A Breastfeeding Experience with Medela

 Niahbella is my first born as you may know who I brought into this world last September. Dan and I had always spoke about breastfeeding as this was something we both believed was better for our little darling. I was a little worried to be honest at first because I wasn't sure if I would have a good enough breast milk production. One thing I did know what that I was only going to feed up until Niahbella got teeth as I didn't want chompers biting on my nipples.

Niahbella was delivered by c-section so that meant that she wasn't given skin to skin and boob attachment straight away with me, instead Niahbella was taken upstairs to the room we were going to be staying in with Dan and her Grandma whilst I was wheeled away on the hospital beds to recovery until I could gain sensation back in my body after having the epidural to numb everything chest downwards. This was something really hard for me and I didn't like being separated from Niahbella, I felt like she should have stayed with me the whole time.
Finally after what seemed like forever I was taken up to my room and got to hold my Niahbella for the first time. The midwife gave Niahbella straight to me to have skin to skin and then I was told to try her on the breast for the first time, this was a very difficult situation as I had no idea what I was doing. Our midwife was fantastic that night and was very helpful showing me when to push her head onto my nipple and giving lots of encouragement.

I didn't know what to look for in terms of signs of knowing when she was needing to be breastfeed so any little cry I was putting her straight onto my breast. It felt like I was a milking cow and always had my boobs out for her to be on, this continued on for some time whilst I was at home also and if it wasn't her being on my breasts; it was the breast pump as I tried to store milk for Dan to get involved in the feeding and for when I had to be away from Niahbella.

Whilst coming home from hospital I found it hard to get Niahbella to latch on, I just couldn't get it right and I felt like I was a horrible Mum for not being able to have it come naturally to me or know what I was doing. It wasn't till about 2 weeks after being at home that I finally started getting the hang of it and that it felt right when breastfeeding.

I stopped breastfeeding Niahbella completely at around 4 months and then moved her onto solids and formula as I believed this was the best thing for us both as I wasn't producing what seemed like enough for her and storing. And not to mention I was only feeding from the one breast as Niahbella wasn't taking to my right breast as I had an issue with my nipple not erecting enough like my left breast.
The time I did share getting to breastfeed with Niahbella is something so beautiful and something I was grateful to be able to experience, the bond you gain is just unimaginable. It's just an amazing thing to be able to provide like that to your child.

Prior to having Niahbella, I spoke with other Mummy friends and jumped onto forums to chat with others who experienced/experiencing breastfeeding to see which breast pumps they recommend and Medela was the one to have and most recommended so Dan & I purchased the Electric Swing Breast Pump.
The Medela Electric Swing Breast Pump was easy to use and setup for quick pumping and has various suction speeds to express comfortably. Whilst I haven't tried any other brands of pumps; I am quite happy with Medela and don't think I even need to experience another.

I'll leave you with something that valuable advice that I learnt through breastfeeding and it's that you should feed your baby when he/she wants it. I was always on the clock watching the time and writing down the exact times of feeds and would be like yup 2 or 3hrs is over, Niahbella will need to be feed again and would stop what she was currently doing to feed her. I think I mainly did this because I had experienced a Midwife who was very stern on the maximum hours between feeds.
Do what works best for your baby and you not what the book says because we are all different and know what's best for our babies, with the book not always being right.

Medela provides real solutions for breastfeeding mothers to get over any hurdles in the early days and to support their long term breastfeeding goals. Through its extensive range of breast pump products and other breastfeeding products, Medela is committed to promoting the benefits of breast milk and encouraging long term breastfeeding.
For more information visit: www.medela.com.au I www.facebook.com/medela.au