Below we are collating stories of how open access to breastfeeding specialists in Kent (IBCLCs and breastfeeding counsellors) helped breastfeeding families in Kent.
Want to submit your story? Send it to keepkentbreastfeeding@gmail.com
Jennifer in Tenterden
When I had my daughter 7 years ago I couldn’t get her to latch she would scream and fight me – being my first baby I didn’t know what was normal! I had midwives grab her head and my boob and force her on which caused a lot of distress to myself and my new baby! I felt like I was starving her & I ended up combined feeding for 5 months, having to use a nipple shield – I was never referred by midwife or health visitor. I then had my son 3 years ago; he latched on straight away and I thought all was ok, then by 3 weeks he fed and screamed constantly with still no weight gain – I felt like I had failed all over again and switched to bottles. No one referred us to a breast feeding clinic & I didn’t think anyone could help us. In June this year I had my third baby, she latched on perfectly and was back up to birth weight by 10 days – I thought I had cracked it! Then she began to feed all day, scream between feeds and wouldn’t sleep. I spoke to health visitors and was told it’s normal, she’s building your supply. I was becoming exhausted but felt I should continue as I had strep b and all the anti bodies I could give her I would! By 9 weeks, her weight gain started to slow down, I then met Louise Barnett. She told me to come along to breast feeding clinic. Louise found Darcey had a posterior tongue tie! I had every sign but the two pedestrians, midwife and a handful of health visitors DID NOT pick it up! I struggled feeding for 12 weeks until she had her tongue tie cut, by 16 weeks her feeding is great, I’m no longer in pain and I have a happy content baby. If it wasn’t for the breast feeding clinic and the consultants who run these clinics I would have felt I had failed again! This is why it is paramount these centres stay open. The emotional support is so important when something so natural can be so difficult if the support is not at hand!
Caroline Mitford, Ashford
Baby Tom is now (Oct 2017) nearly 5 months old. He is solely breastfed. I found feeding Tom very difficult at first and the hospital Midwives told me to attend the Breastfeeding support group to help build my confidence.I attended Breastfeeding support group every week for the first 6 to 8 weeks. The Lactation Consultants diagnosed us with Thrush, which the Health Visitor had missed and the Doctor had treated incorrectly. I had help with positioning and getting a better latch as well.I am still breastfeeding and I know that without the self referral, appointment free, local and specialist support that we received we would have stopped breastfeeding months ago. I can’t thank the Lactation Consultants and Peer Supporters enough for their care and support.
When my daughter was born, my 3rd child, feeding her my own milk was one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever overcome. Looking back, 4 years later, I can see that the struggle was worth every minute I spent with her at my breast, every weighing clinic and breastfeeding group I attended. Every book, article and forum that I read. It made me the person I am today, it’s made me realise the strength I have and how support from others, underpinned that strength and led me on to work in the field of breastfeeding support. It has given her and I an incredible bond and it’s given her body and mind the healthy start that, even if not exactly how nature intended, will bring her wellbeing for the rest of her life.
In 2013, when she was born, I knew that there was a high chance I wouldn’t make all the milk I needed to. I had had breast surgery in 2011 but because I had fed both of my sons for around 12 months I felt confident that my body would figure it out, that it would know what it needed to do in order to feed another baby. Well, I was wrong.
I first approached a lactation consultant in pregnancy who explained we would have to wait and see how things went but that there was lots we could do once my baby was here. She gave me a list of resources to go away and read. When she was born, I was thrilled to be producing milk and she took to the breast with ease. I was lucky enough to live in Kent where there are drop-in lactation consultant clinics. On day 9 my baby had been admitted to a hospital for the early signs of dehydration. I was heartbroken but knew instantly that my surgery meant she wasn’t getting enough milk. My severed ducts were preventing the milk from coming through. I agreed with the drs that supplementing the milk I was able to give her was the right thing to do. The next morning I was able to go straight to the drop-in-clinic to ask for support with doing this.
Supplementing or topping-up whilst breastfeeding is a really hard thing to do. This is especially true for those with a low supply and those with small babies where supply isn’t yet established yet. Babies need to feed at the breast often in order to send messages back to the breast to make more milk. The amount of top-up needs to be carefully judged so that babies want to feed regularly but also get enough milk over all.
Seeing a lactation consultant meant I could have support to do all of this. She gave me an at breast supplementer and helped me work out the amount of extra milk to give. The supplementer was hard to use at first. It leaked, it was fiddly as it needed cleaning and sterilising, and most of all I was just gutted that my daughter wouldn’t get the same breastfeeding experience that her brothers did. And with that I felt guilt, and plenty of it. But I knew that by avoiding bottles, I was giving my milk supply the best chance of increasing.
I went back to the clinic for several weeks, each week I took along my daughters weights from the health visitor and we worked out together whether we could increase or decrease the supplement in order to keep my milk supply going. She encouraged me to express between feeds and helped me to source medication to increase my supply. Each week between clinics I went along to my local breastfeeding group where I was around other women who breastfed and some of which had had low supply. It was lovely to chat to people who got it, who understood the struggle but also the deep need I had to breastfeed my baby. As the weeks went on my supply increased and I was able to provide 50% of what she needed. The rest she had was formula as sadly there were no donor milk options available to me.
I continued to breastfeed my daughter. After 9 months she didn’t need any formula and she went on to breastfeeding well into toddlerhood. My experience taught me so much about the importance of breastmilk for health and that so many women have an intense, primitive need to provide it for their babies. It taught me that it takes a village to raise a child and support a mother through difficult times. But most importantly it taught me the necessity of good quality breastfeeding support in our modern culture. A culture where many of our Mothers and Aunties didn’t breastfeed. A culture where breastfeeding knowledge has dissipated and so many don’t understand how it works. A culture where Women are afraid to breastfeeding their babies in public and feel it’s something they should feel embarrassed about. It led me to become a lactation consultant myself and pass on the knowledge and support that was given to me and my daughter. I’m so happy to be paying it forwards every single day.
This is just a snapshot of the help I received over several months. I can’t go into every small detail of the rollercoaster ride that was breastfeeding my daughter, but I can tell you that I couldn’t have done it without regular access to a lactation consultant. If I had had to wait to see one, I would have supplemented with bottles and probably with too much milk, causing my own supply to drop even further. I needed to return and tweak things many times. Because I had 2 older children I needed to be able to go somewhere that they were welcome. Breastfeeding groups were my life for theses 9 months, I needed them and without them I am in no doubt that hint of post-natal depression that I had, would have ballooned into something much bigger.
Breastfeeding rates in Kent have increase by an amazing 10% in the last 4 years. This surely has to be down to the specialist clinics and the everyday peer support groups that have been in place. A service that offers any less than what is available now will have a huge impact on the number of breastfeeding families in Kent and ultimately the long term health of our County.