Nat and Sandon’s journey | Jaundice and finding donor milk
We spoke to new mother Nat about using donor breastmilk and the ups and downs of the fourth trimester.
Hi Nat. Can you tell us a little about how your breastfeeding journey started and what you experienced in the early days with a new baby?
Before I gave birth I suppose I wanted to be as educated as possible. So I went to a breastfeeding class at the hospital. I really thought that breastfeeding would be quite natural – that's what you’re made to believe sometimes. So I was ready and thought everything would go really naturally and it didn't, we had a bit of a tough journey at the start.
I gave birth naturally and everything went really well. I had a perfect birth really, but then afterwards some of the issues started. We were in hospital for about a week and in that time it was really challenging because I had every midwife telling me different things, different ways of feeding him, different ways of latching him, different ways of holding him, actually it was quite intrusive.
James with newborn Sandon
My biggest support in hospital was my partner James, he was amazing.
Sandon was whisked off two days after he was born and put into special care nursery because he had high levels of jaundice.
The midwives were saying to me: “you're not making enough milk for him.”, when actually he just needed extra as he was under the UV lights.
Obviously you feel like a little bit of a failure as a new mum being told that.
We were given the options of putting him on an I.V. drip or formula, luckily I had done a little bit of prior research and was aware that we could be providing him with donor breastmilk. We were told we couldn’t give him donor milk as the hospital was unable to find the consent form. We ended up having a lot of support from the paediatrician who fought for us and luckily we were able to have him on donor milk in the hospital. That was one of the toughest days of our lives.
When we left the hospital we had a million different ways to feed him and not sure which way was best.
Can you tell us about your forth trimester and how things went once you came home from the hospital?
Sandon had quite a significant tongue and lip tie and it was really affecting the way that he was latching. Two days later the damage was really significant, I had part of my nipples falling off, I was bleeding, I was in tears every time that I fed and it actually felt worse than giving birth when I was breastfeeding. It was horrible. Every time he cried I didn't want to feed him, my motherly instincts were telling me not to give up and just to continue breastfeeding. I suppose it was at that stage that people were telling me to go on to formula. If I didn't have some of the education and awareness around the benefits of breastfeeding I would have given up.
Has there been a positive side to your breastfeeding journey?
Breastfeeding is special, I suppose it's that attachment and connection. I'm in no pain any more whatsoever. I think it's the best thing for me, I'm really proud that we got through it, it wasn't easy. I ended up being provided a lot of support, support that I needed to find for myself, it was a lot of work, but I'm very happy now, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Watch Nat’s breastfeeding story film below.