Victoria talks about her struggle to feed her premature baby, born 2.7lbs nine weeks early and her second 4lb child after having an emergency C-Section. Starting out in the hospital with Midwives who are too busy to sit with her whilst she attempts to feed, she struggles to establish a pain-free latch. When she returns home, the local support service, Koala North West support her in trying nipple shields for a month but her baby doesn’t gain much weight. Finally, she stops using nipple shields, accepting that it may hurt and discovers it no longer hurts and her baby is now gaining weight.
“I just wanted somebody to show me what to do because my boy little boy was born nine weeks early. So I didn’t really, I didn’t do very well with the breastfeeding with him. I tried. But they wouldn’t allow me to wear nipple shields in the hospital. It wasn’t policy. And then as soon as I came out, we tried nipple shields on and he latched, because he was only two pounds seven when he was born. And then, but by that point, I just wasn’t making enough milk for him. So he was combination fed, but then at five and a half months, my milk just stopped”.…read more
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