For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Lyndsay, Founder of @for.the.creators and it was breastfeeding my son Hamish that inspired For The Creators
Hamish was 7 weeks premature and hospitalised for 3 weeks following his birth. At 33 weeks the doctors weren’t confident that he’d be able to breastfeed but like a champ, he took straight to the boob without any issue.
Hamish and I were separated for the first 10 days of his life as he was in intensive care heavily jaundiced, so for me the time we spent feeding held even greater importance. To me it was my way of healing him, protecting him, and giving him everything I could in the brief time we had together.
Unable to take enough breastmilk to flush away the Jaundice we were forced to complement breastfeeding with an alternative feeding method. Hamish refused to take a bottle (and to this day aged 2.5 he’s never taken one) so we were forced to resort to a feeding tube. The feeding tube worked fantastically in being able to flush away jaundice but it definitely harmed my mental health. Feeding became incredibly clinical and medicalised, something I struggled with.
Once at home breastfeeding was smooth sailing and my way of healing him and making up for the lost time we had spent together. I fed on demand and did so until Hamish was 18 months old. At 18 months I was exhausted of feeding. I was hypersensitive to his touch and latch and physically depleted from the endless long nights of him waking for milk for comfort. I made the decision to stop breastfeeding and that same day explained to him that today would be the last time we breastfed together. That same evening I gave Hamish his very last feed and sobbed throughout. He reached up with his little hand and wiped away my tears. A moment I’ll never forget.
He never asked for breastmilk again and we’ve never looked back.
To me, breastfeeding was a way of healing my baby. A way to connect and I feel incredibly fortunate to have had such a positive experience.
See my tips in below:
1. Breastfeed for as long as it feels right to you. Listen to your body.
2. I’ll never know if explaining to Hamish that our last feed was our last feed is the reason for such a seamless transition but I’d advocate it to anyone.
3. Don’t feel pressured to conform to scheduled feeding.. if on-demand feeding feels right to you, then follow your instincts.
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