I keep seeing posts on “fed is best” and “breast is best” etc so I thought I’d write down my own feeding plans seeing as in just 11 weeks time, we will be having another baby.. Just like last time, I am planning to breastfeed but this time I am going in with a completely different outlook. First time round I was a little bit naive, I knew it wouldn’t be easy but I just assumed it would work. I’ve not really spoken about my breastfeeding journey in detail on the blog before but lets just say it didn’t work for us. Your milk doesn’t generally come in until day 3 of your baby being born so I found it really hard to get her to latch and ended up feeding her colostrum through a tiny syringe. Even after coming home I tried my absolute hardest to get her to latch but it just wasn’t working for us, I think I managed to get her on maybe once or twice and it was super painful, she was quite a fussy baby and just wouldn’t take to it so I decided that expressing with a breast pump was the way to go and we did this for 2 weeks before our breastfeeding journey came to an end.
I tried out two manual breast pumps and found that one worked for us and one didn’t. The breast pump that did work for us was the Lansinoh Manual Breastpump, I found it really comfortable, really easy to use and it was also really easy to clean which I found so helpful. I liked the fact that I had control over the pump as at times it did hurt to express. We also tried the Tommee Tippee Manual Breastpump but unfortunately this didn’t work for us last time, mainly because I found that the cup was quite big and I ended up spilling a lot of my milk. If you’re a breastfeeding mama you’ll know that this stuff is worth its weight in gold at the beginning so I was not happy to be spilling it. However alongside the trusty Lansinoh Breastpump that we have got again for this time around, I will also be giving the Tommee Tippee Manual Breastpump another go as it came free in amongst the steriliser set that I recently bought from Mothercare.
If all goes well with the initial breastfeeding latch etc, we will also be trialling the Mam 2in1 Electric and Manual Single Breastpump. I’ve never used an electric pump before and was scared at the thought initially, just because I didn’t think I would have much control over the settings and I didn’t want it to hurt.. however after reading more about the pump itself, I found out that it actually offers up to 9 different suction strengths for optimum comfort, suiting your individual needs in which I thought was great. The Mam 2in1 Single Breastpump is fairly new out on the market so I am really excited to try it. I like that I have the option to change between electric and manual by just swapping the top of the pump unit. It has a touch screen monitor that looks really smart and can be plugged in or used on the go (thanks to rechargeable batteries that last up to 5hrs) which is really handy. The pump comes with 2 bottles and 2 storage pots which I like. We used Tommee Tippee bottles with our first baby and will probably be using the same again but found that as she got older she started to enjoy the MAM teats a little bit more so we shall see if this little lady follows in her sisters footprints.
Breastfeeding Worries
I don’t really have any fears towards breastfeeding but do have a few things that have been playing on my mind and I think that’s just because I’ve never done it before. Confidence is quite a big issue, I wouldn’t mind breastfeeding in front of a nurse/midwife or my partner but cracking it out in front of family, friends or even in public is just a big no for me at the minute. Obviously I haven’t given birth yet and my thoughts towards it might completely change but for now I know that its something I’m not personally comfortable with. I’m worried about it hurting like it did last time but I know now that I can use the lansinoh nipple cream from the get go and this hopefully will help with soreness. I’m a little worried about how its going to go with a toddler, even though I can explain it the best way I can, I don’t think she will fully understand as she is only two however body parts are never something I have hidden from her and she knows what everything is so it might not be a problem at all. I’m worried that I may have to potentially have a c-section due to placenta previa, so this might make things a little bit difficult when it comes to feeding and I’m worried it’ll completely throw me despite having support around me. My overall plan is to breastfeed but if latching doesn’t go well for any reason, I would like to express for the first few weeks at least. Saying that, I do remember how hard it was and how ‘house bound’ I felt due to leaking so much and I can only imagine that with a toddler in tow its going to be even harder this time around, not including the fact that I may need to have a c-section.
If anyone has any breastfeeding advice, feel free to leave it in the comments because I am a little bit anxious this time around and could really do with some positive stories and/or advice.
