A customer recently emailed us about her Breastfeeding Experience…
“I’d decided while I was pregnant that I would be breastfeeding my baby. When I told a friend she said to me, ‘I feel sorry for you cause you’ll be breastfeeding’, and when I asked her why she replied, ‘Because it hurts so much!’… So when my baby was born I thought it was completely normal for the breastfeeding to be painful! I continued to let my baby hurt me, thinking it was the right and normal thing to do, until by Day 3 I had bad mastitis and a bleeding cracked nipple on one breast so I just couldn’t keep going without asking for help!
Luckily, the support from my midwife, the lactation consultant and the maternity ward in Gisborne were wonderful! The lacation consultant told me that breastfeeding shouldn’t hurt at all (wish I’d known from the start and I may have asked for help earlier!) and I had to continue the next week with expressing from my ‘damaged’ side while continuing to feed my baby from my good side. I was to feed the expressed milk to my new born from a cup which also proved to be difficult. Expressing was hardly working for me at home so I was up to the maternity ward each day to use their heavy duty breast pump!
I was glad that I persevered with it though rather than giving up right away as I believe that once baby and I ‘got it right’ it was the best and easiest way to be feeding my baby and I continued to do so until she was 15 months. With baby number two due in a week or two I’m hoping it’ll be a bit easier second time round!
Even with all the early hassles I still believe it was worth working through them to be able to breastfeed rather than give up on it!”
From Jacquie
