When I had my first baby in 2004, I remember her getting to the age of around 4 months and starting to wake up regularly through the night (more than she normally did!). I was convinced that she was simply hungry, and that I wasn't producing enough breastmilk for her.
We decided to try her on formula milk.....when she guzzled down two 9 ounce bottles it just confirmed my thoughts. I felt upset inside, but thought I was doing what was right for her (and I was, I just didn't know any differently).
My second daughter came along in 2005 and instantly took to breastfeeding. At three weeks old she would start fussing at the breast, and I would be feeding her for two hours at a time........her draining one breast, then the other, then back to the other again. I considered topping her up with a bottle, again thinking that I wasn't producing enough for her, but was told that I couldn't combine breast and bottle.
So I stopped feeding her myself, at three weeks old. She switched to bottles and formula milk.
I have gone on to have five more children since, each with their own amount of time breastfeeding......
Baby number three came along and I fed him until 10 months old, before we wanted to try for another baby.
I fed her for 4 months.
I have baby number five for 4 months.
I fed baby number six for 13 months, before I started to feel a bit funny about feeding a child that age.
After this, I started to become interested in breastfeeding support, and researched becoming an antenatal teacher.
One of the main lessons that I learned was that babies go through feeding growth spurts, with the first happening at just 2-3 weeks.
It finally clicked in to place with me. My babies.......with the exception of number 3 and 6, were all going through growth spurts when I stopped feeding them and I hadn't realised!
I THOUGHT THAT I WAS NOT ENOUGH!!!!!!
But I was. The rooting around, the feeding for LONG stretches at a time, the headbutting of my boobs, were all actions to stimulate breastmilk production.
They were all doing exactly what they needed to do to encourage more milk.
I truly wish that women were taught this aspect of breastfeeding. The statistics of women in the UK breastfeeding beyond six months are astonishingly low. Not helped by society's view of women breastfeeding unfortunately.
I am passionate about educating and supporting women and their partners to have the breastfeeding journey that they want. Imagine how many more women might breastfeed for as long as they planned if they had simply known about growth spurts?
When it came to baby number seven, I knew SO much more. Plus times had changed since 2004 (when my daughter was weaned onto baby rice!). I was able to recognise the signs and I felt confident in my breastfeeding abilities. In fact, she was 3 in September 2020 and she is still breastfeeding. Mostly for comfort, but it has been a wonderful journey for us, and not something that I ever expected to be doing. But I wouldn't change it for the world.
www.the-breastfeeding-academy.info
