**BREASTFEEDING STRUGGLES**

BREASTFEEDING STRUGGLES . Being a midwife doesn't make me exempt from breastfeeding problems. You know all babies are different right? I have only ever had 1 baby that latched on like a dream within minutes of birth and he was my first and I fed him for 10 months. With my other 4 children it wasn't so easy. . As some of you know I had twins at 34 weeks and they hadn't developed the suckling reflex well enough to suck anything - even a bottle. After 3 weeks of being tubefed and me pumping milk continuously, they were finally able to suckle a bottle but not directly from me. By the time they were 8 weeks old, they finally learned how to latch onto the boob but by that point, the stress had taken its toll on me and my supply had dwindled. After supplementing with formula for a while, they eventually were formula fed exclusively by about 10 weeks. . My 4th and 5th babies both had tongue ties that impacted feeding initially. 5 days after having my 4th, the pain was unbearable and I knew something wasn't right. I looked in his mouth and couldn't see anything obvious so felt with my finger instead. He had a posterior tongue tie that I insisted was snipped via a simple procedure at the hospital. Afterwards he fed fine for 18 months. . My 5th baby didn't latch on and feed from me until she was 36 hours old. She just couldn't do it and kept slipping off the breast. I knew she had a tongue tie like her brother and hand expressed tiny amounts of colostrum into a syringe to feed her during that time until there was someone available on the ward to perform the tongue tie separation procedure. The early intervention was a breastfeeding life saver and here we are still feeding 18 months later. . I'm lucky that as a midwife I had the knowledge and experience to identify the problem, seek support and push for a resolution. . Breastfeeding doesn't always come easy for everyone or every baby but with the right support and information, it can be the start of a wonderful journey. If you want to breastfeed but are having problems, reach out to your midwife, lactation consultant or local infant feeding team ❤