The Feeding Diaries

Sarah joins us to share her breastfeeding experience, one that she hasn’t loved at times.  Her son Eddie is just over a year old, and Sarah explains that there were highs but also a lot of ‘neutrals’ and lows.

After a challenging birth, and Eddie being taken to NICU due to inhaling meconium, Eddie ended up having a 9 day stay in NICU so Sarah had to learn to breastfeed on site.   

There is a lot covered in this episode - initial tube feeding, using donor milk, the ‘test’ Sarah and Eddie had to pass before leave NICU, nipple shields, feeding with big breasts, the loving support from her husband and lots more.

Thanks for sharing your experience Sarah.  It is really important to acknowledge that not everyone has a magical breastfeeding experience.  

In this episode, Ainslee shares her experience breastfeeding her 10 month old son, Arthur.  Ainslee was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum during her pregnancy (a condition that is characterised by severe nausea, vomiting, weight loss, and dehydration).  This lead to on-going treatments throughout the pregnancy, including hospital stays.  Ainslee explains that going in to birth her biggest fear was not anything to do with birth, but whether she would have enough energy to produce breast milk for her baby.

After a challenging birth, Ainslee shares that it took some time to establish breastfeeding.  She faced quite a few challenges, including tongue and lip tie, changes in supply and mastitis.  

Despite this, Ainslee and Arthur are still breastfeeding today and Ainslee pumps so that Arthur can be bottle fed by her husband Cam while she is at work.

Thank you Ainslee for telling your story, it can't have been easy to share some of these memories. I'm so happy for you that you were able to breastfeed as you had planned and hoped, after facing such a challenging pregnancy and tough birth.

In this episode Kelsey shares her story about feeding her daughter Billie.  On one hand this is a really positive breastfeeding story and on the other hand an extremely challenging solids feeding journey.  

Breastfeeding has been relatively natural for Kelsey and Billie, a great latch, healthy supply (perhaps too healthy!) and a really strong and positive feeding bond from early on. It wasn’t all rainbows - there have been some challenges (Billie was retrieved to NICU the day after they were discharged from hospital, so Kelsey essentially learnt to breastfeed while Billie was in NICU), but overall Kelsey draws on the positives.

When it came to solids, Kelsey and her husband Chris were shocked to find that Billie has anaphylaxis reactions to a number of foods.  It is really eye opening hearing Kelsey talk about this - how they found out, what this has meant for mealtimes in their family, and how it has impacted other aspects of their life.

If you're keen to skip straight to the solids journey head to the middle of the episode around 31 minutes in.

**This episode does cover some tough topics - please listen out for a list of trigger warnings in the intro.

In this episode Silvia shares her experience of mix feeding (aka combination feeding) her son Isaac.  Silvia started out breastfeeding Izzy, but grew concerned on day 2 when he struggled to establish a latch over a 6 hour period.   At that point, Silvia asked for formula and from there went on a mixed feeding journey until Izzy was 6 months old.  

Silvia also shares how her and Luke have introduced Izzy to solids, including allowing treat foods and letting him feed himself.  There are some great resources that Silvia shares in the episode:

• https://kellymom.com/
• https://www.facebook.com/breastfeedingnz/
• https://themilkmeg.com/

In this episode Kate shares her experience formula feeding her daughter Cleo.  Kate went into motherhood open minded about how she, and partner Tony, would feed Cleo.   After a traumatic birth experience, Kate spent the following days in hospital and birth care trying to establish breastfeeding with Cleo.   Kate talks about how a birth care staff, who could sense the pressure breastfeeding was putting on Kate, suggested she take 24 hours “off” breastfeeding and allow her body to rest and heal.  It was during that rest period that Kate, with the support of Tony, made the decision to formula feed Cleo.

It was really interesting to hear how Kate processed this choice.  She had a really positive experience bottle feeding Cleo and talks about the highs the experience gave her.  Kate also shares a wee bit about how Cleo was introduced to solids.

I loved recording this episode - in a world where parents are often judged for choices they make it is so nice to hear from someone who had a truly positive bottle feeding experience from the start and throughout.

In this episode Chloe tells us all about feeding her 9 month old son, Teddy.   Teddy is breastfed and started solids at 6 months old. 

There were some challenges for Chloe, husband Ben, and Teddy in the first few weeks of Teddy’s life.  This included establishing a latch (and use of nipple shields), overcoming a sleepy feeder (due to jaundice in the early days), and the feeling of pressure to feed (especially while in post birth care).  Chloe also touches on the start of their solids journey.

Overall Chloe speaks positively about breastfeeding, and she is quick to share the highs alongside the challenges her family experienced. Chloe is a great story teller, I hope you enjoy hearing from her as much as I enjoyed recording this episode!

This trailer is an introduction to The Feeding Diaries podcast - a place where you can listen to stories about feeding babies, as told by parents and caregivers. 

I tell you a little bit more about what you can expect from the amazing parents and caregivers who are sharing their stories in season 1.   I’ll also tell you a wee bit about me and where the idea of this podcast came from.

In season 1 you’ll hear from bottle feeding parents, first time breast feeders, mix feeders and more.  I’ll talk to parents who have babies with allergies, tricky feeders, and babies who just can’t get enough of solids.  There will be positive stories as well as stories that are riddled with highs and lows.

This podcast has been created for new and expectant parents (and anyone else who fancies a listen!).   By sharing a wide range of unique feeding stories, I hope that this podcast increases awareness about the triumphs and challenges new parents can face when feeding their babies in the first 12 months of life.