The Liverpool Milk Trail

Suzanne

‘When people tell you stuff, you assume it’s right’

Suzanne talks about the differences she has experienced growing up in Birkenhead, where breastfeeding rates are low, compared to Indonesia where she has been working and where breastfeeding is the norm. Suzanne advises education as key to successful breastfeeding but also, as a single parent, acknowledges the key support she received from her mother and the local infant feeding support team at Koalas North West.

“My health visitor seemed quite knowledgeable (from what I know) but that’s one of the challenges I think of having a baby is we don’t know. I don’t know everything about babies, so when people tell you stuff, you assume it’s right because you just don’t know and one of my biggest stresses is What don’t I know? I should be reading more..I should be watching videos, I should be doing classes..there’s a wealth of information and I just don’t know“

Find out more by visiting https://holdingtime.org/portfolio/suzanne/

Claire D

I Breastfed her in Secret

Claire talks about her different experiences of establishing breastfeeding with her two children. She discovered the importance of baby groups with her first child and when the funding for the peer support mentoring in Sefton was axed, she set up Milk Drops, a new peer support service for mothers with her friend Amy.

And then I attended our breastfeeding group, I remember sitting there looking around at all these women with their boobs out and being like, ‘It’s alright, we all look the same, really. No one’s that bothered. And it was fine.

To find out more visit https://holdingtime.org/portfolio/claire-d/

Vicky

“I can’t do this anymore. Get the formula out”

Vicky talks about the convenience of breastfeeding vs formula and her surprise at falling pregnant after years of Endometriosis.

“I had a couple of days I was like, Well, I can’t do this anymore. Get the formula out. Then you look at the formula. And you think no, actually like….the amount of different things to worry about there and get prepared. And actually, he’s nice and safe. And he does what he wants here. So then I go back to it. And then like I said, when I thought actually you know what, this is a minefield, just do what you were doing then actually suddenly it’s cracked”

Find out more by visiting https://holdingtime.org/portfolio/vicky/

Nicola

Whoa, this isn’t from breastfeeding.

Nicola talks about breastfeeding with Raynaud’s and the difficulty of getting a diagnosis during lockdown.

I had Raynaud’s. It was the cold that would cause the pain and I’d been treating myself, got a doctor to treat me for thrush for through almost a month. And it obviously wasn’t clearing because it wasn’t thrush. And, because of COVID, you weren’t really properly seeing a doctor so no one was giving you a proper diagnosis. It was only one morning, when I hadn’t fed her, the pain came, I thought, ‘Whoa, this isn’t from breastfeeding.” And then I clicked, I looked it up and so I was able to get that treated.

Find out more by visiting https://holdingtime.org/portfolio/nicola/

Catherine

When I was feeding her I felt safe. I felt like I was protecting her, she was protecting me

Catherine talks about the stress of watching her 10-day-old fed on a radical weight gain programme in hospital and the impact it had on her mental health long term.

“I’m so passionate about breastfeeding now more so than ever and any new mum that starts breastfeeding I just want to help them i just want to support them I just want to do everything i can to because it’s lonely isn’t it and it can be quite isolating I feel protective over people who are having issues because if they don’t get that support i don’t want them to go through what I went through”.

Find out more by visiting https://holdingtime.org/portfolio/catherine/

Kelly

It made such a difference straight away. Kelly on breastfeeding support and dealing with tongue tie after her baby was born at Liverpool Mother and Baby Unit. Kelly began training as a midwife and would still like to support mothers. She says, ” I think that the support’s not there for women. But I don’t mean like the support services. I mean your family and society understanding how demanding breastfeeding is”

Because he had jaundice, they referred him really quickly. He had it snipped at day five, it was fantastic. I couldn’t sing the praises well enough of the midwives, postnatally and the breastfeeding families and the tongue-tie service. I couldn’t believe how quickly it got sorted. And it made such a difference straightaway as well.

Find out more by visiting https://holdingtime.org/portfolio/kelly/

Claire G

We’re sold an idea that it’s this beautiful, natural, instinctive thing. It isn’t. Claire explores the idea of breastfeeding as a learnt skill and talks about the confidence that comes with experience. She recalls breastfeeding her twins and, previously, an elder sibling who had silent reflux.

Feeding one child is very, very discreet, generally. Quite often, you don’t notice unless you know what you’re looking for, you’re not going to notice. Feeding two at the same time in public is not discreet at all. And I’ve had to do that a few times.

Find out more by visiting https://holdingtime.org/portfolio/claire-g/

Natalie W

I just thought I could like, ask for the help, and it would be there.

Natalie talks about how her sons tongue tie wasn’t diagnosed for the first four weeks because the hospital where she gave birth didn’t automatically refer her to breastfeeding support. Natalie’s son had a tongue tie which was eventually cut after she paid to have it cut privately.

“I just thought, Oh, the help that I need, like when I want to breastfeed will just be there. How wrong was. I just thought I could like, ask for the help, and it would be there. That was a bit of a shock to the system. And then it was like, right, well, I’m gonna have to teach myself now. And yeah, that’s what I did.”

I eventually after a couple of days called them up because I was managing, okay during the day and weirdly, if I went out and about, I just had to get on with feeding so I didn’t faff around. And it just seemed to work better when I was out of the house. Three o’clock in the morning was just horrendous.

Find out more by visiting https://holdingtime.org/portfolio/natalie-w/

Jennifer

I wanted to be with my mum but I needed to be with him as well Jennifer talks about breastfeeding whilst nursing her dying mother and how she never expected to feed for so long.

“I had a little person that kept shouting and screaming at me and I wanted to be with my mum but I needed to be with him as well and my husband did take him off and we he would have formula he would have bottled he had what he needed at that point what he needed to have and for both of us really and but it was still predominantly breastfeeding. I felt so torn between the two and I was in I had massive anxiety at the time everything just feels when I look back now everything just feels really kind of dreamlike I’m not entirely sure how we got through that”

Find out more by visiting https://holdingtime.org/portfolio/jennifer/

Michelle

‘I was Told I Couldn’t Breastfeed’

Michelle talks about how her awareness about the importance of breastfeeding has grown across the years, after feeding three children. As an experienced breastfeeding mother, she says she grieved after being told in pregnancy that she wouldn’t be able to breastfeed her newborn as she would need surgery. When the time came, however, the intervention of one of the nurses, meant that she was able to feed Alexi after all.

"Alexi was born with congenital heart disease. And right away was taken off me. I was told I wouldn’t be able to breastfeed. I had to have a section. So there was that space. And then they said, she’s going if you don’t know how poorly she’ll be, and then she’ll need the surgery, you won’t be able to feed after surgery. And it was just really negative of everyone’s position on it. And I really grieved that.. that I wouldn’t be able to feed her".

Find out more by visiting https://holdingtime.org/portfolio/michelle/