Breastfeeding

So having had Premature twin girls at 33 weeks, who couldn’t latch because they were too little and their suckling reflex hadn’t come in yet, I was very excited to give actual breastfeeding a bash with little Jessica. I did express and bottle feed my twins for 6 weeks but because the expressing doesn’t stimulate your milk supply like the actual breastfeeding does, my supply started running low. I was however very chuffed that I managed to feed them solely breastmilk for the first 6 weeks.

So at 34 weeks Jess decides to engage and rest her precious little head right on my cervix. Two steroid injections later and I manage to keep her in for another few days…however at 35 weeks Jess makes her Grand appearance. Obviously we were a little concerned that she was only 35 weeks but she came out kicking and screaming and hasn’t stopped since, ha ha ha ! She latched like a dream and the beautiful bond began. This was a completely new and amazing experience for me even though this was my third child. Because Kiara and Abi were 7 weeks prem and because I had pre-eclampsia, they had to be delivered under general anaesthetic and went straight to the Neonatal ICU Ward. I was wheeled in to see them that evening but only got to touch them for the first time a day and a half after they were born. They then stayed in hospital for 18 days which is actually pretty good going for such tiny babies !!

Right so back to the Jess…..she latched beautifully, fed beautifully and slept like an angel !!! I was doing dances of joy around the house because in comparison to my other two….she was THE DREAM CHILD !!!

Breastfeeding was going along brilliantly, feeding four hourly and at 4 weeks she developed a snotty blocked nose. I didn’t think anything of it because she does have two older sisters who are at school everyday so I thought she’d caught her first cold. This however continued for weeks with nose drops on and off but nothing seemed to work. It was so bad that at night I would walk with her so she was upright as it allowed the mucus to drain, otherwise she would cough and choke as babies only know to breath through their noses. It was so scary for my teeny tiny baby to be like this ! I just persevered and hoped that the “cold” would clear. The GP and Paed I was using at the time just said that she was sick and so I obviously believed them, because not for a second did I think that she could be allergic. I was also a very tired Mom with a tiny baby who was sick and two older girls who also needed me so I was exhausted.

She then went from feeding 4 hourly to 3 hourly which was great because when her nose wasn’t as blocked she was waking up once a night….she was a great sleeper even though she was struggling. Then it however went 3 hourly, 2 hourly and to 1.5 hourly. Through all of this I thought she was having a growth spurt but unfortunately it lasted a little too long and her weight gain started to drop so with a lot of feelings of confusion and guilt I changed her onto formulae.

I put her straight onto Nan HA because it is supposed to by hydrogenised which means that the cows milk protein is broken down to amino acids (a point where the babies body doesn’t recognise it cows milk anymore). So I thought this would probably be the best for her. It unfortunately made no difference.

I eventually started thinking that there had to be more to her constant “cold” and changed her to Nan Lactose free formulae much to my Paeds dismay as it’s not a sustainable formulae so babies should not be on it for long periods of time as there is not stage 2 and 3 formulaes. She insisted that I change her back to Nan HA which I tried on two separate occasions and within a day and a half of changing her her blocked nose back and within the same period of time after changing her back to lactose free, her nose started to clear.

The Nan Lactose free definitely help her tremendously. Her blocked nose cleared by at least 60% which was a dream come true. She then however developed eczema on her back and behind her knees and that is when I changed my Paed. He told me to do whatever was working for her and at that stage it was the Nan Lactose free as he wasn’t keen on Soy.
So we kept her on the lactose free formulae and added solids at 5 months and when we confirmed her allergies at a year we changed to Soy and then Rice Milk as she was old enough and eating very well .

My point of all of this is that if I had only suspected her allergies early enough I may have breastfed her for longer which would have been of so much more benefit to her as she is also immune deficient. So if your baby is constantly sick and snotty, please go through an elimination process of removing dairy out of your diet and see if it makes any difference to your baby before you change them onto formulae.

I do also have this amazing friend who is a lactation consultant that can help you, so if you have any breastfeeding concerns you are more than welcome to contact me and I’ll ask her to advise us on what is the best way forward for you and your baby.

Have a fab day !!
Bon