Breastfeeding for over 4 years
I should receive an award for breastfeeding my kids for over 4 years. It is unbelievable. Were my breasts really on demand all that time.
OMG. Oh my God.
Not even with plastic surgery will these boobs recover. Willing to become the most awesome mummy ever, I decided that my kids would be breastfed until they were two years old. However my first attempt to breastfed Lauryn was really awkward, an utter catastrophe. Although she was my first child, and the boob theory was a completely new Universe for me. I remember the nurses at Queen Charlorte’s hospital, giving me syringes and telling me to manually express the colostrum. Honestly when she said that word I looked at her very seriously, because I had never heard that word in my life.
I was Basically I was expressing but nothing was coming out. I felt miserable and exhausted, so the nurses bottle-fed her because there were no signs of milk coming, not even a single drop. The health visitor said that because I had an emergency C-section that in some cases, the milk took longer to come. But Lauryn was having the bottles so we were all good.
My mother in law came to London to help me, in the first days. She is originally from Sao Tome and Principe,Africa. When she arrived at my house, my life completely changed.
Oh my God those delicious soups! The Caloulou! She taught me to wash myself with some herbal infusions, including rosemary. At the beginning I thought that it was in a kind of a tribal ritual, but after a couple of hours and her amazing advices, I was floating in milk.
It is not a legend, African tradition Works. At least worked really well with me.
I breastfed Lauryn for 2 and half years, until I found out that I was expecting Joylen, and 3 months after he was born prematurely. My breasts were on fire. You can call me cow, I won't be offended because it was exactly what I looked like, expressing manually.
Electric pump. No thank you. That noise, that vibration!
My body seems to have something against electrical stuff, the pump just doesn't work with me. Last time I used I got mastitis. Can you imagine worse than having bleeding nipples?
When Joylen was at the Neonatal Unit, I tried several times to express, but only tiny drops, 30 minutes after I got only 20ml. No, This is not for me. I gave up.
Despite his small size, Joylen coped really well with the breast, until today. He is 15months and refuses bottles and dummies, he only wants breast milk.
I am sing the song "all About That Breast" by Lori Burke, all the time.
All about that Breast about that Breast, no bottle. Hilarious song, but so true.
When I pick him up at nursery, he don't even look at mummy, but for a happy milky, meal.
I love breastfeeding, it's a special bonding moment between me and my baby. I can spend hours looking at him, happy with his fed. I Know that it is really demanding and I feel exhausted, but until he is 2 years I will not stop him, because breast milk his the best thing, and I am aware that it helped him a lot to overcome his prematurity.
