The Feeding Diaries

In this episode Adrianna shares her story of feeding her daughter Eloise.

From the first feed Adrianna felt as though something wasn’t quite right.  Eloise had trouble latching, and so Adrianna and her partner Jeroen bottle fed Eloise while they found help.  After many weeks of trying Eloise at the breast, getting second opinions, pumping around the clock and having a tongue tie snipped, Adrianna and Eloise achieved their breastfeeding goal and are still breastfeeding now with Eloise being a year old.

Adrianna also speaks about her low supply as well as Raynauds syndrome and how incredibly painful that was for her.

I love that Adrianna doesn’t shy away from the fact that breastfeeding her baby was something that was really important to her - you can hear it in her voice how much it means to her.  

Thank you so much for sharing your story Adrianna.

For more info on Raynauds check out this page (half way down): https://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mother/nipple-blanching/

Wendy shares her story of breastfeeding then exclusively pumping for both of her children - Anderson (3) and Amelia (1).

After the birth of her son Anderson, Wendy noticed that the feelings she was having around breastfeeding were not typical.  A conversation with a friend led Wendy to realise that she had breastfeeding aversion.  Wendy and her husband Andrew made the decision to exclusively pump and bottle feed Anderson until he was around 1 year old.  

When Amelia was born, Wendy wasn’t sure if the same aversion would exist.  It did, but this time around Wendy and Andrew knew what their plan was if feeding at the breast wasn’t possible. 

Through all of this Wendy continually had to work on keeping her supply up.   Wendy’s low supply challenges led to her starting a new business which she launched a couple of months ago.  Mammas Milk Bar sells lactation blends and protein blends for pregnant mums, breastfeeding mums, and mums generally.  You can check her business out at www.mammasmilkbar.com or on instagram @mammasmilkbar .

I could have talked to Wendy for ages, she had so much to share - we talked about practicing confinement, the importance of support networks, the benefits of exclusively pumping and more .

Thank you Wendy for sharing your experience!

If you’d like to read more about breastfeeding aversion there is some interesting information on the Kelly Mom website.

In this episode Bec reflects on feeding her two children George (who has just turned 4) and Sadie (who was 2 earlier this year).

Bec and I don’t get into the nitty gritty of each and every challenge of hers, instead we talk about the bigger picture. How feeding made her feel, how it impacted her mental health, how she reflects on it now, and how it is okay to look back and say you didn’t love it regardless of the types of challenges you faced.  This is a great episode if you want to glimpse into what lies on the ‘other side’ of breastfeeding for some mamas - hindsight can be beautiful for some, but for others the rose tinting glasses aren’t always strong enough.

Bec’s reflects on how challenging breastfeeding George was (tongue tie, painful latch, nipple shields, mastitis and anxiety).  She talks about the lonely times of feeding, how breastfeeding wasn’t this picture perfect image that she had in mind, and how it added another thing to be anxious about in early motherhood.

With Sadie, things were different.  Bec talks about how the lack of tongue tie meant feeding was far more natural the second time around and it was easier for her.   She shares how Sadie weaned earlier, and that her and her husband Ben decided it was best for all to wean at that point rather than ‘battle through’.  

We also talk about feeding two under two and the back to back pregnancy and breastfeeding journeys with no breaks in between.

Thank you Bec for sharing this story with us.

This episode is for World Breastfeeding Week and as The Feeding Diaries supports the ‘fed is best’ message it is suitable for all listeners, regardless of how you feed your bub.

Caitlyn (@_caitlyn_jane_), Jordyn (Kiwi Birth Tales Podcast @kiwibirthtales) and Renata (Lila Jasmine and Little Mash @lilajasminenutrition) join us to share their thoughts and reflections on breastfeeding.

I also share a sneak peek of some up coming episodes, and share some thoughts of mine on World Breastfeeding Week.

In this episode Cree shares her experience of feeding her two sons Te Ariki and Ruairidh (Rory). 

Cree had her first son at 19 years old, back in 2011 (2 days before the Christchurch Earthquakes) and talks about the beautiful breastfeeding experience she had with him.   This period wasn’t without challenge, as Te Ariki had to return to hospital on the same day as the Christchurch earthquakes to be admitted to NICU.  Cree takes us through the challenges with feeding in NICU and during aftershocks, and fitting in as a 19 year old mama.

Last year, Cree had her second son Ruairidh and breastfeeding was really difficult.  She openly admits that she went into birth feeling confident, and didn’t really question whether she would be able to breastfeed.  Cree takes us through the shock of finding that feeding Ruairidh was not as simple as she had imagined it would be.  She also talks about the difficulties she had due to not being able to walk during the postpartum period (following a medical mishap that occurred a few weeks before Ruairidh’s birth).  She also shares the support she had from her family and husband Jarren.

Cree openly talks about the fact that, as a second time mum, there was an expectation (from both her and others) that she would simply be able to breastfeed without issue.  This was made even more difficult by the fact that Cree is a midwife and has a strong breastfeeding support practice as part of that, so the expectations were high.

Cree is an amazing story teller, she is so upbeat and you can’t help but smile even as she talks about the really difficult parts of feeding and the postpartum period.

**Trigger warning: this episode mentions the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes and we also briefly discuss miscarriage and fertility issues at one point in the episode.

In this episode Sarah tells us about feeding her son Hunter.  Hunter is now 6 years old, so I was quite intrigued when Sarah reached out saying she would like to share her story!  

Sarah explains how throughout her feeding journey she felt let down by the health system.  When you hear her story you’ll hear so many moments where people could have stepped in to help Sarah when she was struggling to breastfeed, but instead she often got the advice to ‘keep trying, it will get better’.  Sarah started out breastfeeding Hunter and also expressed milk to bottle feed him, then ultimately transitioned fully to formula.  You can tell from Sarah’s story that she really wanted to breastfeed Hunter, but she also shares how special she found feeding Hunter whether it was by breast or bottle and how that was a special little bonding time for the two of them.

Sarah and her partner Sean have reflected on their feeding experience, as well as Sarah’s traumatic birth, and Sarah says they have now come to terms with how it all went and are looking to grow their family.

Sarah, you are an incredible women and mama.  Thank you so much for openly sharing your story with us all.

** Trigger warning: This episode mentions traumatic birth.

Resources mentioned in the intro:

https://thespinoff.co.nz/parenting/24-11-2016/choosing-baby-formula-a-guide-for-new-zealand-parents/

https://mykidslickthebowl.com/best-baby-formula-gold-or-standard/

In this episode Jenni talks about breastfeeding her son Theo, who has just turned one.

After a peaceful home birth, breastfeeding started out well in the first 24 hours but Jenni found that over the next few days getting Theo to latch in a way that wasn’t painful became quite difficult.   She had help from her midwife, but ultimately found support in a breastfeeding peer support group.

Jenni also talks about using nipple shields (and the conflicting views she heard about them),  low supply, and feeding in public.  She mentions how she still loves feeding Theo and that often it is the only ‘still’ moment she gets with him seeing as he is now a busy one year old!

When it came to starting solids, Jenni and her husband Reuben chose to follow a book recommended by a friend.  She explains that she found having a single guide really valuable, both to justify their feeding choices to friends and family but also as a single point of info.

It was so interesting talking to Jenni.  During our talk I felt that although she had faced challenges, she had experienced a positive feeding journey.  She explained to me that it is easy to talk about it in a positive light now, because those hard days are in the past, but during those early days (particularly the first 6 weeks) breastfeeding was really tough and something she had to work hard at.

Thanks Jenni for sharing your story.

In episode 9 Sam is sharing the story of breastfeeding and later combination feeding her daughter Harriet.

Sam had a low breast milk supply and explains how this impacted her, her partner Tim, and daughter Harriet.  The low supply challenges that Sam faced were something she had to constantly work on, and throughout the pre-solids feeding journey Harriet fed on a combination of breast milk directly from Sam and also breast milk from a bottle.  Sam was lucky to be the receiver of donor breast milk from a lovely friend who had a baby around the same time that Harriet was born.

Adding to the challenge of increasing and maintaining supply, Sam had to undergo surgery at around 4 months postpartum. She talks about how she thought this would put an end to breastfeeding for her and Harriet.

Following surgery came lockdown, and ultimately Sam and Tim introduced formula and solids to Harriet’s diet. At 9 months old Harriet is combination fed.

Sam mentions the following books in her episode:

• Smart Mothering - by Natalie Flynn
• The first 6 weeks - by Midwife Cath
• The Wonder Weeks book

Thanks for sharing your story with us Sam, it was lovely to have you on the show!

Sarah joins us to talk about her breastfeeding and solid feeding journey with her son Asier.

This episode covers a lot - from losing part of a nipple, suffering from a breast infection (oedema) to crying with joy from finally having a comfortable breastfeeding latch, and feeding when pregnant with baby #2.  Sarah talks about how during pregnancy she made a conscious decision to protect herself from hearing negative stories, and how ultimately this made the challenges she experienced when breastfeeding feel quite lonely.

Sarah also talks about starting Asier on solids and noticing that he was intolerant to dairy, wheat, eggs and peanuts.  She explains that she has been able to reintroduce dairy and eggs (in a limited way), but peanuts and wheat will go to allergy testing in the coming months.

It was so lovely having Sarah on the show, and it was really interesting to hear her perspective on how she will use what she learned with Asier when feeding baby #2.

Cat joins us to share her experience feeding her 5 month old Georgiana.   Cat had a plentiful supply and Georgiana was quick to latch after birth.   Unfortunately, that latch was a pretty powerful one and Cat had significant nipple damage early on.  She explains how she used gritted teeth, māmā bear bravery and nipple shields to get through the pain.  Cat also takes us through how she weaned Georgiana off nipple shields at 3 months - a good listen for others who are looking for weaning ideas.

This is an overall positive breastfeeding journey - a tough start, with a happy outcome overall.   Cat, thanks for sharing your story, it was a pleasure!