With all the hype in the news recently about how breast feeding makes your baby smarter, richer and healthier I decided to ask a couple of mummies who’s babies I have photographed about their choice on how to feed their babies.
In this blog I speak to a mummy who exclusively breastfeeds her baby & find out why.
Isobel was just 16 days new when I had the pleasure of photographing her at my boutique studio in Chesterfield.
A couple of weeks later I met up with Isobel & her mummy Lou to have a chat about why she decided to breast feed.
So tell my a little about why you decided to breast feed?
“When I had Madison 9 years ago, every thing went wrong. I had an emergency c-section, I didn’t see her for the first 5 hours and was on morphine & could hardly move. I couldn’t physically feed her, but because I had put in my notes that I wanted to breast feed it took them quite a while to give me a bottle. I felt that they were hoping I would just get on with it. In the end I had to tell them if they didn’t give me a bottle I would send my Sean out to get some. I felt guilty and like I was letting her down and got little support to say it was ok to bottle feed. So I was a bit more determined that this time round if I could, I would feed Isobel myself.”
How did you find the support this time round?
“Even though I was booked in for a planned C-sec Isobel came naturally the day before. The staff were fantastic and put her straight on me. There is a great Breast feeding support network too that you can go to if your having problem or just for support.”
Have you had any problems feeding Isobel?
“I had mastitis within the first 7 days & the staff at the breast feeding clinic let me use a breast pump to help express until I was better. I’ve had sore & cracked nipples and she consumed blood and threw it up. Im a little tired as it only me doing the feeding at the moment”
How long do you plan on breast feeding?
“As long as possible, defiantly up until she’s teething, I don’t fancy doing it when they come through. I will carry on by expressing as long as my milk keeps coming”.
How are you finding breast feeding in public?
“Not too bad, Im a bit wary about feeding in public because its so new to me. Tesco have a dedicated room for feeding, so we tend to be doing a lot of our shopping there at the moment.”
So we’ve all heard in the news that breast feeding you baby is linked to a higher IQ and they tend to be richer. How do you think about that?
“I don’t think I would agree with that. Madison was exclusively bottle fed and is a very clever and top of her class. “
Click here to see a guide to all the places in Chesterfield that have breast feeding facilities.
Do you agree with the researchers that a breast fed baby will have a higher IQ & be richer?
How did you decide to feed your baby?
Check out my next blog to hear from a mummy who exclusively formula feeds her baby.
My daughter is a litlte over 4 months now. About 5 weeks ago, I started supplementing with formula on occasion because I was having trouble pumping enough milk to sustain her (she began to refuse the breast after having the bottle during the days and breast at night). After a while of not breast feeding and only pumping, the milk starts to go down, so eventually she is mainly on formula.It is perfectly fine to give your baby formula and breast feed, I would suggest asking your pediatrician what brand he/she recommends for your baby. Keep in mind that if you do give some formula, it is likely that once you start, it will be a slow progression to solely formula. I was comfortable with that, as I was happy that she had formula solely for the first 3 months and she received the important immune building nutrients from me that were best. As for number of ounces, I always let her drink as much as she would like. During growth spurts she wnats more sometimes she wants less. Right now she drinks about 4 oz per feeding, and she is thriving well.