Hello I’m back in the blogosphere! Well perhaps. I’m back for a bit anyway, probably sporadically and unreliably…so no real change there. The big news is that I wasn’t waiting long and I gave birth to my second child a few weeks ago.
The result is that breastfeeding is fairly high up on my activity list at the moment and I thought I would keep a little record of this final breastfeeding adventure with Breastfeeding Bites, a pleasingly alliterative but otherwise really rather unpleasant title.
I should point out now that this series is very much a record of my personal experience and is entirely unofficial. All advice or opinion is unendorsed and merely a ‘take it or leave it’ byproduct of my newborn-addled brain! All I can promise is that there will be biscuits. And bracelets. Oh and breastfeeding.
So onwards, and I’ll start with my first ever first feed with my son just over three years ago. The birth was long, hard and I was in hospital with an epidural (neither of which I wanted, both of which I’d made peace with at the time). The birth wasn’t a negative experience at all but I was a little shocked and exhausted…and then I was passed a baby. An actual baby…one that I didn’t recognise and felt very numb towards – it was a feeling that didn’t last fortunately but was a far cry from the rush of love and maternal joy I’d been led to believe you were supposed to feel upon meeting your baby.
My son had a natural flair for breastfeeding, but it very quickly transpired that I didn’t. Who knew breastfeeding was potentially something the mother and child have to actually learn!? My memories of the first feed are a little blurry but certainly involve him and me being mandhandled by various midwives to facilitate feeding. Not quite magical.

And now onto this one, entirely different and definitely the winner…not that it’s a competition…is it!? My second child was born at home a few Wednesday’s ago. She emerged and was straight into my arms. Four minutes later, after a quick cuddle and (fairly one-way) chat, she latched on having inherited her brother’s natural talent for feeding and being partnered with a mother who, although still clumsy, had at least done it before and was, this time, full of all the right sort of hormones. Magical.

I think if there is any conclusion to be drawn it is that the first feed can be all sorts of things with so many factors coming into play, not least the birth experience, the ease with which the mother and baby get the hang of things and whether immediate skin on skin can be facilitated. It might be lovely or it might be difficult, painful and stressful but with the right support it could be just the first feed of many with plenty of times to come for you both to achieve a pleasant feeding experience.
See you next time for: Colostrum – The Calm Before the Storm!
Welcome back!
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Thank you!
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Congratulations! I’m so glad it all went ok and your daughter is just beautiful 🙂 To be fair, the pic of your son proves that obviously this is a genetic thing as he was very cute too.
I hope you’re getting some sleep between feeds. I often passed out during feeds. I didn’t think it was possible to fall asleep standing up until I had my son!
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Congratulations Lucy. I have been wondering how you are and how things are going. I don’t know how common it is but certainly my close friends found breast feeding the second time round much easier. Be really kind to yourself in these early days.
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Thank you so much Kirsten. To be honest everything seems easier this time round…! Particularly as my expectations of it all are in the right place and I’m not rushing anything. Hope you’re well. X
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Congratulations and welcome back. Your daughter is stunning and we’ll done with breastfeeding x
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Congrats and I’m glad breastfeeding so is going well so far! It can be so much harder than you expect it to be. I really struggled those first few weeks, but I’m still breastfeeding now at 16 months, though we’re starting to wind this whole boobing thing down.
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Oh i agree, so much harder than expected sometimes! How lovely that you were able to overcome any struggles. Good luck with the winding down…
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I am expecting and will be the first of my family to breastfeed, or try to. I am so excited to embrace in this journey so I wanted to thank you for this post. I enjoy your blog. I look forward to reading more.
–Nika Denise Moore
The College Mommy Chicago
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I’ve only just seen this, thank you so much and good luck. Here if you have any questions…I’ve got a few more ‘bites’ to come in the new year x
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