Breastfeeding battles

To say breastfeeding is hard would be an understatement. It is tough from the get go, and with no prior experience or knowledge many of us mums are bombarded with information and advice from every family member, health visitor, doctor and midwife. Half of which we don’t even remember because we’re still trying to figure out what day it is after giving birth, which lets be honest knocks it right out of you. We are told about the incredible bond you gain, and the ease and convenience of breastfeeding (all of which I agree with) however we are not told about the sore nipples, the struggle to latch, the engorgement, the hormones, the leaking and finally and most recently the nursing strikes. I’m hoping I’m not alone in this but recently myself and Bea have found ourselves refusing to nurse. She is currently 7 months old and decided that after a week of being poorly (which means no sleep for mumma or bubba) she didn’t want to nurse. When I say she refused, I mean she screamed and screamed until people the other side of the world could hear. We were out in Bath for the day when she decided to do this, 4 hours had passed and she didn’t want to feed. My boobs were currently feeling like boulders and I was worried about her dehydration. So off we pop to boots to buy a sippy cup, to which I sit in the changing rooms expressing into for her to then drink. I felt mortified that she didn’t want me, there was no reason either which made me feel more upset. However that evening we got home (to which I was fretting bedtime WITHOUT the boob) and all of a sudden she was fine with it. She went straight back to feeding, after all the stress and tears I had been through thinking that our journey was coming to an end. Still to this day I don’t know why it happened, and I hope it never does again. Maybe I’m not alone in this and someone can explain, but my goodness breastfeeding isn’t easy. 7 months in and I’m still worried about engorgement and mastitis. However it does create the most incredible bond and we’re still going strong!