"Empowering Breastfeeding Support"

Following the difficult birth of our baby, we struggled with breastfeeding and our baby’s  weight soon began to drop.  As first time parents we didn’t know what to do and each person we came in contact with told us something different.  We were so confused and disheartened that we were ready to give up on our breastfeeding journey entirely.  We didn’t have any breastfeeding support in hospital when our baby was born as it was assumed we were okay as we managed to get our baby to latch on.  However, we later discovered latching on was only stage one, we required my body to produce a sufficient supply of milk to meet our baby’s needs - this wasn’t the case for us.  On discharge, we struggled more and more and realised our baby wasn’t receiving adequate nutrition.  We remembered an anti natal session I attended several weeks before our baby was born and the session facilitator, Lana, had provided us all with her contact details and encouraged us to contact her anytime if we needed help, advice or a chat.  We made contact with Lana.

When we met Lana, the breastfeeding specialists, everything began to change for the better - we were empowered and supported to make informed decisions about how best to feed our baby.  Quickly we began to feel more confident and supported to continue on the breastfeeding journey knowing that it was within our grasps and she was only a phone call away.  We began to feel like we knew what we were doing, the signs to look out for that suggest something isn’t right and what steps we can take to rectify the situation.  In the short term we had to adapt our feeding regime until my milk came in; breastfeeding, formula top ups and breast pump.  However, we were able to return to solely breastfeeding our baby as my milk came in.

Our baby is now four weeks old and remains solely breastfed because of the help and support we received from Lana and the wider breastfeeding team.  We are so thankful to the breastfeeding team who delivered non judgmental care at a time when we were at our most vulnerable.  Without this team our baby wouldn’t have thrived, we would have been left with no option other than bottle feeding with formula and our experience of bringing up a child would have been considerably worse.  We cannot thank Lana enough for all that she has done and continues to do for our family, thank you.