Debbie's story: the journey of mother training for breastfeeding advice
When my daughter was born, she struggled to latch on, but as a new mum I wasn't aware of how breastfeeding 'should' feel, so she was 5 days old before anyone realised that there was a problem. By this point she was quite severely dehydrated and was admitted to SCBU for 5 days. We eventually got her to latch on using nipple shields which I weaned her off over the course of the following 5 weeks to avoid interfere with my milk supply.
When my son was born, he also had trouble latching and I have since established that both he and my daughter had tongue ties which were undiagnosed.
Despite our difficult start, I went on to breastfeed my daughter for 16.5 months and my son for 17.5 months.
What we went through after my daughter's birth was very traumatic and I was keen to stop anyone else going through a similar experience due to lack of support and breastfeeding advice, so I qualified as a peer supporter and then a Mother Supporter with the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers, and I am now three quarters of the way through my breastfeeding counsellor training. I look forward to supporting other mums and giving them all the breastfeeding advice they need.
Created: November 19, 2009
