Our breastfeeding story

One year OLD

2008-11-03T09:38:00.000-08:00

Well my baby was one on Saturday. A day of reflection and of celebration. I looked back at how hard a journey I had to breastfeed her. We're still breastfeeding several times a day and also at night. Need to sort the night feeds out as it's very tiring

8 months and 3 weeks

2008-07-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

She's still going strong on the old breastmilk.

She's eating 3 square meals a day and having loads of breastmilk in between :)

I am still giving her a formula feed at 6.30pm but more often than not she doesn't finish it and I think that if I fed her myself that would satisfy her but I'm a little scared after everything we've been through that she'll... I don't know.... It's also a chance for my husband to feed her and for me to have 5 minutes to myself.

Regarding the domperidone. I've been on the maximum dose until recently. i tried many times to come off it but it affected my supply..

Anyway, in the last 2 weeks I forgot to take some doses and I have realised that things seem to be ok so I am very cautiously down to 3 tablets a day ( I was originally on 9).

I haven't had S weighed for months but she looks and feels very happy. Weighings were such and integral part of her early life that I am determined not to become so caught up with it all again.

Thanks for reading my blog

7 1/2 months

2008-06-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

and still going.

S is still brestfeeding and is down to one bottle of formula a day.

I am still on the domperidone and Sharon my lactation consultant has just been awarded an MBE- yes and MBE for services to infant feeding. Isn't that bloody marvellous

Some good

2008-05-23T09:51:00.001-07:00

Was talking to my friend N last week. She gave birth to a little girl in February. Anyway it slipped out that since seeing me go through the traumas I have she has been donating breastmilk to the bank. She hadn't told me previously as she didn't want to upset me.

This is as a direct consequence of my problems. She saw how devastated I was through the process and was upset that she couldn't do anything so decided to look into donating

well...

2008-05-14T02:30:00.000-07:00

....up till now I have always thought that for whatever reason it was my body let me down .

BUT, I have been in discussions on an internet forum I use with a breastfeeding counsellor.

This has led me to discuss things in more depth with Sharon and also to receive more insight from the online counsellor.

There are many many reasons why this could have happened. Because it happened to me doesn't necessarily mean that it could happen to you but these are the thoughts that Sharon had- hope it's allright to post it here but if it helps ONE other mother then its a good thing

************************************************************************************
Sharon

that somehow your prolactin receptors had knocked off early for some reason - whether the contributory factors were your pn bleed, anaemia, your blood disorder thingey etc....who knows...but your milk cells were therefore not firing on all cylinders so to speak.

if this had happended to a primip i would have thought it was a low genetically determined lactational potential but as you bf so well 1st time this is deffo not the case

i have wondered if you have had some mild form of sheehan's syndrome. usually means complete absence of lactation due to a severe blood loss leading to pituitary malfunction = no lactational hormones. but maybe there can be degrees of it..... i don't actually know! so little research is done into bf issues

whether there was some disruption to pituitary function and then the sleepy baby thing contributed as the milk wasn't moved out of the breast often enough and the feedback inhibitor of lactation protein (FIL) built up & sent messages of we don't need milk to an already depleted cavalry of milk cells so even more of them shut up shop ......?

(the prolactin receptors on the milk cells kinda open for business after delivery of placenta in response to changes in hormone levels and are activated by high levels of circulating prolactin - this turns the milk cell on to milk production)

however for most mums the steps you took and hard work you put in to address the issue would have been enough to have reactivated the process - that it didn't leads me to believe there was more to it as above

Yes the wt loss was over 10% (10.9%) and this should have been picked up & managed proactively but for most health profs all they see is bf failure & mums that accept that - the hp rarely needs to think of bf solutions to bf problems - so if baby loses wt - give him formula etc. instead of improving bf manangment - attachment etc - the problem there of course is so many of them don't recognise poor attachment & do not know the bf management strategies
************************************************************************************

respnse to comments on previous post

2008-05-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

tiktok- thanks for the comments- they make total sense. 8lb 8oz to 7lb 9oz was much more than a 10% drop and something should have been picked up sooner

i did have skin to skin with her after birth but she slept most of the next 24 hrs although i did feed her. Lack of help at home and dealing with a toddler so i couldn't just sit with baby probably exacabated things if its like you say (which I am inclined to agree with you when i think back to her feeding)

6 1/2 months

2008-05-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update. Haven't had any weighings recently so felt no need to update really. Having a discussion over on Mumsnet at the moment and have posted a link to here so thought I'd update.

S is 6 1/2 months and eating well. We are still perservering with the breastfeeding. She is still on 1 or 2 bottles a day and I have stopped the Fenugreek ( because I ran out basically and couldn't get to town to buy more and then I noticed it wasn't making a difference anyway.

I'm still on 9 domperidone tablets a day and also the folic acid. I'm scared of stopping the domp again incase we have another adverse reaction.

I was determined to get to 6 months and we managed it. I don't know how long we'll manage now.

S sleeps all night and is a very content happy little baby

25 weeks

2008-04-23T11:26:00.000-07:00

13lb 7 1/2oz at today's weigh in. Still just above the 2nd centile but perfectly normal and Sharon was totally happy with her

Fenugreek

2008-04-22T02:28:00.001-07:00

I have been on Fenugreek since the start- 3 tabs 3 times a day. Am also taking Milk Thistle- 1 tab 3 times a day and also drinking Fennel tea

Concerned

2008-04-22T02:19:00.000-07:00

I'm very concerned about people being prescribed Domperidone by their GP's as a first address to breastfeeding problems.

Before taking Domperidone please read the following paper by Dr Jack Newman. Try to find yourself a breastfeeding specialist- a GP is just that- a general practitioner- unless they've done the lactation consultant course:

Domperidone-1

Introduction :

Domperidone (Motilium™) is a drug that has, as a side effect, the increasing of milk production, probably by increasing prolactin production by the pituitary gland. Prolactin is the hormone that stimulates the cells in the mother's breast to produce milk. Domperidone increases prolactin secretion indirectly, by interfering with the action of dopamine, whose action is to decrease the secretion of prolactin by the pituitary gland. Domperidone is generally used for disorders of the gastrointestinal tract (gut) and has not been released in Canada for use as a stimulant for milk production. This does not mean that it cannot be prescribed for this reason, but rather that the manufacturer does not back its use for increasing milk production. However, there are several studies that show that it works to increase milk production and that it is safe. It has been used, for several years, in small infants who spit up and lose weight, but was replaced until a few years ago by cisapride (Prepulsid™) (cisapride has since been taken off the market because it can cause serious cardiac problems). Domperidone is not in the same family of medication as cisapride. Another, related, but older medication, metoclopramide (Maxeran™), is also known to increase milk production, but it has frequent side effects which have made its use for many nursing mothers unacceptable (fatigue, irritability, depression). Domperidone has many fewer side effects because it does not enter the brain tissue in significant amounts (does not pass the blood-brain barrier).

In June of 2004, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in the US put out a warning against using domperidone because of possible cardiac side effects. This unfortunate step was taken without considering the fact that the cardiac side effects occurred only when the drug was taken intravenously by otherwise very sick patients. In all the years I have used domperidone in so many mothers, I have not yet heard of any significant cardiac side effects that could be attributed to domperidone. Incidentally, the Federal Drug Administration has no authority outside the US, and even in the US, compounding pharmacies, who are not regulated by the FDA, are continuing to provide patients with domperidone.

When is it appropriate to use domperidone?

Domperidone must never be used as the first approach to correcting breastfeeding difficulties. Domperidone is not a cure for all things. It must not be used unless all other factors that may result in insufficient milk supply have been dealt with first. (See handout: Protocol to increase breastmilk intake by the baby). What can be done?

1. Correct the baby's latch so that the baby can obtain as efficiently as possible the milk which the mother has available. Correcting the latch may be all that is necessary to change a situation of "not enough milk" to one of "plenty of milk".

2. Use breast compression to increase the intake of milk (handout #15, Breast Compression).

3. Use milk expression after feedings to increase the supply.

4. Correct sucking problems, stopping the use of artificial nipples (handout #5, Using a Lactation Aid, and #8, Finger Feeding) and other stratagems.

Using domperidone for increasing milk production :

Domperidone works particularly well to increase milk production under the following circumstances:

It has frequently been noted that a mother who is pumping milk for a sick or premature baby in hospital has a decrease in the amount she pumps around four or five weeks after the baby is born. The reasons for this decrease are likely many, but domperidone generally brings the amount of milk pumped back to where it was or even to higher levels.

When a mother has a decrease in milk supply, often associated with the use of birth control pills (avoid œstrogen containing birth control pills while breastfeeding), or on occasion, for no obvious reason when the baby is three or four months old, domperidone will often bring the supply back to normal. See the handout #25, Slow Weight Gain After the First Few Months for reasons milk supply might decrease and fix what can be fixed.

Domperidone still works, but often less dramatically when:

The mother is pumping for a sick or premature baby but has not managed to develop a full milk supply.

The mother is trying to develop a full milk supply while nursing an adopted baby.

The mother is trying to wean the baby from supplements.

Side effects of domperidone :

As with all medications, side effects are possible, and many have been reported with domperidone (textbooks often list any side effect ever reported, but symptoms reported are not necessarily due to the drug a person is taking). There is no such thing as a 100% safe drug. However, our clinical experience has been that side effects in the mother are extremely uncommon, except for increasing milk supply. Some side effects which mothers we have treated have reported (very uncommonly, incidentally):

headache which disappeared when the dose was reduced (probably the most common side effect)
abdominal cramps
dry mouth
alteration of menstrual periods

The amount that gets into the milk is so tiny that side effects in the baby should not be expected. Mothers have not reported any to us, in many years of use. Certainly the amount the baby gets through the milk is a tiny percentage of what babies would get if being treated for spitting up.

Are there long term concerns about the use of domperidone?

The manufacturer states in its literature that chronic treatment with domperidone in rodents has resulted in increased numbers of breast tumours in the rodents. The literature goes on to state that this has never been documented in humans. Note that toxicity studies of medication usually require treatment with huge doses over periods of time involving most or all of the animal's lifetime. Note also that not breastfeeding increases the risk of breast cancer, and breast cancer risk decreases the longer you breastfeed.

Using domperidone :

Generally, we now start domperidone at 30 mg (three 10 mg tablets) 3 times a day. In some situations we go as high as 40 mg 4 times a day. Printouts from the pharmacy often suggest taking domperidone 30 minutes before eating, but that is because of its use for digestive intolerance. You can take the domperidone about every 8 hours, when it is convenient (there is no need to wake up to keep to an 8 hour schedule—it does not make any difference). Most mothers take the domperidone for 3 to 8 weeks, but sometimes it is needed longer than that, and sometimes it is impossible for mothers to maintain their milk supply without staying on domperidone. Mothers who are nursing adopted babies may have to take the drug much longer. People taking domperidone for stomach disorders are often taking it for many years.

After starting domperidone, it may take three or four days before you notice any effect, though sometimes mothers notice an effect within 24 hours. It appears to take two to three weeks to get a maximum effect, but some mothers have noted effects only after 4 or more weeks. It is reasonable to give domperidone a trial of at least four, and better, six weeks before saying it doesn’t work.

For more information on how to wean off the domperidone see the handout: Domperidone 2.

See also the website www.thebirthden.com/Newman.html for videos on how to latch a baby on, how to know the baby is getting milk, how to use compression, how to use a lactation aid, as well as information sheets on breastfeeding.

Questions? (416) 813-5757 (option 3) or drjacknewman@sympatico.ca or my book Dr. Jack Newman’s Guide to Breastfeeding ( called The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers in the USA)

Handout #19a. Domperidone. January 2005

Centiles

2008-04-19T00:49:00.000-07:00

In our little red baby books we have charts. Babies are meant to follow along a line called a centile.

I wasn't given a red book for ages, partly I think because the practice HV didn't want to plot S's graph but also because they'd run out of them. Anyway Sharon gave me a red book and plotted S's weight.

She was born on the 91st centile and then proceeded to go off the chart- at the bottom- not good. The one thing I will say here is that if this is happeneing to you - you MUST get professional help.

S at14 weeks was just above 0.4th centile. At 17 week she was between 0.4 and 2 where she stayed until she was weighed at 21 weeks when sd gone up to just aboe the 2nd. I'll update centiles next week.

No I hear lots of you say- but these charts are for bottle fed babies- not booby fed, well let me tell you E followed the line at 50 perfectly. I know that not all babies are the same- blah di blah di blah BUT we were in trouble with S's weight and I listened to the scales and did something.

At 3 weeks old the skin on her arms was very loose, and even though she looked heslthy enough we did have a problem.

I will say one thing- if this sounds like you don't even try to go it alone or follow advice off the interweb- you have to get help.

5 months 3 weeks

2008-04-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

I've started giving S purees. I had wanted to do the BLW but as she gets 2 formula bottles a day she's not totally demand feeding. Plus I'm a bit of a coward :(

Right I've had some questions in my comments so here are the answers.

1. When did I give her the formula? 2 bottles- 12 hours apart. I breastfed her first and then gave her the bottles. I also tried to express just after giving her a bottle. In the first few weeks on domperidone I was trying to express whenever I could to stimulate the milk production.

2. Now she still has her formula 12 hours apart and I try to give her one in the morning and then Ian can give her the other one in the evening.

5 1/2 months

2008-04-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

We've had our ups and downs the last few weeks. I still don't really have any milk and have tried to come off the domperidone again and it affected my milk- to the point where it didn't come back as much as I'd had it before. I spoke to Sharon who said I could try anoter drug but that had casued PND in the past. I ddin't really want to try those as I was in a fairly fragile state of mind anyway after everything I'd been through. I decided instead to drink FEnnel tea and take Milk Thistle.

I also was recommendeda tincture called More Milk Plus. I bought it and tried it for several weeks but it made no difference so I stopped taking it.

Some weeks are really hard, particularly when S is going through a growth spurt as she demands far more than I can produce and she gets very very frustrated and cries a lot. She also won't settle on the boob as there is nothing there.

I would love to know what has caused this but I doubt I ever will.

I am still on 8 domperidone, 9 Fenugreek a day, 3 Milk thistle a day and 2 folic acid a day and at the last weigh in 3 weeks ago S was weighing in at 12 lb 6 oz. I didn't have her weighed last week (we got down to fortnightly weigh ins) as, in discussion with Sharon we decided to hae her weighed monthly due to weight fluctuations from week to week.

There have been many times when I thought the end had come for us breastfeeding but we managed with Sharon's support to carry on. I won't pretend its been easy and there have been many tears and low times but we are nearly at 6 months.

I had really wanted to do Baby Led Weaning with her but having discussed it with Ian we don't think it'll work the same as if I was fully breastfeeding her so I shall do mix and match I think.

14 weeks

2008-04-17T10:11:00.000-07:00

At 11 weeks Swyn gained 3 ½ oz . Me on Domperidone, Fenugreek and Folic acid and Swyn being supplemented with 180ml of formula a day.

We got to 14 weeks with a pound increase over 3 weeks but very much up and down. 71/2 oz one week, then 1 oz and then 7 ½ oz again. The decision was made for me to slowly come off the domperidone by dropping one tablet a day for 3 days and I would eventually be down to one tablet three times a day and then we’d get Swyn weighed.

The constant weighing has been very hard. Anyway, I was down to 7 tablets a day and knew something was wrong. S wasn’t pooing and I felt ‘empty’ . So I emailed Sharon- I know from past experience that breastfed babies can go without a poo for days but S and I aren’t ‘textbook’ so I was concerned, particularly as she appeared frustrated at the breast. Sharon advised me to up the domperidone, one tablet a day and see how I got on. Anyway I’m back up to the 9 tablets a day. Sharon emailed me the paper by Jack Newman which advised dropping one tablet every 5-7 days. It could take several attempts to come off the tablets without affecting my milk supply.

Sharon has plotted her progress on a chart for me and even though she is still low weight (now on 4^th centile- was on 2^nd) her height and head are on the 50^th centile

10 weeks

2008-04-17T10:10:00.000-07:00

Upped her formula to 150ml a day over 2 feeds and I’m still expressing and actually getting about 20ml per side now- stocking that up in the freezer. It’s not as good as when I had E but it’s better than it was. She was weighed again when she was 9 weeks old and she was 8 15 a gain of 6 oz from the previous week. Doctor was happy with that and says it’s about average- an ounce a day with a day off on Sunday so 6 oz a week J

I know that a lot of people would have given up by now but being able to feed my baby is to me an inherent part of being a mother. She regained her birthweight at 8 weeks which isn’t what is expected.

If our trust didn’t have someone as highly trained as Sharon then I would have been ‘forced’ I think to turn to formula. All along I have said that if formula was necessary then I wouldn’t hesitate in giving it to her but I really needed to explore every avenue before abandoning breastfeeding. S’s health was paramount to me and of tantamount importance and I really needed medical support to reassure me that I was doing ok. Hopefully we’ve turned a corner now and the weight will continue to pile on J

Met with Sharon again and I was looking forward to starting to get back to normal but had a bit of a let down. S at 10 weeks only put an ounce on in 6 days. Sharon looked at the whole month and was quite happy that she had put 1lb and 5 oz on over the month.

Wasn’t really getting on with the supplementer so have started giving S her formula via a bottle- in discussion with Sharon. So she is having 90ml of formula 12 hours apart via bottle. No nipple confusion although she initially doesn’t like the teat of the bottle but soon guzzles the formula. She sicks some of it back up as wind

At my suggestion and with Sharon’s agreement we have increased my domperidone to 3 tablets 3 times a day. Sharon is a bit worried that some gp’s may not like to keep prescribing the domperidone. It can be bought over the counter but will be expensive at the rate I’m having to take it. The Gp rang in the week and I had a good chat with her. I expressed my worries about the domperidone and she said that we would just have to arm me with info for the doctors- she was reassuring me that it wouldn’t be a problem. I had nearly run out at the weekend but the doctor gave me a repeat prescription again for it.

week 6- 8

2008-04-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

My health visitor was very good, she rings me often, weighs S when I want her weighed and has co-ordinated with the lactation consultant but there were 2 things that she said that upset me greatly. She called S a failure to thrive baby- I have no doubt at all that she was/is but I really didn’t want to hear those words. Those words broke my heart and I don’t think that the professionals should bandy those terms around with Joe Public

I emailed the lactation consultant (I was seeing her the Thursday but was worried) and she told me to increase the domperidone to 20mg 3 times a day. I had pains in my side and was very windy. Saw the haematologist this week and he gave me 5mg folic acid twice a day and reassured me that the pain in my side wasn’t my appendix J

Still no proper weight gain so I started cup feeding her formula until I saw Sharon on the Thursday- this was something we’d previously discussed and I gave her 30ml in the morning and 40ml in the evening.

On the Thursday Sharon gave me a feeding supplementer to give her the formula through. This would continue to stimulate my milk production whilst ensuring that S was getting some formula- my milk still wasn’t abundant and until it was I needed to make sure that S was putting on weight. I also had a theory that perhaps she was feeding enough to sate her but not enough to give her the strength to feed and to add on the extra weight. I honestly don’t know why my milk never came in properly, neither does Sharon nor my haematologist.

Her weight gain was still slow but it was gains rather than losses. The GP and lactation consultant helped me look on the positive side of things. We upped the formula to 120 ml a day and she went to hospital to have her tongue tie cut. A very quick painless procedure carried out by the wonderful Sharon.

Went in to the clinic to have S weighed the Thursday after Christmas and we had the biggest weight gain yet- 4 ½ oz. Even though she was on annual leave Sharon had asked me to email her with the results and she told me that if there was a problem then her colleagues would ring her and she would come to the clinic to see me!!!!! That’s dedication and devotion to her job for you.

Here's a supplementer in use

week 5

2008-04-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

Through all of this S appeared to be very healthy, she was alert, bright eyed, happy to feed, slept ‘normally’, her skin was pink and no signs of dehydration at all.

The following Monday S was weighed and she’d only gained an ounce. I fed her while the health visitor was there and then weighed her after 10 minutes and she was an ounce heavier.

I was devastated and the health visitor told me that by now she would have put her on the bottle. Lots of well meaning people, even real die- hard pro- breastfeeding friends said to me that I couldn’t blame myself for not managing to feed S if I gave her a bottle. Realistically the only people (apart for Ian) who fully supported me through all of this were the lactation consultant and Dr from the breastfeeding clinic as well as another friend of mine who used to be a special baby care nurse and used to tell me that S looked fine- that actually was very reassuring. Both are medical people and I trust them both implicitally. If they had told me that I was harming S then of course I would give her a bottle but they didn’t tell me that.

week 4

2008-04-17T10:02:00.002-07:00

I went and had a chat and the lactation consultant adjusted the way I was holding S and we were both hopeful that that would sort the problem. She reassured me that even if it didn’t there were other things we could do culminating in a drug to increase milk production as I had commented that I never felt my milk come in properly. The tongue tie was left as she didn’t think it would affect S’s feeding. She gave her a thorough exam and S was able to extend her tongue properly so the lactation consultant decided to leave it for the time being.

We were being weighed on Monday and on Thursdays throughout this process with a Health Visitor coming to the house on the Monday and me going to see the lactation consultant in a clinic 30 mins drive away on a Thursday.

By the 26 November when she was nearly 4 weeks old she was 7lb71/2 oz.

Her poo wasn’t as much as E’s had been and her nappies weren’t soaking wet like E’s used to be. She also didn’t posset as much as E used to.

By the Thursday- 3 days later there was no weight gain. I had been doing switch feeding, breast compressions and I had been taking 3 tablets of fenugreek 3 times a day and still no difference.

The lactation consultant suggested that I take Domperidone- 10mg 3 times a day and she also gave me a hospital breast pump on loan. The idea behind the pump was to stimulate milk production rather than collecting milk. Good job really as for the first few days I wasn’t getting any milk at all. Throughout all of this process I was feeling very low and concerned about my baby. S had been seen by 2 Gp’s in case there was something serious the matter, we had done urine tests on S (that was fun) and I was seeing the lactation consultant every week.

My Health visitor was very supportive and is a colleague of the lactation consultant’s and she facilitated me getting the domperidone that day and even took the prescription to the chemist for me- all I had to do was collect the tablets from the chemist.

week 1-3

2008-04-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

The midwife weighed her when she was a week old and her weight had dropped to 7lb9oz which was ok according to the midwife. The following Saturday when S was 16 days old she had lost a further 6oz and was down to 7lb3oz. This was on a Saturday and the midwife immediately said I would have to give her formula as well as breastfeeding. I was adamant that I didn’t want to do that and she said she’d call again on the Monday and if she hadn’t gained then I’d have to give her formula. I was to feed her every 2 hrs in the meantime.

I spent the weekend feeding, spent the whole of Sunday on the couch feeding while Ian (husband) took E to a party and generally gave me rest.

I also decided that weekend that she had a life threatening condition and stupidly surfed the net. THe one thing I kept coming back to was Cystic Fibrosis. This terrified me but i was convinced she had it. She was a little scrap of a thing and her skin seemed to be very loose on her body

On the Monday she hadn’t gained. Que comments of formula again which I said I really didn’t want to do. My midwife tried to ring a lactation expert working for the NHS. I had met her before when she came to revamp the breastfeeding group I attended with E who I had fed till she was nearly 3.

She couldn’t get hold of her but I remembered that there was a group locally headed by a GP. I said I’d go there that afternoon and my midwife said she’d try to speak to the GP. I went there that afternoon and the GP noticed that S had a very small tongue tie and she wanted me to see the lactation consultant . An appointment was made for me to see her the following Thursday when S was 3 weeks old.

I also rang my haematologist who assured me that there was no physiological connection between my blood condition and lack of milk.

A bit of background

2008-04-17T09:38:00.000-07:00

My breastfeeding story.

When my first daughter, E, was born in 2004 I had no problems with breastfeeding- well apart for sore nipples and a couple of cases of mastitis.

I had all the usual engorgement issues when my milk came in, leaking, spraying, in fact a total abundance of milk. I remember once E came off and the milk literally sprayed all over the place.

I used to leak from one side while feeding from the other and E put on loads of weight. I’ll never forget the midwife commenting that I must have gold top milk.

Since I was 16 I have always suffered from Itp- a blood condition that means I’m always tired and have low resistance.

I never imagined the problems I would have any problems breastfeeding my second child when she was born on November 1^st 2007. Having said that I did have a problematic pregnancy with morning sickeness (same with E), low heamaglobin, spd and high triple test result.

I remember having a chat with the midwife on the labour ward about donating milk and the midwife said I could donate to the local hospital. I honestly thought I’d have an abundance like last time and really wanted to donate. We did all the right things, she was delivered onto me and she fed almost straight away.

She was a fantastic baby that first day- she was born 5.08am weighing 8lb 8oz and she slept most of the day while I had 2 transfusions. At tea time we went to the post natal ward where S slept. Perfectly normal behaviour for a newborn baby. I fed her every 3 or 4 hours and we were discharged the following day. My haemoglobin was still low at 7.9 but it had been about 8 during my second trimester so I wasn’t too worried.

My labour had lasted 7 hrs and I had managed it on gas and air so I felt fantastic. Empowered in fact. I had colostrum those first few days and within about 5 days the colostrum had changed to milk- I know that as I hand expressed just to check J. I didn’t get the fullness that I’d had first time but S was feeding well I thought and she seemed happy and content.

The first post

2008-04-17T09:37:00.001-07:00

I have created this blog to help other mothers going through what I am/have been going through.

My daughter is now nearly 6 months old so a lot of this has been written retrospectively. I have found it to be very cathartic. All posts will have todays dates on them