"Breastfeeding support"

I felt that despite the social media campaign during breastfeeding week I did not experience the good support that was widely reported to be available from the western health trust. Antenatal support for breastfeeding is extremly poor. It's a case of "here is a booklet and if you read it you will be fine". The team don't prepare you for what can go wrong and how to prepare for this.

When I gave birth I was glad that our breastfeeding journey went well however that changed on day 4 when the baby would not latch and I was in extreme breast pain. My community midwife appointment on day 4 had to be delayed until day 5 for personal reasons. When the community midwife arrived on day 5 they didn't arrive until nearly 4:00pm (I was shocked by this as I was supposed to be seen on day 4) by which stage I was extremely anxious and upset because baby had not been feeding properly. The best advice my midwife could give was to count to ten through the pain!

My poor husband looked at me in despair at the advice I was being given.

They then asked if I had nipple shields. I would have purchased them before the birth but I had explicitly asked about them during one of my antenatal appointments but was told that they don't recommend them!! Could you imagine my frustration!!! And the community midwife didn't have any.  The stress levels were going through the roof at this point. Thank goodness I had frozen a supply of colostrum!

That evening baby was switched to formula and we have not looked back. The baby also had lost too much weight and had to be referred into SWAH which involved us staying in there until well after midnight. Had we been seen earlier in the day this long visit could have been avoided and we could have been back home before teatime!!

 I seen the video on social media about the lady who started breastfeeding and when she was experiencing problems she had the breastfeeding midwife visit her and she was then able to successfully continue breastfeeding! I was never offered this sadly. I watched that video with jealously as I would have loved to receive the same support as she was given. Had I been offered that opportunity, I would have jumped at the chance.  

If my experience is commonplace, I can understand why N.Ireland has some of the lowest rates of breastfeeding! It is such a shame because I was so excited to be breastfeeding my baby but our journey was cut short. I hope to try breastfeeding in my next pregnancy but I won't be anticipating much support from the trust.