i newspaper today- Breast Is Best - front page

A report out by Unicef today has lead to the below front page on i newspaper today.

I am also right now watching Lorraine on ITV talking about it, and reporting on mums in the street talking about it.  She is now interviewing Natalie Cassidy.

Here is the headline/front page:

and my story can be found here. I had the two worst problems you can have (i) tongue tie and (ii) low milk supply but I still breastfed for 13 months. Don't get me wrong, I combination fed but I did it, and I don't regret it. Also, I established breastfeeding at SIX WEEKS so don't give up when you think it is too late. A counselor (with 18 years experience) told me that the latest she'd heard it had been established was 4 weeks. At that point Aaron was 5 weeks so I was going to give up, but I didn't, because it was too important to me. BUT I very nearly did, so I do want to educate people.

Liska xx

I can't believe it!

Aaron was 8 months yesterday and....... I am still breastfeeding........

I combination feed and due to low milk (he had a tongue tie) I think he only gets a couple of oz from me, but I am grateful nonetheless.  He is on there now while I type one-handed.

He didn't sleep through last night

Hi

Well we had 2 nights of good sleep but we did not make it to 3.......

BUT I know where we went wrong.

So... it was hard fitting all of Aaron's milk into a day that started at 11:15 (the time we woke yesterday)...

But we NEARLY did it (nearly being the operative word).

Feeds as follows:

11:30 breastfeeding followed by 180 ml bottle
3:00   breastfeeding followed by 180 ml bottle
7:00   breastfeeding followed by 180 ml bottle
9:30   breastfeeding followed by 180 ml bottle
11:30 breastfeeding followed by 180 ml bottle

Footnote: Aaron CAN go 4 hours between bottles but the above is cluster feeding (in the evening) as recommended by the Baby Whisperer.

Now, this is where we went wrong...

The last 2 nights, what made him sleep was an additional bottle of about 4 oz (120ml).

I thought I was on schedule to do it, given that he went to sleep 2 nights at 1 a.m. I thought I could give it to him an hour or too after the 11:30 p.m. one above..... but as we all know babies are NOT predictable...

So... what happened... Well he drank that 11:30 bottle on my knee and was sleepy all the way through.  He was firmly asleep on my chest by 12:15 (after midnight).. I kept him with me till about 12:45 to ensure it was a deep sleep (he was already in his sleeping bag)... Now I knew I needed to give him the extra bottle but I thought where do I put him while I make it???? Now, it is fine to give a sleeping baby a bottle which is why the Baby Whisperer books call it a "Dream Feed".  For babies who bed at 8 p.m. they suggest a dream feed no later than 11 p.m.

But what did I do....? I put him in his cot, and covered him in his patchwork quilt and by 1:15 I was laying in bed next to him (bedside cot we have)...... but as we'd had such a good sleep in I was still awake at 2:15... so I may as well have got him up and given him a dreamfeed, but just because he had that really neat tucked in quilt over him and looked so cosy, I did not want to disturb him.

If it was the sleeping bag alone it would have been so easy to just grab him.

So I only had 2 hours sleep before he had me up at 4:45 a.m.  Hubby was up as he'd not been in from work long, and he was full of beans with Aaron..... does that help make Aaron think it's the middle of the night nnnnnnnooooooooooooooo...

So after his bottle he was acting like it was the middle of the day... he hasn't done THAT since he was a newborn.  He ALWAYS settles after a middle of the night bottle... so we did not return to our beds till 6:15 a.m.

Anyway I have learned my lesson.

If he is awake it is an additional 6th bottle...
If he is asleep, same thing, but as a dream feed.

It is indisputable that for us it works...... when mummy does it.

But all the goalposts will change in a couple of weeks, when we are weaning and in unchartered territory again...

The 2 weaning books haven't arrived from Amazon yet :-(

I have GORGEOUS peek-a-boo photos I will try and post later.

In case you are wondering why the bottles are so large (oz) when I am breastfeeding, it is because he had a tongue tie at birth that took 3 weeks to be snipped... which compromised my milk, as did a c-section... I have no idea how much he gets from me, but delighted that we still manage it for the comfort and bonding factor... I do know he gets milk from me, as he sometimes does 15-30 minutes on each side... he is a very large boy though... 9 lbs 10 oz at birth and fitting into 6-9 months clothes at 5 months... also, he is NOT at all fat, just a BIG boy (big head hence the c-section, and very long)...

Liska
xxx