From Bottle to Breast Feeding
Before welcoming our second child Rupert into a family, I was adamant I wasn’t going to put any added pressure on myself to feed a certain way and take every day as it came. Rupert was born and instantly were also in love with him, he was perfect.
Our breastfeeding journey started amazing, he latched perfectly and was gaining weight. However, with already having my daughter and early start, the night seemed even longer and he was waking every hour and a half to 2 hours. I fell into the trap of ‘try a bottle, he may sleep longer….Top him up with formula…. Try giving him formula today to fill him up for bedtime.’
Fast forward four days and I was formula feeding and stop something I so loved. Whilst there is no right or wrong way to feed a baby I wanted to breastfeed mine and I was lucky to start that journey with him.
Guess what, he slept exactly the same being ‘topped up by a bottle’ every hour and a half and two hours. I was so disappointed with myself and listening to other peoples unwonted advice. I reached out to Mother Shaheda in the hope that she would be able to tell me whether it would be possible to start breastfeeding again or to help guide me. She promptly replied whilst even putting her to sleep and took the time to reply and help me over the course of the days.
She reassured me that it was possible and warned me that was my supply may have taken a dip due to be stopping he may cost to feed a lot to read to me like my breasts and she was right. But I was prepared and I just powered through. There were a couple of times I had to give formula top up because he got so distressed and wouldn’t continue feeding, but Shaheda advised me that was okay and to just pump to get the extra stimulation in. I just felt so confident, reassured and calm about the whole thing. Four days later we are now back to exclusively breastfeeding all down to perseverance and knowledge of this incredible woman! Thank you again!
