This post is sponsored by Medela
It's National Breastfeeding Week and we want to talk about how breastfeeding ldoesn't look the same to everyone...
During my first pregnancy with Mr J I spent most of that 9 months researching breastfeeding - by researching I mean I scoured the Mummy forums and read every post and article I could find about breastfeeding and exactly how it worked - because truth be told I had absolutely NOOOOOO IDEA!
It’s fair to say that by the time Mr J was born I felt I was prepared for it - I mean I had read about the worst case scenarios so I knew what to expect right? WRONG! OMG was I ever wrong!
Breastfeeding was magical in so many ways, that feeling when he had just made his way into the world and was placed at my breast was indescribable - I knew instantly that I was going to give breastfeeding a good go.
I was soon to find that although a wonderful experience, it would be a fight to continue my breastfeeding journey, and that I was soon going to feel alone and like a failure. With a low milk supply and extremely sore and chaffed nipples those first few months are a blur. Little did I know that I am not the only one - that there are so many out there going through the exact same thing.
“Breastfeeding doesn’t look the same for everyone”
Medela recently conducted a survey of Australian Mum’s attitudes towards breastfeeding and the findings are so interesting - and I personally can relate to so many of them.
Did you know that 52% of Mum’s feel pressured to breastfeed their babies? A whopping 52%!
- Almost 90% of mums stated their number 1 reason for choosing breastfeeding was because of the health benefits for baby and mum.
- The top three challenges faced by breastfeeding Mum’s are Milk Supply (too little or too much), sore nipples and engorgement/mastitis.
- The 2nd most popular resource for pregnancy/newborn/baby advice was Online Communities, Apps, Websites.
- One of the top reasons Mum’s don’t breastfeed is due to low milk supply.
I am not one to sugarcoat motherhood so I won’t harp on about what a glorious experience breastfeeding was .. Blah blah blah - because for me it wasn’t. It was a struggle, messy, painful - it was a particularly hard journey for me. I will say though that once I’d pushed through the first few months of low milk supply and pain, it was so worth the effort. Mr J thrived, he was healthy, we had built a special little bond and I was able to continue breastfeeding him until he was a year old.
I am an organisational fiend, so I used this as a tool to clear my head from all the white noise that was thrown my way about breastfeeding. It helped me to push through the baby brain and sleepless nights when I could barely remember the last time I had eaten let alone work out a breastfeeding schedule.
Although at the time I used a notebook to write down all feeds, nappy changes, sleep schedules and milestones, I truly wish I had a handy app such as MyMedela to keep track of all of these whether I was at home or on the go.
MyMedela is your own personal Baby & Mummy Diary which allows you to keep track of breastfeeding, expressing, your baby’s growth and weight, sleeping patterns, nappy changes and so much more. The feature I appreciate the most is that MyMedela provides you with access to practical advice, tips and tricks from experts about pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding! No more scouring random forums!
Now that MyMedela is available why not utilise this handy tool that will be with you at all times - I know I’ll be utilising MyMedela on my next breastfeeding journey! Simply download MyMedela for free on the Apple Store or Google Play Store.
For more information on Medela products head on over to:
Website: www.medela.com.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/medela.au
Instagram: www.instagram.com/medela_au #MyMedela #MedelaAU
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