my daughter has slept through the night I’ve felty little discomfort compared to missed feeds early on.
At 6 weeks I was still in a lot of pain, I think having so much trouble starting has meant that I have become adamant to nurse as long as by baby wants to
Great that you were able to breastfeed this time but sad that you are having to stop before you want to. The law does state that employers should provide the means for Mums to express at work and store milk but I know that it can be difficult putting it into practice depending on your job. I am really lucky I was made redundant before I had my first son and my second came along 20 months after making childcare costs a nightmare. We can just about manage on hubby’s wage so I am really lucky to be able to breastfeed as long as we like x