It’s National Breastfeeding Week and Every Feed Counts plus a Giveaway!

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It’s National Breastfeeding Week in Ireland from 1st October to 7th October and the fabulous Irish Parenting Bloggers are marching once again to mark the occasion.

We are nearing the end of the week and I hope that you have gotten a chance to catch some (or all) of the posts that have preceeded mine but if not I give you no excuses.  All the posts are at the end of this post and anything published after this one will be added afterwards so do check back.  There is such a weath of knowledge and experience among them.

You can also find more information on breastfeeding at www.breastfeeding.ie

Breastfeeding
coatl28 / Foter / CC BY-ND

The theme of the week is Every Feed Counts.  A sentiment that applies to me very well.  I have previously written on my breastfeeding attempts on each of my children.  I am a breast feeder trier!

I was an anxious new mum who, very suddenly, had a c-section thrust upon me. Before that a normal delivery seemed like the natural outcome and after baby popped out I would just pop her on my boob and off we go.  Maybe I was naive, maybe I wasn’t committed enough, maybe I didn’t get enough support or maybe I was just the standard new mum where expectations suddenly changed and reality bites hard that it isn’t always simple as.

I stopped breastfeeding within a week on number 1.  In the early days I felt awful.  I felt like a failure until at my 6 week check up my consultant reassured me that the fact I tried was great and that the early colostrum (first milk) my daughter would have gotten from me would be of benefit…because every feed counts.

Armed with the knowledge that even a small amount of breast milk would be of benefit I set to try again and did so on baby two and baby three.  By baby three I was getting the hang of it but made my own decision to ease off and stop after about 7 weeks.  Having hung on to the positive attitude that whatever I did was of benefit I decided that I was very proud of myself.  OK, I never got to the recommended 6 month mark but I was happy with my achievements. Each baby got more and more of my milk (of course if I ever had a fourth child I would probably feed a lot more again but god forbid I would use that argument with my husband for another child!!).

If mums-to-be are thinking about feeding and wondering whether or not to give it a try then why not?  If it’s not for you that’s fine.  But what if it is? What have you got to loose?

What if you are thinking you couldn’t do it for 6 months? You don’t have to – while that is recommended just remember “Every Feed Counts” and even if you manage a few feeds while still in hospital pat yourself on the back because you are giving your baby a great start, and you never know once you start you might just find it the most amazing experience and save yourself a lot of bottle washing and sterilising in the process and even have a bit of spare cash to treat yourself on a job well done!

Of course I’m not here to bash any mothers who choose to bottle feed.  I bottle fed my three more than I breast fed them but as they say “don’t knock it until you try it“.  And some clever marketer once said “Try it, you might like it!”  I’m trying to remember which ad that was but even if I remember I’m sure they certainly weren’t referring to breast feeding but how apt!

If you do give breastfeeding a go, first of all, fair play! And of course you might want to express a little milk at some point to give yourself a break or some time out so the Irish Parenting Bloggers have 4 NUK Breast Pumps to give away – 2 electric and 2 manual.  All the details are below! Good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The other posts in this weeks march:

October 1st

October 2nd

October 3rd

October 4th

 October 5th

October 6th

  • Me!!

 October 7th

 

 

 

 

One Comment

  1. Pingback: Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014 Learner Mama

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