Celebrating every breastfeeding journey for World Breastfeeding Week

Celebrating Every Breastfeeding Journey for World Breastfeeding Week by Mim Jenkinson.

Sponsored by Medela.

World Breastfeeding Week runs yearly, from August 1^st to the 7^th.

It’s an opportunity to celebrate everyone’s breastfeeding journey, no matter how short or long that may be.

Our reasons for breastfeeding, and how long we breastfeed for, are entirely unique to us and our situation.

My Breastfeeding Journey

For me, breastfeeding my babies was always my goal. I understood the health benefits it could give to my children and longed to have the opportunity to breastfeed both.

My daughter was born three weeks early, although at nearly 4kgs, I’m glad she made an early appearance! She was a healthy, beautiful baby and I was so delighted to finally be a mum.

In the hospital, she breast-crawled to her first feed and there it began – my breastfeeding journey.

It wasn’t always easy

Whilst she was a fully-developed baby, as she was a few weeks early, my milk supply wasn’t quite there. In fact, in the early weeks, I had to do a lot to encourage my milk supply.

A very kind midwife loaned me a hospital grade breast pump and we found that expressing between feeds helped to establish a supply.

When I asked her for a recommendation to purchase my own pump, she recommended Medela. It didn’t come as a surprise as so many of my mum friends had raved about the Medela Swing Maxi breast pump throughout my pregnancy.

Related: read other mum’s reviews of the Medela Swing Maxi here.

I’ll be honest, as an expectant mum, I didn’t really engage much in talk about breast pumps – the whole things seemed a bit clinical.

However, when faced with a low supply and a longing to breastfeed my new baby, it was the Medela Swing that made that possible for me.

Medela are the breastfeeding professionals, offering solutions to help enhance mother and baby health through the life-giving benefits of breast milk.

They support all breastfeeding mothers, no matter what their individual journey looks like.

My new breast friend

When I returned to work, six months later, the same breast pump allowed me to build a supply of breast milk by pumping at work and home when I could.

Two years later, baby number two arrived. Despite being told that second babies often arrived early, this one was a little late to the party! However, when he did arrive, our little family was complete.

Breastfeeding for the second time around started off much easier.

My milk supply was good and this little baby took to breastfeeding as well as his sister had.

I think, overall, I felt a lot less stressed myself too. Not just about breastfeeding either, but about caring for a newborn.

I hadn’t cracked motherhood, but I had a lot more faith in myself in being a good mum to my children.

I loved breastfeeding, despite the challenges

A low supply first time around made breastfeeding quite stressful for the first few months. Then, one day, it just worked. Using the breast pump had been time-consuming and I sometimes resented having to put in the extra hours when others seemed to have it easy but, thankfully and luckily, it all worked out in the end for us.

Of course, as I’ve spoken to more mum friends, I now know that sometimes even if the journey looks easy, it isn’t always. We all face our own unique challenges and look to different avenues for support.

When my son was almost six months old, I began to wean him as I was returning to work again.

I treasured those last feeds: staring into his big brown eyes as he looked up at me with so much hope and need.

The final hurdle thrown at me was when I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

There was one last feed, the very last time I would ever breastfeed a baby. It didn’t feel sad, it was the ultimate celebration for me.

I resented the diagnosis, of course, and I felt that my body was letting me down. Until I remembered that it was the same body that had given life to my beautiful babies.

I had grown them, nourished them and held them.

Everyone’s breastfeeding journey is different

I’m a firm believer in “fed is best”. Whether you breastfeed or not, as long as your baby is fed, that’s all that matters.

If you breastfeed for one feed, six months or a year, celebrate that during World Breastfeeding Week.

You can find out more about the Medela range here.

From the 6^th – 19^th August in celebration of breastfeeding awareness week Medela will donate $10 of the sale of every electric breast pump through Baby Bunting to the McGrath foundation to help support women with breast cancer.

GIVEAWAY CLOSED

And the winner is…Talina!

Medela recently invited students to design a piece of art for their “Mother’s Milk in Art” poster competition.

The collection of beautiful artwork is a unique translation of what breastfeeding means to each artist.

Some of our favourite entries are featured in this article and numbered 1 to 6.

Medela is kindly giving away $300 Medela store credit to help a mum’s breastfeeding journey.

To enter to win, complete the entry form and let us know: Which poster is your favourite and why?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Entries close at 11.59pm on August 15th 2018 and the winner will be announced in our newsletter, so make sure you’re signed up here.

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Terms and Conditions:

1. These terms and conditions of entry, including information on how to participate and prize details (Terms), apply to the promotion and entry into the promotion is deemed acceptance of these Terms.
2. The promoter is Tell Me Baby. ABN 25 155 148 093.
3. Entry is open to residents of Australia aged 18 years or over excluding:
   a) management, employees, directors and contractors of the Promoter, its related bodies corporate, firms or companies associated with the promotion (including suppliers of prizes);
   b) a spouse, de-facto spouse, parent, guardian, child or sibling of a person referred to in paragraph 3(a) of these Terms;
   c) persons who have breached the terms and conditions of any promotion run by or on behalf of the Promoter, (Eligible Entrants). The persons referred to in paragraph 3(b) of these Terms includes natural and non-natural relations (in the opinion of the Promoter) and the Promoter is responsible for determining whether a person is an Eligible Entrant in its absolute discretion.
4. This Promotion is a game of skill. Chance plays no part in determining the winner.
5. The Promotion ends at 11:59pm 15th August 2018.
6. To enter, Eligible Entrants must complete the entry form on tellmebaby.com.au
7. Your email address will be provided to Medela.
8. Prize delivery will be at the expense of Medela.
9. Incomplete entries or those that contain defamatory comments are ineligible to win.
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11. Eligible Entrants may only enter once and in their own name.
12. The winning Eligible Entry/Entries will be chosen by a selection panel based on the entrant’s creativity and skill. The judges’ decisions are final and no correspondence will be entered in to.
13. If an Eligible Entrant wins a prize, they must be a Subscriber at the time of it being awarded.
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24. The Promoter and its promotional partners will use the personal information contained in your entry to conduct the promotion, and award the prize. If you win a prize, the Promoter can use your name to credit you for your entry and for marketing purposes.
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