Bonding and buses: my breastfeeding experience
Alesha wrote her first blog about breastfeeding for bubbalicious back in March. Now she updates us on her progress:
Hi everyone, I thought it was about time I updated you on my breastfeeding experience, Loki is now 7 months old (wow the times gone quickly) and I'm happy to say still breastfed!
Getting heavy!
In my last blog I told you all about Loki's weight loss the week after he was born, well that definitely isn't a problem now! My not so little man has put on huge amounts of weight and at 7 months he looks more like a 9 month old. At one of his weigh ins the midwife looked concerned as she asked how he was fed, when I said he was breastfed she sighed with relief, then explained to me that his rate of weight gain was fine for a breastfed baby but would have been a bit much if he was bottle fed.
Attached!
Me and Loki have an extremely close bond, which I think is largely due to breastfeeding, our bond is amazing but not without its difficulties! I haven't had as night off in the 7 months he's been here, not only is it hard to go out as he's so clingy and will no longer drink from a bottle but I can't bring myself to leave him for too long. I think I'm as attached to him as he is to me! He is also a very cuddly baby and doesn't like to be put down, which is lovely but with his fast weight gain, I'm going to look like a body builder the amount I carry him around!
Having a clingy baby can be great at times too, it’s so flattering when the only person that can make him happy is me or the only thing that will calm him down and make him feel better is a feed and a cuddle with mummy.
Trying not to flash!
Since my last blog I've tackled the challenge of breastfeeding in public! This is something I tried to avoid for as long as possible, mainly because my boyfriend wasn't entirely comfortable with it but when we were on a bus and my son needed feeding I had no choice but to give it ago. At first I felt terribly awkward and was really worried I was going to flash everyone on the bus, but with a little help from the boyfriend and some well-placed blankets it was nice and easy and discrete and my boy was fed and happy. Since then I've fed in public more often, with the cover of a breastfeeding scarf, and I no longer feel awkward, in fact I feel proud feeding in public after all it's natural and great for my baby, my boyfriend is also much more comfortable with it now.
Weaning
I decided to wait until Loki was 6 months before giving him solids, as that was what my midwife recommended, it felt like ages to wait but I'm glad I did as it's much more work for me that just lifting my top. When he turned 6 months I gave him his first meal of baby rice and he took to eating really well, after that I decided to make his food by cooking and blending fruit and veg and he's tried and loved loads of different things. Loki has had fussy times where he has refused to eat because he would rather breastfeed and have a cuddle with mummy but he does seem to enjoy his food and hopefully I will be able to slowly wean him off the breast milk.
I hope to wean Loki off the breast by the time he is a year old but I will definitely miss it. Breastfeeding Loki has been the most amazing thing I have ever done, I think I love it as much as he does. It has been hard at times and definitely wasn't as easy as I thought it would be but I can't imagine having fed him any other way.
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