Leila is nearly eleven months now and I am still bf-ing her and plan to continue until....well as long as it takes really I think! I feel in many ways that after a rocky and uncertain start, I have come so far now that I may as well finish the job off! It's not been an easy journey and something that happened this week prompted me to think of the ups and downs along the way.
As Leila was in the ICU I had to try to express colostrum/milk for her before she even had a chance to latch on. This was really difficult and being engorged made it even harder. It would take my ages to get anything out for her and she'd gulp the bottle down from the nurses in seconds!
When I had my first chance to feed her myself she struggled to latch on because both of my nipples were flat. We both worked hard at it and the nurses advised me to use nipple shields to help the nipples to form for Leila to latch on to. Using them did make feeding awkward, but at least she was able to feed. I had to use these for a week on one side and about two weeks on the other until she was able to latch on without them. It's amazing now, looking back, at how hard these first few months were.
In the first six months I had the usual difficulties that mums encounter breastfeeding, including blocked ducts, fullness and soreness. We also had some problems around 3-months of her refusing to take a bottle (of expressed milk). This made Scott's evening feeds really difficult for both him and Leila, but we persevered and gradually her confidence in the bottle returned. We think that the refusing was related to the odd 'off milk' bottle that we gave her and the fact that we had to add Lacteol Forte supplement, then iron drops, to the bottle for a while.
When the doc here in Egypt diagnosed a likely dairy/egg allergy, I removed all dairy and egg from my diet. The hardest thing about this was the need to suddenly cook everything myself so that I could be sure of what had gone into it!
I blogged in July that we had finally managed to see the specialist in the UK who confirmed a dairy intolerance but said that I should start to reintroduce dairy to my diet to gauge Leila's tolerance. This appointment, diagnosis and advice was a real relief and we both felt so positive afterwards.
A week later after this really brilliant 'up' for BF I had a real 'down' when I found out that I had mastitis. Mastitis is common for new mums, but not for those months and months into BF-ing! One cause was probably Leila taking less milk from me as she was increasing her solids intake, but a key factor in developing it was probably me feeding her whilst lying down in bed and therefore the breast not draining fully. I am so glad though that I noticed the signs and was able to get an emergency appointment at the doctors the same day. In the night I had felt 'full' but come the morning, despite my attempts to empty the breast I was still very full and starting to feel in pain there. I was able to continue to feed and get on during the day, but by late afternoon (and my doc appointment) I was in real pain every time I touched the breast and was developing a fever and flu-like symptoms. I was able to take two of the antibiotics before bed that night and the following morning felt a lot better as the worst of it had passed, thank goodness. The main frustration with being on a ten-day course of antibiotics wasn't that I couldn't drink (I could!) but that they had to be taken on an empty stomach - no more mid-morning snacks for me ;-(
Back in Cairo after the summer we realised that Leila had decided she didn't want to take a bottle again. The cause this time was having spent so much time over the summer at the breast she no longer wanted to have a bottle but would save herself for the breast. This was a real problem as with me due back in work within a week we had to get her used to a bottle again. We had a few really tough days trying to prepare her. Tough for her as she didn't understand why she needed to change, and tough for Scott as he had to try and give her a bottle when she was unhappy. I had to stay out of the way before and during a feed and then express ready for the next feed. She is taking the bottle now from Scott and from Ella, our nanny, although sometimes will take it in a few sittings.
So, finally onto the reason that I started this post. Leila sometimes likes to 'bite' at the end of a feed. Not often, but sometimes when she is feeling 'cheeky'. Now that she has teeth I have to strongly say 'no biting' and take her off. She did manage to get a nip in last week and whilst it wasn't too bad at the time, a few days later I was in real pain as the cut wasn't able to heal and was being pulled apart every time she went back to feed on that side. Not nice! It has finally healed now after four days of not letting her feed on that side and only pumping.
So what next for BF - hopefully a cut down in feeds as she takes more solids, but hopefully continuing to be happy and healthy.
As Leila was in the ICU I had to try to express colostrum/milk for her before she even had a chance to latch on. This was really difficult and being engorged made it even harder. It would take my ages to get anything out for her and she'd gulp the bottle down from the nurses in seconds!
When I had my first chance to feed her myself she struggled to latch on because both of my nipples were flat. We both worked hard at it and the nurses advised me to use nipple shields to help the nipples to form for Leila to latch on to. Using them did make feeding awkward, but at least she was able to feed. I had to use these for a week on one side and about two weeks on the other until she was able to latch on without them. It's amazing now, looking back, at how hard these first few months were.
In the first six months I had the usual difficulties that mums encounter breastfeeding, including blocked ducts, fullness and soreness. We also had some problems around 3-months of her refusing to take a bottle (of expressed milk). This made Scott's evening feeds really difficult for both him and Leila, but we persevered and gradually her confidence in the bottle returned. We think that the refusing was related to the odd 'off milk' bottle that we gave her and the fact that we had to add Lacteol Forte supplement, then iron drops, to the bottle for a while.
When the doc here in Egypt diagnosed a likely dairy/egg allergy, I removed all dairy and egg from my diet. The hardest thing about this was the need to suddenly cook everything myself so that I could be sure of what had gone into it!
I blogged in July that we had finally managed to see the specialist in the UK who confirmed a dairy intolerance but said that I should start to reintroduce dairy to my diet to gauge Leila's tolerance. This appointment, diagnosis and advice was a real relief and we both felt so positive afterwards.
A week later after this really brilliant 'up' for BF I had a real 'down' when I found out that I had mastitis. Mastitis is common for new mums, but not for those months and months into BF-ing! One cause was probably Leila taking less milk from me as she was increasing her solids intake, but a key factor in developing it was probably me feeding her whilst lying down in bed and therefore the breast not draining fully. I am so glad though that I noticed the signs and was able to get an emergency appointment at the doctors the same day. In the night I had felt 'full' but come the morning, despite my attempts to empty the breast I was still very full and starting to feel in pain there. I was able to continue to feed and get on during the day, but by late afternoon (and my doc appointment) I was in real pain every time I touched the breast and was developing a fever and flu-like symptoms. I was able to take two of the antibiotics before bed that night and the following morning felt a lot better as the worst of it had passed, thank goodness. The main frustration with being on a ten-day course of antibiotics wasn't that I couldn't drink (I could!) but that they had to be taken on an empty stomach - no more mid-morning snacks for me ;-(
Back in Cairo after the summer we realised that Leila had decided she didn't want to take a bottle again. The cause this time was having spent so much time over the summer at the breast she no longer wanted to have a bottle but would save herself for the breast. This was a real problem as with me due back in work within a week we had to get her used to a bottle again. We had a few really tough days trying to prepare her. Tough for her as she didn't understand why she needed to change, and tough for Scott as he had to try and give her a bottle when she was unhappy. I had to stay out of the way before and during a feed and then express ready for the next feed. She is taking the bottle now from Scott and from Ella, our nanny, although sometimes will take it in a few sittings.
So, finally onto the reason that I started this post. Leila sometimes likes to 'bite' at the end of a feed. Not often, but sometimes when she is feeling 'cheeky'. Now that she has teeth I have to strongly say 'no biting' and take her off. She did manage to get a nip in last week and whilst it wasn't too bad at the time, a few days later I was in real pain as the cut wasn't able to heal and was being pulled apart every time she went back to feed on that side. Not nice! It has finally healed now after four days of not letting her feed on that side and only pumping.
So what next for BF - hopefully a cut down in feeds as she takes more solids, but hopefully continuing to be happy and healthy.
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