Caroline’s Breastfeeding Story.

Even before I got pregnant, I knew I wanted to give breastfeeding a try.

I had heard a lot about the benefits and as a scientist did my own research into why it was so important for me to try and breastfeed my future baby.

However once I became pregnant, I began to follow different accounts on social media where I found many stories of how difficult it could be. Stories of cracked and bleeding nipples, engorgement, limited or no milk supply, babies not latching .. the list goes on!

Therefore all these things combined gave me stress and anxiety for when the time would actually came for me to breastfeed my newborn. The fear of not being able to breastfeed my baby even led me to buy copious amounts of formula as a backup plan!

My thoughts and feelings toward my future breastfeeding journey became a lot more positive thanks to the breastfeeding expert in the happy parent happy baby antenatal course who went through the science and logistics of breastfeeding. She answered all our questions and gave us lots of tips and advice to help make breastfeeding go as smoothly as possible. During this session I took notes and committed the most important tips to memory which proved very useful once the breastfeeding actually began!

Once my daughter Emma arrived, the wonderful midwives at the hospital immediately helped her latch onto me and Emma quickly learned what she had to do.

It was such a magical moment and I couldn’t believe Emma was actually feeding just the way I’d learned she would. I was also extremely proud of my body for responding to my daughter’s needs.

In the early days there was a steep learning curve and it was absolutely exhausting. What I didn’t expect was how often she would want to eat. Nevertheless we eventually found our rhythm and even though my body was physically doing exactly as it should, mentally I found breastfeeding challenging and exhausting.

Luckily I had enormous support at home from my partner and from all the mums who were part of my HPHB antenatal group. Together we formed our own little community via WhatsApp and Zoom where we shared our stories and struggles, as well as different tips and advice we found or were given along the way.

Ultimately I am absolutely loving my breastfeeding journey and the bond I am creating because of it with my daughter. The techniques and advice I was given by the experts in the antenatal course as well as the hospital midwives really gave me the confidence boost I needed and allowed me to start off on the right track from the start.

If I had any advice to give expectant mothers who want to give breastfeeding a go it would be to have confidence and believe in themselves, their bodies and their babies. It is important to have researched, to be ready and to use the support you have available however do not doubt yourself and go into the journey with an open and positive mindset!