When I gave birth to my first baby I had no strong preference over how baby was fed, as long as it was fed. However I thought I’d try breastfeeding.
I was discharged from hospital and a couple of days later baby was weighed and I got the disappointing news that baby had lost a significant amount of weight, enough to be readmitted. As I had a c-section my milk had not established and my midwife suggested to try 3 hourly feeds and recommended because of the percentage loss to try formula and top up feeds of breast milk. I was also given fantastic support on breastfeeding correctly as well as alternative positions to try, if I hadn’t received this I don’t think my breastfeeding story would have been successful. A couple of days later and thankfully baby started to gain weight and I reverted back to solely breastfeeding.
With my second baby I had a VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean) and again my milk was delayed in establishing and then my breasts became engorged resulting in baby finding it difficult to latch and on day 3 I got the disappointing news again that baby had lost a significant amount of weight and I needed to feed every 3 hours. This time I opted to express breast milk and give a bottle to ensure I knew how much milk baby was taking and then offering direct from the breast thereafter. Baby started to gain weight and we reverted to breastfeeding.
The moral of the story is that it’s not always straight forward establishing the breastfeeding journey but you will get there and utilise the resources available whether it be your midwife, breastfeeding group/support.