I was a bit naive before the first child came along, but being a fairly organised and results-driven individual, I was determined to ‘get it right’ from the beginning. So, we went to the breastfeeding class and listened intently during the pre-natal sessions. My lasting memory of it was a) it’s alright to sit in your backyard half naked airing your nipples if your breastfeeding b) you’re nipples will never be the same again! As you can tell, I hadn’t retained the most useful information for the task at hand!
When bub came along I had high expectations, no experience and lots of ‘well meaning’ advice. Needless to say, the first few days were a bit of a disaster.
I hated that all of a sudden my breasts weren’t mine - various well-meaning midwives would race in, grab hold of my breasts and slam bubs face into them. ‘there’, they’d say, ‘now you try’. Then they’d race out again to answer the buzzer of the next distraught new mum.
My biggest anxiety was that my baby would starve while I was trying to learn how to attach properly. The whole chin to breast and wide-open mouth to nipple confounded me - he was too small and I was too big!! On, off, on, off, and on it went, until..... my milk came in and it was like one of those hallelujah moments, my son realised there was something worthwhile to have and on he went, and I realised it was all going to be okay.
By the time my second child came along it was the opposite – I was much more relaxed and knew to ride out the first 48 hours and the rest would come.
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