November 27, 2024

My Breastfeeding & Expressing Journey

My breastfeeding journey with my daughter Lily started in hospital with that first beautiful post-birth feed.

I feel really grateful that she latched immediately and continued to suckle at the breast for some time in those early hours after delivery. I’ve now successfully breastfed her for three months, but…

“I’ll be honest and say it hasn’t all been smooth sailing.”

When my milk actually came in I was in a lot of pain. For almost a week my breasts were severely engorged and extremely sore.

I found the only way to relieve the pain was to either have a long hot shower, massaging the rock like formations or to express off the excess milk. To express, I used the MAM 2in1 Breast Pump which worked wonders in those early weeks and still does today.

Breastfeeding & Expressing Journey

During the engorgement stage, I remember my health care nurse coming over for a routine visit and asking how myself and Lily were going. I explained that everything was fine with Lily but I’d been in tears all morning due to the pain I was experiencing with my breasts.

She commented that from what she could tell my breasts didn’t seem too encouraged. Then all of sudden Lily started screaming for a feed. I undid my shirt and the…

“look of shock on her face told another story.”

Breastfeeding & Expressing Journey

Luckily the engorged breasts settled down eventually and the fact I started to express early on meant I was on my way to building a great supply of breast milk. I knew that in those early months I had some key events such as weddings and hens and I wanted to be able to let my hair down a little but still exclusively feed Lily breast milk.

I also wanted to be able to give my fiancé the opportunity to give Lily a MAM East Start™ Anti-Colic Bottle (enter code: TRYMEFREEBLOG to claim a free sample excluding P&P) occasionally as I know how much he enjoys that bonding time.

Young Baby Being Bottle Fed

Here are some of the reasons my expressing journey with the MAM 2in1 Breast Pump has been such a success:

  • The funnel fit perfectly and I didn’t feel like I was losing / wasting any breast milk.
  • I could easily switch the pump from manual to electric in just 2 simple steps.
  • I loved that the electric mode, displayed how long I’d been pumping and offered up to 9 different suction levels (and it seemed oh so quiet!)
  • The manual mode also gave me the flexibility to pump out and about. I even pumped in the car on a long car journey we took.

Young Baby Sleeping

I genuinely believe fed is best and I don’t judge anyone for not breastfeeding their children. For me I wanted to be able to give breastfeeding my best shot and the MAM 2in1  Breast Pump has definitely played a large part in me being able to achieve that.