Jessie's Breastfeeding Journey
For me it began during pregnancy, when at 17 weeks I developed mastitis. I noticed a warm red patch on one of my breasts and by the next day both breasts were red hot and inflamed. After a round of oral antibiotics followed by 2 stints in hospital for iv antibiotics due to it not clearing for almost 10 weeks, I ended up going to see a specialist. Luckily for me, albeit frustrating I was physically well and had no masses that could be drained, so we decided to ride it out. My specialist had had a few cases before where birth was the magic treatment. Thankfully It ended up clearing itself as I entered the third trimester and I prayed that that was the end of it.
Fast forward to my babys birth, initially we both struggled with him being quite little and my flat nipples he caused a bit of damage from the get go. I then had a very severe case of engorgment once my milk came in and I was paranoid about getting mastitis again. If it wasnt for a week long stay at the maternity ward and without the help of the amazing midwives I might have thrown in the towel because it was a rough time! But once things settled down our breastfeeding journey together was pretty positive. We started off by using a shield (my saving grace, allowing my nipples to heal and helped him to get a good latch). I was quite anxious about feeding without it, but I am happy to say that with the help of a LC and my midwife about 3weeks pp we tried a feed without the shield and he latched perfectly straight away and was smooth sailing from there! That was until about 12 weeks postpartum where I started feeling discomfort about half an hour after a feed. We came to the conclusion that I had developed a case of raynauds phenomenon. Thankfully it seems to be just a mild case and though I experience discomforts at times, it could be a lot worse. Despite this we have continued to feed (with no more cases of mastitis so far 
) for almost 6months and I am so glad that I never gave up and trusted that myself and my little boy would figure it out together. Its true what they say, breastfeeding is hard and for us it was a rollercoaster but despite all the ups and downs I am grateful to my body for what it has been able to do and feed and nourish my little man the way it has.
) for almost 6months and I am so glad that I never gave up and trusted that myself and my little boy would figure it out together. Its true what they say, breastfeeding is hard and for us it was a rollercoaster but despite all the ups and downs I am grateful to my body for what it has been able to do and feed and nourish my little man the way it has.