Just a message of hope for others, I don’t know why I wanted to write this I guess I didn’t see that many success story’s after a nightmare first time round.
I’ve got flat nipples, and breastfeeding my first was an absolute nightmare.
Tongue tie, an infection, nipple shields, no interest from babe to feed, the lot! I ended up pretty much exclusively pumping and bottle-feeding for the first 9 months.
Round two, I went in prepared, my second was interested in breastfeeding but again couldn’t grip the nip/areole, cracked nipples galore. I brought out the dreaded nipple shield and we both slowly got the hang of it. Come to 8 weeks they came off the nipple shield and onto the boob. I could scream at how thrilled I am because anyone who has exclusively pumped or used a nipple shield for a long period knows how much of an absolute faff they are.
6 months on still breastfeeding and so happy with how easy it is to just get my boobs out and feed them.
So if your reading this and struggling, I feel for you, I know how hard it is. Go day by day, a tonne of topless time, lots of nipple cream, cold packs, hot packs, the wound care gel things! Be very very kind to yourself, for me it has been totally worth persisting with it.