Friday 20 June 2014

Keep Britain Breastfeeding: The benefits of breastfeeding

This year I am very excited to be part of Keep Britain Breastfeeding Scavenger Hunt which is from today (20th June) until 26th June! As you may already know, I'm a mum of two but I didn't manage to 'master' breastfeeding Oliver so I combined for a while but not long at all, so this time I decided I wanted to give it my really best try - I know that I gave up too soon with Oliver but I was determined to educate myself and give it my best shot with breastfeeding Isabelle and it's the one of the best choices I've made. She's now 13 weeks and we both love breastfeeding - it hasn't been 'easy' though, as I always say... 
 'It might be natural - doesn't mean it's always easy!'
The benefits of breastfeeding
I've always known that 'breast is best' but I won't lie to you - I didn't actually know reasons why? So when I was pregnant with Isabelle, already knowing after not breastfeeding Oliver exclusively that it was something I'd like to achieve with her. Therefore I spent alot of time looking into it, I read magazines and even watched a dvd all about it. I got some great tips and I feel like the researching while I was pregnant really helped me get this far. I love knowing the benefits of breastfeeding and if you're very early in your pregnancy don't let that put you off looking into breastfeeding, I say the earlier you start thinking about feeding your baby - the better!

I am so determined to breast feed Isabelle that I've given up chocolate to do so! (We've just found out that she is dairy intolerant, so I've cut dairy out of my diet completely so that I can still breastfeed her without upsetting her tummy, it was pretty scary she had terrible green nappies with blood in them, it wasn't until she was 11 weeks old that we found out it was dairy causing her symptoms and she has been slow at gaining weight which at times made me feel like it was my breast milk - now I know it wasn't. She was born at 8lb 6oz and at 13 weeks shes 10lb 7oz).

Me & Isabelle after a feed

So how is breast best? Well this is something I did know - it's the only natural food designed just for your baby, all by yourself! It's on tap hehe, so wherever you are and no matter what time it is you can feed your baby when they need it.
It's free so you don't need to buy tins of formula milk and theres no need to heat it up, it comes out of you the right temperature! I love the bond that we have, Isabelle knows I am the one that provides the milk and she often comes off my boob to look up at me and smile then goes back on again... I love that! Breast milk also protects your baby from infections such as ear/chest and makes them less likely to suffer with diarrhoea/vomiting - when Oliver was 4 months old he ended up in hospital with this so to me thats a really big deal. It was horrible to watch so anything I can do to avoid that happening again I will do.
Breastfed babies are also less likely to be constipated - this was another big thing for Oliver and it is so horrible to watch little people in pain due to being constipated, they just don't understand so I love that Isabelle is less likely to suffer with that. 

Also less chance that she will have eczema - another thing Oliver has suffered with... can you see a trend here? I wish that I had of known more about breastfeeding and had the right support when Oliver was a baby to see if I could of breastfed him too.

Breast milk naturally adapts to your babies current needs! no need to change anything :) with Oliver I needed to change the forumla milk from stage 1 to stage 2 and so on... There's also less waste, I remember throwing away lots of bottles with Oliver that he just didn't finish in time - breast milk is obviously safely stored in your boobs!!
As you can see breast milk offers great benefits and health benefits for baby but did you know it also offers health benefits for mum too? Yep... Lower chance that a breastfeeding mother will develop breast or ovarian cancer. The C word scares me alot so this to me this is a big deal, as I'm sure it is to everyone else. Also when breastfeeding you burn up to 500 calories a day - that's good for me because I seem to be eating alot more. As well as these, there will be that strong bond between you and baby - like I mentioned above, although I have a strong bond with Oliver too and he wasn't exclusively breastfed but I absolutely love my snuggly times with Isabelle and when she's on my boob, comes off and looks up to me to smile is lovely. I guess I also like that I am the feeder!
What I have noticed is that exclusively breastfeeding your baby can mean your monthly periods are slower to return after having your baby! Result? Not to mention, breast milk is free and you don't need to remember to take bottles out with you or to make sure anything is sterilised. 

Finally this might be a silly benefit but its my benefit - breastfeeding can be hands free which means during one feed in the day I can do my online food shopping! :) haha never thought I'd be delighted to be doing boring online food shopping but I am. 

Remember whatever breastmilk you can give to your baby - it will protect them, so if you only do the first feed or the first day like I did with Oliver and they get the colostrum they're still getting goodness from you. The longer you are able to breastfeed them the longer they will be protected!


Now you can enter the massive giveaway!  Good luck, x 


  a Rafflecopter giveaway

To read more posts about breastfeeding and to gain more entries in the giveaway, you can have a look at these other bloggers involved 
  1. Diddle Diddle Dumpling
  2. Mummy is a gadget geek 
  3. My Little L  
  4. My baby boy and me 
  5. Hex mum
And one company thats involved is Breast Vest
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34 comments

  1. So much cheaper and no going down to a cold kitchen during the night! Instead I could cuddle my daughter in bed x

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    1. I have a confession - I had a kettle in my room when I bottle fed Oliver! *Lazy lady!* You're right though, so much easier and nicer to have a cuddle instead and baby not kept waiting for ages for a bottle to cool down x

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  2. I miss the calorie burning side of breastfeeding - my son self weaned at 11 months and I have put the weight back on again! Whoops!

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    1. oh no, how old is he now? Run about after him and loose them that way! hehe. I had a c-section this time and I don't think my belly will ever go. x

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    2. He's 14 months now and I do need to run around after him. I had a section too and also had divarication so belly is not going away. Daniel likes to wobble it though so it makes him happy! :)

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  3. We done it for benefits for baby and I grew up with family breastfeeding babies so was automatically something I wanted

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    1. Lovely that you grew up around breastfeeding. My family have always been mixed x

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  4. I've always wanted to breastfeed, my mum breastfed me and my brother.
    My lo was in nicu for the first week of his life and the first 3 days was tube fed.
    The doctors decided that he had to have a certain amount each feed and as I wasn't getting much at the beginning they topped him up with formula, I hated it and was really upset but there wasn't much I could do.
    once we got home he was slow to gain weight so I was advised again to top up with formula, so he had one bottle of formula a day for a few weeks.
    I started reading up about breastfeeding and decided to ditch the formula to increase my supply.
    lo is now 14 months old, he is happy, healthy and still loves his 'booboos"
    h hasn't had a drop of formula in over a year. :)

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    1. Well done!! I've just been told to 'top up' too but trying everything else first. x

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  5. Breastfeeding has its ups and downs, I've been through some rough times with it! But, I wouldn't have done it any other way. It is such a special experience.

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    1. You're right, it is very special and there is lows but the highs outweigh them I think :) x

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  6. I combination fed for a period with my 1st son, due to weight loss, before getting back to just breasfeeding and it was so hard, luckly I had good advice about how to not loose my supply and was able to get him off formula as soon as his weight was sorted and he could actualy stay awake for a full breasfeed!

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    1. Well done for not giving up and keeping up the milk supply, support and advice is very important x

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  7. I chose to BF as it felt like the most natural thing to do....and free! I struggled but managed to give my daughter my milk for 6 months by expressing for over 5 months. Due baby#2 soon and will of course be trying again :)
    Tanya C

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    1. Good luck with number 2! Every experience is different and you might find you struggle less this time. Well done for 6 months with your daughter - I like expressing at the moment to see how much I've actually got. x

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  8. I decided to breastfeed for cost and thr protection it gives. It was incredibly hard for us snd my girls weight fsin slowed dramatically but we don't know why. I put up such a battle in the first rwo months though that I have just adapted our feeding so she's fed a lot more frequently and I found ways to up my supply so I know she's getting everything she needs. I love her evening feeds when she settlles down and dozes off on me.

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    1. How old is your little one now? Isabelle is 3 months and hasnt gained much, we found out it was due to dairy intolerance. some babies are just slow gainers though x

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  9. ive decided to bf as i want the bond/closeness and i know that it will benefit both of us

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    1. It is lovely to have that special bond, are you due soon? Good luck! x

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  10. To be honest, I never considered not doing it! It was tough at first, but so worth it.

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  11. It was just something I knew I was going to do. No decision to make.

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  12. I wanted to give it a go, struggled and then was more determined than ever to succeed.

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  13. It's so much cheaper and you grow a special bond with baby

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  14. Like you I struggled initially after little miss spent time in nicu but I was determined for the benefits for my little one especially with a family history of asthma and allergies, I knew nothing about the health benefits for me until later! We're ten months on & looking forward to our comfortable BFing journey for as long as we can.

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  15. I've had to combi-feed both of mine due to IGT, but I chose to bf too because I wanted them to get as many antibodies as possible. Also the fact that I can feed them in my sleep is amazing!

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  16. Its better for baby and its free

    Lynsey Buchanan

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  17. I was the same, tried combined feeding but just couldn't do it! Determined to better next time!

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  18. my sister says for bonding and how natural

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  19. It wasn't as much a choice as a need

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  20. Unfortunately I didn't, but my friend will be giving birth soon and she will be :-)

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  21. I find it a lot easier, I combination fed my son and switched to formula when he was 4 months. I hated every bottle I sterilised/made. Things are so much easier now with my exclusively breastfed 5 month daughter

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  22. To give the best possible start to life for our little ones <3

    )Pia S)

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