Are you a new mother struggling with the pressures of breastfeeding?
Don’t worry, not all Mums enjoy it or even want to breastfeed. Contrary to popular belief it doesn’t always come naturally and most women do not LOVE breastfeeding. There I said it out loud for all to hear! Your breasts are individual to you and you’ll have to learn how they work. Would you expect a man to be able to stick his head under a car bonnet and instinctively know what to do to fix it?
During my 21 years of helping mother’s breastfeed and, might I add, 99% of my clients breastfeed successfully, when asked how they feel about breastfeeding, the most common response is, “it’s functional,” very few say they love it.
Breast is obviously best and worth persevering with, if only for your baby’s health, but a mother shouldn’t have to justify herself if breastfeeding is just not working for whatever reason.
Generations have been brought up on formula milk and there are high tech advanced products on the shelves these days. You can see in my previous blog posts the results of breast feeding with the wrong advice which can leave mothers with cracked and painful nipples not to mention mastitis and abscesses. In this instance its simply not practical to continue to breastfeed – even if the mother wants to. Other reasons why some women give up breastfeeding are…
- Painful nipples,
- The sensation is unpleasant
- Difficulty producing enough milk
- Worry about whether the baby is getting enough milk
- Comfort sucking or sleeping during feeds
- Inverted nipples and tongue tie
- Baby is unable to latch on to the breast
- Lack of understanding how the breasts work
- Feeding on demand resulting in constant snacking day and night.
I’m advising a Mum who, after several weeks of trying to breastfeed, is not enjoying it. She has started to dread feeds and to resent her baby. I am of the opinion that a happy Mum is a happy baby so an alternative feeding plan needs to be put in place. In this case Mum is producing enough milk but is getting stressed whilst feeding and the sensation becoming unpleasant. An alternative method would be to simply express and then give the expressed breast milk to baby with a bottle. This will then enable Mum to be happy and baby can get all the goodness of breast milk. I have to say this isn’t the easiest feeding route to take as there is additional time and planning required within your daily routine, but it is a very good compromise!
If you are having issues or you are worried about breastfeeding you can of course get lots of advice from my book or head over to my Lactation & Breastfeeding consultation page for booking options.