Mum celebrates one year of breastfeeding AFTER mastitis, by calling for more professional support

A 24-year-old mum is calling for more support from professionals surrounding breastfeeding.

Mum to a one-year-old, Remi, feels there is not enough information available for mums-to-be on the difficulties of breastfeeding.  

In a lengthy Instagram post celebrating one full year of breastfeeding, Remi states: “Breastfeeding is HARD, it needs to be taught and it needs to be learned.”

The mum shares her personal view following a battle with mastitis soon after giving birth.

 

A post shared by MamaClog (@mamaclog) on Apr 27, 2017 at 11:01am PDT

Remi believes her battle came about as she wasn’t fully aware of the harsh realities of breastfeeding, something which she had thought came naturally.

“The lack of support and education surrounding breastfeeding is terrible. And I don't mean in terms of relaying the benefits of breastmilk and handing out lactation support leaflets.”

“I mean general education, about the basics of breastfeeding, about cluster feeding, about the problems that can arise and what to do, how to spot them and how to remedy them,” the mum-of-one added.

 

A post shared by MamaClog (@mamaclog) on Apr 30, 2017 at 12:09am PDT

Remi relayed her first night in hospital with her newborn, about how she was the only person on the ward opting to breastfeed.

She then went on to explain her admission to hospital when mastitis set in, with breast pumps not being available on the ward as nurses relayed:

“We're having trouble finding one as we don't get many breastfeeding mothers here.”

 

This is mastitis. After hitting the 1 year breastfeeding mark last Sunday I felt compelled to share my story. Breastfeeding did NOT come easy for me. My milk came in after 5 days. I wasn't aware that it could take that long, I didn't even necessarily know what "milk coming in" meant. (Nobody ever taught me.) I was the only mother breastfeeding on my ward. One women did try to breastfeed, but switched to formula after 12 hours because she "had no milk" (nobody taught her either.) While the other babies slept with full bellies, my son screamed and cried attached to my breast through the night. (What was cluster feeding? Nobody told me) When I got home, problems started to arise-my nipple literally cracked in half. I have never felt such pain, I dreaded every feed, but persisted with tears in my eyes until I was healed. (Nobody taught me that breastfeeding could be painful, nobody taught me what a good latch looked like) When feeding my son out in public I would either go to the bathroom or pump at home and feed him with a bottle. Because I felt embarrassed and as though I would make others uncomfortable. This resulted in clogged ducts and engorgement. (I feed freely in public now, and have done for a long time. Fuck this backwards society!) Then came mastitis. I remember waking up at 3am shivering, putting on my dressing gown and extra blankets and trying to feed my son. The pain. It was excruciating. I was shaking and sweating but freezing to my bones. At 5 am I woke up my boyfriend and told him I thought I needed to go to the hospital. We got my stepdad, a doctor, he took my temperature and said it was slightly high, but to take a paracetamol and try and sleep. 7am comes, I've had no sleep, and now I'm vomiting, he takes my temp again. 40 c. I had developed sepsis overnight. This was because I was not able to recognise the more subtle signs of mastitis (as I had seen no redness that day) I was rushed to resus, given morphine, anti sickness and the strongest antibiotics they could give, and separated from my baby for two nights. I was Heartbroken. Continued in comments…

A post shared by MamaClog (@mamaclog) on May 1, 2017 at 12:25pm PDT

Remi believes that many mums would continue to breastfeed if they were aware of the difficulties that could occur beforehand, becoming educated on the process before giving birth.

“If new mothers knew just how difficult it can be at first, more would take themselves to prenatal breastfeeding classes, buy books, join forums, and ask more questions.”

Adding: “But we don't, we just assume that it will feel as natural as breathing. Because no one ever told us.”