Firstly I would like to introduce myself, I am Andrea and a mummy to two boys Joseph (3) and Eoin (17 weeks). As an avid fan of Mama Tea I am very excited to be asked to blog.

I have chosen to blog about support when breastfeeding, the reason being that there are many studies saying that a woman who has a little or no support network is likely to fail in her quest to breastfeed.

Regrettably with my first son this statement was very true, after a traumatic birth and a very exhausted day after, I gave into the offer of a bottle in the hospital and never looked back as a bottle feeding mum. However, this time round I was determined to give my baby a first feed from the breast (I could not imagine it any other way) and see what happens after. With all good plans this did not work out, Eoin spent his first five days in the SCBU due to low blood sugars and spent sometime in there getting fed through a tube with some expressed breast milk and high calorie formula. The most important thing to me was that he was getting my 1ml of breast milk before he got his formula and mostly this was through a tube in his nose so I did not worry too much, I had faith that I would be able to get him to latch on.

The night I gave birth to Eoin I was visited by a Breastfeeding Support Worker in my hospital room because I couldn’t get out of bed to go and visit, or be stimulated by my baby’s suckle, I was to imitate it by hand expressing and then a few days later by using a preemie pump and then five days later Eoin himself. Believe it or not making my milk come in was the easy part, the latching of the baby was the difficult part and I will not go into specifics for fear of making this blog three times longer. But the support I had with this was very important, there was a feeling that while I was in the hospital the Support Worker dropped everything and came running to help us latch on and stay latched on. There were times where I was thinking bottle…bottle…bottle… However in the back of my mind I was sure that this wasn’t the right way for us.

Cue husband, mother, mother-in-law and friends! My husband and I knew how to bottle feed, we were not sure what to do with the breastfeed and I know that Padre Gavin didn’t like taking too much of a back seat being the hands on dad that he is. I kept promising that the next feed would be easier or “lets see how the next feed goes”. Needless to say with him staying up with me to make sure I didn’t fall asleep during the night feeds, the cuddle giver and nappy changer it definitely made me feel that there was nothing I couldn’t do! My mother and mother-in-law also spurred me on with telling me that I was doing well and that I was doing the best for my child, although this may seem self indulgent here I have to say when you feel like a zombie it is nice to hear that other people think it is worth it too. There has been one friend, who I have watched breastfeed her own baby, who gave me incredible advice about those first few days and weeks where it can seem overwhelming and gave me faith that I can carry on.

So what about after those first few weeks?

Some advice that people who struggle get is to visit a breastfeeding café or support group. Now when I read this at first I thought this is just the standard get out and meet new people advice that new mums often get. How wrong was I? I visited my local breastfeeding support group when Eoin was 4 weeks old and I was struggling with the latch and cluster feeding (how do you stay awake?). There was a public health nurse, a nursing student, fifteen mums and babies all of different ages. I was given some toast and cheese with a cup of (warm) coffee; some freebies and an opportunity to chat about what was happening with us, listen to others (try to remember the advice that was given, just in case) and chat to other mums about their babies. The most important thing I took away from that day was that I would be seeing this group of ladies on a regular basis, I was able to seek advice, comfort and friendship and this made giving up breastfeeding a harder task than carrying on.

Anyone who knows me will say I love social media (Facebook, Twitter etc…) and that is correct, I found a parenting community which I have used since finding out that Eoin was on the way last March and there is a breastfeeding group on there that was fabulous when I was going through the first stages, baby’s first cold and now with another growth spurt (I got more sleep last week). I have to say this has been a great way to get honest support as the other mums on there only know my handle and not who I am.

My advice?

Take everyday as it comes, seek advice where you feel comfortable. Like all things with children don’t plan too far ahead they will change all that for you.