Mother Nurture is a portrait series which aims to celebrate breastfeeding in all it’s forms and beauty. Myself and the Mothers who take part in this project hope that sharing these stories will give help and support to other Mums who are choosing to and are able to breastfeed. So without further ado here is Kamilla and her journey into exclusively expressing.
“I was able to breastfeed exclusively for the first 10 days of my baby being born.
I did all the preparations, had support from the midwives and my sister (who's a BF peer) and was finding the experience painful, uncomfortable and a struggle for me and my baby, we were both crying and discontented...
Cue the mam guilt and beating myself up (and boy did I beat myself up!) My expectations v reality really hit me.
My pumping journey started from my own curiosities and after my sister pointed me in the direction of a lady who exclusively pumped.
My story is a long one but in short what I would say to any mother who has sought out support with breastfeeding and has tried everything and for whatever reason isn't able to continue, I would highly recommend looking into exclusively pumping.
This isn't an easy option, there's a financial outlay at the start and the time you need to invest in it especially for the first 12 weeks is a lot but it absolutely pays off, best investment I've ever done.
My baby has been exclusively on my milk not far off 5 months now and seeing her grow and be nourished with my milk really made me see that pumping is also another way for baby to have breastmilk when all avenues of breastfeeding have been explored.
I'd also like to say be kind to yourself. You are amazing, strong and will always do the best for your baby. If you decide to pump it's also much easier if you lean on your support network, follow the many wonderful pumping accounts on social media and join exclusively pumping groups on Facebook.
This all helped me tremendously through the tough days (and nipple pains!) and allowed me to continue pumping for as long as I have so far... And made friends along the way.”
I want to take the moment to thank Kamilla for sharing her exclusively expressing journey with us. It’s so important to show that breastfeeding comes in many forms. I’m a big believer in feeding your child in a way that works for you! In fact I think women shouldn’t be breastfeeding at all if it causes them any distress. Parenting is a beautiful thing, enjoy it and do what is right for YOU.
If you would like to take part in this series, whether your exclusively expressing, nursing, combi feeding or whatever you feeding your child looks like, please click here to find out more.
If you’re ready to book your Mother Nurture session already you can get in touch with me here.
And to see lots more of my work, nursing, maternity or newborn come say hi over on Instagram!