Blog Hop & Grand Prize

Thanks for hopping over from Monkey and Mouse and welcome to my post for the Keep Britain Breastfeeding Scavenger Hunt: Day 6: The People Behind The Breastfeeder

Today’s sponsors include Ardo Breastpumps who are giving away a Calypso Single Breastpump, Breastvest who are offering an essential breastvest duo (1x black and 1x white) in your size, and Mother Loves Cookies who are providing a box of delicious lactation cookies for our Grand Prize winner. 

Over £700 worth of goodies are up for grabs; entries via the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.

My Giveaways and Discount Code

MAM Baby UK , MulitMam, and BreastVest, and Mother Loves Cookies are celebrating World Breastfeeding Week 2015 with you and I today, and supporting my Keep Britain Scavenger Hunt Day 6 post with the following fab giveaways and discounts:

Mother Loves Cookies’ box of delicious lactation cookies | 20% discount on Mother Loves lactaton cookies with the code ‘aNoviceMum’  | Breastvest | MAM Breastfeeding and Steriliser Set | MAM Breastfeeding Pads | a MultiMam New Mum Pack and Loyon | 50% discount on a MultiMam New Mum Pack and MultiMam balm with the code ‘aNoviceMum’

Months ago, I wrote about 5 groups of people whose support was crucial on my breastfeeding journey. Today, I am reflecting on my husband’s place on this road; it’s so special to be doing this during the week of our wedding anniversary!

My dear husband,

You were there at the start of this incredible journey of nourishing our son. This is one aspect of mothering / parenting that has changed my life / our lives so much. Funny how we didn’t quite talk about it as such, until it started happening. 🙂

You dropped me of at the NHS breastfeeding course those many months ago; and boy, do I wish we went through the notes I made? Oh yes, I do … in hindsight of course.

Fast forward to our very first latch … you remember those early hours and beyond in more detail than I do. I am so grateful that you took all those pictures that capture some of those really special moments for me. Without them and your recollections, I wouldn’t be able to review these precious times in the same way.

I remember how difficult it was for you watching me in so much pain, both at the hospital and at home afterwards. Do you remember recording some of the moments at the hospital when some folks were trying to teach me about how to get the perfect latch? 🙂

… But the weeks of agony at every single latch when we got home!

I remember the look on your face, as I cried and winced in my attempts to do it correctly. I remember your frustrations when I just didn’t seem to get the latching and unlatching techniques some of the health professionals taught me.

Do you remember my annoyance when you thought if I just did this and that, that it would work better? You see, the art of breastfeeding is a steep learning curve; probably the steepest for those of us that it didn’t come naturally to.

Learning to breastfeed is definitely, without doubt, the most difficult action I’ve had to learn to do in my life.

I was annoyed and frustrated with your some of your offers of help in those days, because I felt you didn’t know how it was to walk in my shoes. I mean, how could you? 🙂

I was annoyed because you were alright with letting it go and using the alternative but I wasn’t. I was annoyed because I couldn’t communicate to you, or indeed quite understand why I had to exclusively breastfeed our son.

I just had to feed him like this and I was prepared to keep trying, praying, hoping, reading, and trying, and trying. I just couldn’t accept that it wouldn’t work for us in the way I wanted it to. I couldn’t allow the lack of needed information at the start, to have the final say. It became the battle of my life for our son; a fight I just couldn’t lose.

Even though it was baffling for you and you felt helpless many times, I’m so glad you were by my side.

I’m glad you were there …

to give me breaks when you came home from work.
to feed Precious Sparkle his Formula top-ups when I was way too emotional to.
through sorting out his tongue-tie.
to take us for one-on-one support at our local La Leche League, and subsequent meetings.

I am thankful that you ..

could leave work that bit earlier to make it to the Lactation Consultant that helped us … listening to tips and taking pictures of breastfeeding positions to help me remember later.
were there when I had the lump scare and we had to go to the breast clinic at the hospital.

I am so glad you came along side me with my decision to keep on at it. Even then in hindsight, I think my decision was to the detriment of my enjoyment of the early months of Precious Sparkle’s life.

I’ll never forget the day you took time off work because it was all too much for me and I couldn’t cope. Thank God that your work was understanding through it all. I also remember the day you had to rush home from work when I was beyond freaked out because it had all gotten so lumpy. 🙂

You were there as my confidence grew to feed in company and public, especially as I figured out what to wear to breastfeed. How could I have made breastfeeding work beyond maternity leave without your emotional support? And thanks for coping with the occasional rants about my ‘you’re not still breastfeeding‘ pet peeve. 🙂

I know you’re not a fan of feeding to sleep because of its impact on your ability to get Precious Sparkle to sleep. I know that you’re not keen on Precious Sparkle’s breastfeeding acrobatics because it’s sometimes uncomfortable for me. I know that you have reservations about my desire to breastfeed until Precious Sparkle self weans. I know if it comes to it, tandem nursing is not something that you’re excited about.

Nonetheless, I know you’re there for me and I can count on you.

I know this is not just my breastfeeding story, but our breastfeeding story!

Thank you so much for being there through it all dear one, especially the worst of it.

I thank God that we’re walking this parenting road together.

~
Who was / is your biggest breastfeeding _{(change to another precious thing in your life if this doesn’t apply)} supporter? How did they support you?
~

For more tips on the people behind the breastfeeder please hop on over to Odd Socks and Lollipops where you can gain further entries into the grand prize draw.

Remember you need to earn 50 points to be eligible, full details can be found on the Keep Britain Breastfeeding Site. UK residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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aNoviceMum

Founder | Writer I Editor I Manager

First-time Mum / Freelance Writer / Thinker / Educator / Business graduate / Improving Photographer / so much more. \\ Recording my mu-m-sings from the South East of England | Sharing lessons from my life's journey to encourage and inspire | Filled with gratitude for my faith, family, and friends.

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