With Baby Shark’s arrival fast approaching, so my breastfeeding journey is about to start again. I thought I’d take some time and go through what I remember of my journey with Tristan and then, in part 2 of this post, I will delve into my journey with Baby Shark.

In the beginning

Once Tristan had been weighed and checked he was put, skin to skin on my chest and that’s where he stayed. When he started to root I was helped to get him to latch and that was us; we were off! I did have laser on my nipples whilst I was in hospital and maybe that was my saving grace, but to be honest I don’t ever recall having bleeding nipples or that feeding was particularly sore. I never got mastitis for which I am extremely grateful as I believe it’s horrid! I had plenty of milk from the word go. I remember having colostrum even before Tristan was born; probably around 35 weeks.

Breastfeeding laughs

Looking back I can recall some very funny moments through my journey breastfeeding Tristan. One evening, I was so engorged and Tristan hadn’t emptied the milk so I sat, with 2 large mixing bowls on the table in front of me. Both were filled with warm water and there I sat, one boob per bowl, letting the milk just pour out! I’d been advised not to pump for the first couple of weeks to allow your milk to stabilise with the baby’s need.
Another night, while I was expressing, I received a call from my friend in Australia and she was very concerned what the noise in the background was! Yes, we all know that distinct sound of an electric breast pump.
I also remember feeding Tristan one day and as he unlatched, my boob clearly wasn’t ready to stop the milk flow and I proceeded to fountain milk over myself, Tristan, the couch & husband!

What I used

In hospital I was advised to apply Bepanthen to my nipples straight after each feed. As mentioned above, it was recommended to not use a pump to express milk for the first few weeks, so I didn’t have a breast pump at home. Eventually, around 2 months, I bought a Tommee Tippee electric breast pump. It was a single pump and I filled that 150ml bottle in minutes. I found that I was having to pump each breast twice, and when using only a single pump it would take up a lot of time. In hindsight, I should have just gone out and bought a second pump but onward I soldiered with the single. I really enjoyed the pump and found it was very effective.

In the end

I breastfed Tristan until he was about 6 months, at which stage I weened him onto the bottle. I had quite a stash of milk so he continued with that and formula. Before I became pregnant I thought breastfeeding was weird; I make milk and feed my baby! But I absolutely loved breastfeeding and I think it really helped solidify Tristan & my bond despite my postnatal depression. Maybe I would have fed for longer if I hadn’t have needed to gain my independence back; I felt claustrophobic knowing I was the only one who could feed him.

Now what?

So Baby Shark is due in about 3-3,5 weeks time. I already have colostrum which is a good sign, however, there is zero guarantee that I will be as fortunate second time round! So, I am making sure I’m prepared! Natalie from Mrs Milk has very kindly gifted me their starter pack of their 5-star rated lactation oat bars.
I also received, from my mom for my baby shower, a double set of the Moooka silicone hands-free breast pumps. I love the fact that it’s hands-free and that I have 2 so I can get both boobs done quickly & efficiently!
I love these 2 products because they are 100% locally made and they are made by moms for moms!

Because Baby Shark is not yet born I obviously can’t try out either of these products just yet, so I will be doing a part 2 for this breastfeeding journey blog a few weeks into my new journey.

If you have used either of these products and have any comments I’d obviously love to hear from you so please feel free to comment below or send me a PM.

Much love xxx