Breastfeeding weeks 1-6

So... My breastfeeding journey so far.

My little girl latched straight away on the hospital.  That first night in hospital was hard. She kept struggling to latch, so I kept calling the midwives and the assistants for help. It was tough but I got some really good advice.

My main concerns were that I would smother her and that she wasn't latching right.

The told me to look above her ear. If her full jaw was moving up to that bit between her ear and eye she had a good latch and was sucking properly. If her cheeks were hollow she wasn't. She also told me not to hold her head with my hand, but to support her, this allows her to bob her head and move as she feeds... Which leads me to my next point.

And that babies can breathe through the boob. When she said this I was quite confused as was my partner. But the way babies noses are shaped actually presses the boob away to breathe. This is where not holding the head comes in handy. Baby can move to get comfortable and breathe.

When we got home things went quite well feed wise. I worried about my supply and whether she was getting enough.

At about day 4/5 I started to feel very claustrophobic,  she wanted to be on me all the time and I felt extremely overwhelmed, this coupled with poor sleep (which I'll address in a different post) made us wonder what our options were.  We decided on the advice of my midwife to introduce a formula feed at bedtime.

By the end of the first week she'd lost only 20g and she has put on almost a pound a week since then until this week.

After my mini meltdown, and I call it that because there where tears and doubts but now I'm in awe. By week 3 I found breastfeeding a lot easier. My sister in law described it as night of a thousand knives, and she wasn't wrong. Weeks 1-3 every time she latched it was excruciating,  but I have persevered. With lanolin I have made my way through the hard part and now when she feeds I just feel an overwhelming love for her. So strong I could cry at times.

I still need that break in an evening so daddy does nighttime formula feed and I get a little sleep to prepare me for the night ahead.