PRETTY YOUNG THING

If you have read my breastfeeding story then you will know that we had intended to breastfeed Amelia but she wouldn't latch. We were combination feeding at first and now she is only having formula. I was reluctant to buy things like a Sterilizer and bottles because I didn't think we would need them but we were very lucky to receive some products from Mam which was a lifesaver when we got home from the hospital.

First up is the Mam 6 in 1 Electric Steam Sterilizer*, it was really easy to put together and set up. We hadn't even got it out of the box but managed to get it set up once we got home with Amelia. Aswell as being a Sterilizer it's also a bottle warmer, Defrost & food warmer and Keep warm function. Amelia is now 12 weeks old so we've been using it everyday for the last 12 weeks. It's so easy to use, you can sterilize about 4/5 bottles at a time, right now Amelia is still drinking from smaller bottles. It only takes 3 minutes to Sterilize and a couple of minutes to cool down and dry the bottles. It's not very bulky so it doesn't take up loads of room in my kitchen and it's a nice simple design. 

We've also been using the Mam bottles. We were kindly sent a pack of 3 Easy Start Anti Colic bottles * and we got 2 in the Sterilizer aswell as a couple of small bottles that we were given at The Baby Show. I had a couple of other bottles just incase Amelia didn't like the Mam ones but she took the Mam bottle right away and we haven't had any problems at all. She was only taking 3 ounces for a while so these smaller bottles were perfect, they fit in my changing bag really easily, shes now taking 4 ounces so we wont be able to use these for much longer so we need to pick up some of the bigger bottles. I think they are really affordable and Mam do so really great bottle sets where you get a good selection of different sizes. They have kept really well and look brand new even though we've been using them for 12 weeks and they have been sterilized alot. 

We also use a soother with Amelia, again we use the Mam ones and she took to these really well. I didn't want to use a soother but wasn't completely against the idea. We didn't use them for a couple of weeks but I found Amelia would cry out for food and she would stress herself out and scream so much whilst she was waiting for us to sort out her bottle and cool it down etc where as the dummy would soothe her whilst she waited for her bottle. We've found she likes the dummy to soothe her at bedtime too. They have lasted well and still look brand new. 

We picked up the Mam powder box in Boots for when were out and about. It's really handy and easy to use. Each compartment can contain up to 40g of milk powder, which means it is also suitable for storing a variety of snacks, soothers and bottle teats. Again it fits easily into my changing bag. 

I'm loving all of the Mam products we've tried so far, as I mentioned above we need to get some of the bigger bottles for when Amelia starts drinking 5oz so I've been keeping an eye out for those and I might grab her a few new dummies too. 






* This post contains pr samples

Today I thought i'd share my breastfeeding experience. The whole thing has been abit of a whirlwind and I wanted to document it for next time we have a baby and to share my experience with others who are considering breastfeeding.

I knew I wanted to breastfeed Amelia but I was very open-minded and knew it would be hard but I would try everything I could to breastfeed.

I wanted to breastfeed for a number of reasons, I felt it would create a closer bond with my baby, money - I thought breastfeeding would be a more affordable way to feed my baby, the health benefits for baby and having milk on demand and not needing to worry about carrying bottles around, how I would heat milk up etc.

Amelia was born weighing 6lb 5oz and was considered small, because of this they had to monitor her blood sugars meaning she needed to be fed. We did skin to skin and Amelia was fine, pretty chilled and wasn't really crying for food but they explained that she needed to ideally be fed within the first hour so they could check her sugar levels. I tried to get her to latch for a while and the midwives helped but stressed that she needed to be fed so I agreed to give her a bottle. Once I was moved from the labour suite to a ward I knew I would want to give breastfeeding another try but I didn't really know what to do and how often she would need feeding etc how long to do it for? I gave it another shot and was given some more help from another midwife to try and get her to latch but she just screamed and screamed. I felt so bad and just gave her another bottle. Everytime she was due a feed I would try and try to get her to latch. I had help from the midwives to get her to latch but she still wasn't able to latch and was getting herself really worked up and stressed out. A midwife then gave me some syringes to try and get some milk by hand expressing. Again I didn't really know what to do but I tried and managed to get a little bit but I found this difficult because it took a while to get a decent amount and I just wanted to sleep. I was happy that i'd managed to give a little bit of my colostrum to Amelia even though we didn't manage  to establish feeding. We were kept in over night because we hadn't managed to breastfeed, I decided to just give her formula and thought we wouldn't be able to breastfeed anymore.

We got home and I thought that was it, I did try to get Amelia to latch a few more times but she still just screamed and got herself so worked up that it was quite distressing for me. I had the Medela Harmony breast pump  *already so I decided to try expressing and I was so excited when milk actually came out, and it was a really decent amount of milk too. The hand pump was really easy to use and I liked that it was quiet and discreet. It was also really easy to use. From this point I was expressing when I could which was very difficult as we were having alot of visitors. I was managing about 3 times a day which I was very happy with, so we were combination feeding for a couple of weeks. It's actually alot harder to pump than I actually thought it would be. At first I think the adrenaline helped but it quickly became harder and harder. It wasn't just physically hard but also mentally. I felt a bit pushed out because I would hide in another room to pump away from my family or I couldn't really hold Amelia whilst I pumped so I felt like I was constantly trying to put her down when all i wanted to do was hold her. It was draining because I was feeding Amelia her bottle, changing her and getting her to sleep and then I would sit and pump for an hour and then do it all over again. We bought the Medela Mini electric breast pump and this made pumping easier, it was quicker and easier, the only thing I didn't like about the electric pump was the noise. It's quite loud and again meant I would sit in a separate room. I started to find it really difficult to find the time and motivation to pump and then I got Mastitis which btw is HORRIBLE! I had flu-like symptoms, I was exhausted and my boob killed. I went to the doctors and was prescribed antibiotics and it started to clear up. I was told that I could continue to give the milk to Amelia even from the infected side and then she broke out in a rash and was so unsettled. She was still drinking her milk and her temperature was fine so the doctor wasn't concerned about her but this made it so much harder as I was just drained and exhausted. I made the decision to stop giving her the milk until the antibiotics were out of my system. I continued to pump but was even more un-motivated once I wasn't even giving it to her. It did clear up and then it came straight back. My milk supply was very low so I decided to stop expressing and my milk supply very quickly dried up.

I do think that Amelia was just too small and just found it hard to latch and I don't think I could have done much more. I had hoped that i'd be able to express all of her bottles and eventually get her to latch but once I had got Mastitis this wasn't an option anymore and I really didn't expect pumping to be so hard!

We have still had some issues with Amelia's feeding. She has always drank her formula really well. She is still only drinking 3 ounces (90ml) which for her age isn't alot but shes still only 7lb15oz so it's about right maybe a little under average. Shes always been quite a sicky baby, even when she was drinking the breastmilk she was sick alot of the time. I had mentioned it whilst in hospital, at midwife appointments and when we took her to get weighed but shes always put weight on so it's not been a concern. We got her weighed a couple of weeks ago and although she had gained weight they were not happy with where she plotted on her chart so we had to go back the following week, they were happy with her weight gain the following week which was good. We actually had our 8 week appointment and jabs that week so i'd mentioned her being quite sick and we've now been prescribed Gaviscon. I haven't given it to Amelia yet because shes not been too sickly this week but I will try it because I think she might have reflux as sometimes she pulls faces like she has a nasty taste in her mouth. The doctor did explain to us that some reflux is normal so this made me feel a little bit better.
I'm finally feeling more confident with Amelia's feeding (just 10 weeks in) i'm hoping that she continues to put weigh on nicely. I want to write updates on Amelia to document her first year so I have it to look back on.

A few other products I used during breastfeeding and pumping included Boots Ultra Slim Breast pads which honestly were rubbish, the sticky bit isn't very sticky so they kept falling off/ out of my bra when pumping. They were free by signing up for the Boots parenting club so I can't moan too much.

I had a couple of Nursing bras that I used, first up was the Panache Sophie Nursing bra in the black lace. This was really comfy and because it's bra sized it fitted me really well. It is also abit prettier because of the lace detailing on the cups.

I also used the Theya Fleur back fastening comfort bra * which is very popular for nursing and during pregnancy. It's such a soft material and such a comfy bra. The bra is also really smooth so you can wear it under anything, even a t-shirt. It is also perfect for those who suffer from skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, epidermolysis bullosa and ichthyosis because of the soft material it's made from. I found it easy to use as the nursing clips are easy to unclip. 

I wore nursing bras for a few weeks whilst I was expressing as I found my boobs were fluctuating and I found the non-wired bras were the comfiest.

I also used the Haakaa silicone breast pump, this is a portable pump which you don't need to pump yourself as it pumps the milk itself. I found the milk came out really slowly but I would put it on the side I wasn't pumping to catch any milk that would otherwise be wasted into a breast pad. 


1/2/18 - Amelia has now started drinking 4 ounces and is so much better drinking her milk. She's still quite sicky but not as bad. She's putting on weight well and at her last weighing was 8lb 8oz which is fab.  









* this post contains pr samples

This is my labour and delivery story, It might be a little TMI so if your squrimish or don't really care about my labour then don't read this post. I really wanted to document it so I have it to look back on for myself. I had planned to film my labour for my vlog channel but that didn't end up happening so i'd rather write it down and then if I plan on having more kids I can read it back but also i'm sure some people will be interested, I know I read some labour stories and watched videos to prepare me for my own labour.

So i'd been feeling uncomfortable for a few weeks. My pregnancy wasn't great and I felt exhausted and in pain most of the time. I'd suffered with sciatica quite early on and towards the end was having alot of pelvic pain, which i'm actually still suffering with. This along with the twinges and back pain made the last few weeks of pregnancy really hard and going overdue really took it's toll on me mentally, honestly I just couldn't be bothered anymore and I didn't really do much in the last few weeks I just waited for her to come.

On Saturday 11th November I was at home for most of the day, I was actually making some frames as the next day I was supposed to go to my friends baby's 1st Birthday/ Christening and also my sisters baby shower. I'd managed to finish my friends frame and made a good start on my sisters one, my living room was covered in craft bits and I felt uncomfortable and fed up. We needed to go to Tesco and was going to my moms to help her with some last minute bits for the baby shower so we left and around 6:30pm in Tesco I was feeling very uncomfortable, like something was happening. I actually needed to sit down so I sat on a bench and waited for Clint to get what we needed. We then headed to my moms and I was helping by putting some sweet bags and putting favors together, I was siting on the floor on a cushion because I needed room for the stuff, I couldn't keep still and kept getting up and pacing because I was very uncomfortable. My mom was watching me and asking if I thought I was in labour but I really didn't know. The pain was bareable but it just kept coming and going which made me think it was contractions but my water hadn't broke so I wasn't sure.

As the night went on Clint and I decided to stay at my moms for a little longer as she was going to be my birth partner alongside Clint and I did feel like this could be it. I'd started timing the contractions at about 9:30pm and they were very frequent, about 3 minutes apart and lasting a good 30-50 seconds. We had phoned the hospital at around 11pm who said to stay at home and to phone back when the pain was worse. I decided to have a bath at this point as the pain wasn't bad but I thought it would make me feel more relaxed which it did. After my bath I dried and straightened my hair, I was still breathing through the contractions every 3 minutes and they were getting longer and lasting about a minute. I was in pain, it was still bareable but we phoned the hospital again as we had a good 30-40 minute drive ahead of us and i'd never actually been to the labour ward so wasn't too sure where we were heading. They told us to come in so we jumped in the car and made our way in. Luckily we had all the bags in the car already, we went via our flat to pick up my pregnancy pillow and birthing ball. (pregnancy pillow was amazing in hospital as their pillows are pants and ball stayed in the car) The car journey was actually okay, I sat in the front and adjusted the chair so I was more comfortable. We arrived in about 25-30 minutes and got parked up. We left all the stuff in the car and decided to see how far along we was and my mom and Clint could go back and get the bits later.

We arrived at the hospital and went round the the entrance that I'd seen on the hospital website ( as I said i'd only ever been there for scans, never to the labour ward) The door was locked and no one was answering the buzzer, finally someone answered and let us in, they told us to take a seat in the waiting room.

Someone came over and got us after about 10 minutes and in this time i'd had a contraction but I was worried they seemed to be slowing down. They put us in a lovely room, with the birthing pool. It was really big and I was quite excited about having baby in here. A midwife came in and got us hooked up to the machine and we were on this for about 30 minutes, she came back and the baby had dropped off a little so she needed me to stay on for abit longer. She came back and examined me and I was at 2cm, she explained that the contractions were frequent enough just not strong enough. She said we would need to go home until the contractions got worse. Before we could get discharged she explained that she needed to have a doctor look over the moinitoring before they could let me go as the baby had dropped off. The doctor wouldn't discharge me and wanted to monitor us again in a couple of hours so I got put onto a ward at about 4:30 in the morning and my mom and Clint were sent home. I was still having contractions and they were still every 3 minutes or so and were getting stronger. I was on a really dark ward, I think it was an induction ward. There was a big ball so I was sat on it and leaning over it, just breathing through the pain.

Clint came back up at about 7am, he's brought me a sandwhich but I couldnt think about food. I hadn't slept at all and I think he got about half an hour.
The midwife came round at about 8am and hooked me back up to the monitor. I think the midwife came back with a consultant to check my progress. Baby was all good on the monitor so they were happy with that. They examined me and I was 3cm, on the cusp of 4cm so they were going to get me moved onto the labour ward soon. The doctor said once I was on the labour ward he would get them to break my waters to speed things along. By 11am, I was in quite alot of pain, i'd gone to the toilet and I was loosing alot of blood so Clint went to get someone. They were just about to move me to the labour ward anyway and didn't seem concerned by the blood. 

We walked around the the labour ward, again we were in a nice room, (no birthing pool ) I met my midwife and I was asked if I minded having a student present, I didn't mind. My midwives were so lovely and made me feel really comfortable. They put me on a wireless monitor so I could move around and because baby had dropped off they seemed pretty happy to monitor me the whole way through labour. The doctors were happy with baby's growth so my labour was considered low risk so I didn't need to be monitored but I didn't mind. The examined me right away because I was in quite abit of pain, and possibly due to the blood. At this point I was 9cm dilated. I was so happy that i'd got so far by myself without any intervention or pain relief. I was then offered gas and air which I took. They decided against braking my waters because I was so far along so decided to leave me to labour naturally. I got to 10cm pretty quickly and felt like I needed to push. What I was actually pushing was my waters. They came out intact, they didn't break and just hung like a water balloon in between my legs for awhile. Apparently this is rare and good luck, Sometimes baby comes out into the sack but Amelia didn't. Her hand was up by her face so I was struggling to push her out. I felt the gas and air was working really well and really helped with the pain. I was all fours on the bed for most of the pushing stage. We had to change position to try and get her hand out of the way so I went onto my side, with my leg up in the air. Clint actually held my leg up for ages. She then started to come out. Everyone was saying she has loads of hair. After about 1 and a half hours on the labour ward Amelia was born at 13:18 weighing 6Ib 5oz They passed her to me and it's such a surreal feeling holding your baby. It doesn't feel real, it's really weird. They confirmed she was a girl and it was amazing. We did skin to skin right away and it was lovely having that time to just hold her and look at how perfect she was. It was all over, I was so proud and just amazed that i'd done it and honestly is wasn't that bad. They then took her to be weighed and got her dressed and then we got more cuddles. She was born small and on the 2nd centile so they needed her to feed, we tried to get her to latch but she wouldn't so she had a bottle as they needed to check her blood sugars due to her weight. She had to be monitored for 24 hours and she was fine and we managed to get her blood sugars up and was discharged on the tuesday, she was born on the Sunday. I am going to be writing a blog post about my feeding experience so I will go into more detail in that.

My midwives were great, they made me feel so comfortable, I didn't feel stupid at all. I'd worried a couple of times if the monitor went quiet but they reassured me that it was all fine. I felt very comfortable and was half naked for basically the whole labour, I did have a sheet over me at the start but this didn't last long. I had some funny moments on the gas and air for example I kept repeating ' I just feel like i'm shitting myself' and apparently I was asking the student about her course and how long she has left before shes qualified? I also described gas and air as the feeling you have when you are drunk and have your head on the toilet door.

 Overall I had a really positive labour experience, the whole thing from having contractions to giving birth took about 18 hours. Pushing was around an hour. I got to 9cm without any pain relief and only had gas and air towards the end. My midwives were amazing and made the whole experience very pleasant. They dimmed the lights to make the room feel more relaxed. They were friendly and chatty and just lovely. I had been very vague with my birth plan because I knew that not everything goes to plan, so I didn't get my birthing pool but I really don't mind. The pain was bareable, the only really painful bit was pushing her out as I did tear a little and needed a few stitches but I think I managed the pain really well and breathing through the contractions really helped. The gas and air really helped with the pain and didn't make me feel sick or out of it, I knew what was going on the whole time. I had the injection to deliver the placenta and this came away very quickly and I was stitched up quickly too.

We were moved onto a ward after a little time just holding her and getting myself dressed and spending some time taking pictures and just taking it all in. I was crying and thanking the midwives. I remember saying ' I can't believe shes here' a few times. It really is an incredible experience.

I understand that not everyone has a great birth story and I haven't wrote this to rub in that I had a positive experience personally. But I found when I was watching videos or reading birth stories that they can be unpleasant and everyones quick to tell you how bad their labour was and you always hear about what went wrong and I personally wouldn't change anything about my labour apart from I wish Clint could have stayed on the first night when I was having contractions by myself but even that wasn't that bad. He was at the birth and thats the main thing.

Did you have a positive birth story?