#WorldBreastfeedingWeek: Our breastfeeding experiences

Breastfeeding Week ends today, Saturday August 7. The annual event is organised by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (Waba), the World Health Organisation and Unicef. To make this, we speak to mothers about their breastfeeding experiences:

Caroline Wanjiru

Motherhood is great. It’s actually the best thing I ever experienced. Being a first time mother though, is a unique experience. Nothing, and nobody prepares you for the responsibility at hand.

I won’t call my breastfeeding experience difficult; rather I’ll say it was challenging.

I had inverted nipples - a condition that prevents a breastfeeding baby from latching onto the nipple to suckle - and somehow hadn’t researched enough about alternative methods of breast milk expression to keep the baby well-fed.

To make matters worse, I hadn’t grasped enough on supplementing with formula milk. This situation was worsened by the fact that I delivered upcountry in Kirinyaga, having fled Nairobi at the onset of Covid-19.

I delivered my daughter in May 2020 through Caesarean Section after complication at childbirth.

To make matters worse, I had inadequate breast milk, I was jittery about putting my baby on formula milk.

My worst experience was the feeling of helplessness - particularly before I left hospital - of my baby crying all night, after several unsuccessful attempts to latch onto the nipple.

My hubby would seemingly be the most concerned. When he visited, for the few minutes allowed under the Covid-19 restrictions, he held the baby and tried to press the nipple to her mouth. I actually recall those moments and smile.

I thank him so much for his support in the subsequent days that we needed to try the formula milk with consistency, sometime around the third week following my delivery.

My elder sister also held my hand and helped me around dietary issues for breastfeeding mothers. It worked magic, increasing my milk output.

First-time motherhood is challenging but I think with the right support around you, it’s the best experience in a lifetime

We also did extensive online research around inverted nipples.

With the partial solution in the nipple shield and formula milk, we also purchased breast pumps - first a manual one and thereafter an electric -  to have reserve milk for the baby.

I remember several nights earlier when I didn’t have enough milk to breastfeed my child, I felt so helpless. She would wake up at night and cry uncontrollably.

There’s no magic to generating adequate breast milk. Just eat healthy, drink healthy and have enough rest.

Motherhood is great. Very adventurous, for first timers!

Doris Ochanda

Breastfeeding is an amazing experience. It’s an unexplainable bond that you have with your child and fulfilling. I would never forfeit it.

For my firstborn, I did it for a year and a half and for my second-born 10 months (due to unavoidable circumstances). When I went back to work, it was an issue since I had so much milk I ended up having an infection, but thankfully managed to get treatment.

If you get an opportunity to breastfeed your child, please do it as much as possible, and at least up until two years if you can. I wish I had that chance.

I wouldn’t say it’s a surprise as such, but it’s amazing how the babies always know that this is their source of food without being taught, and can easily use it to identify the mother as early as two months.

Gathoni Waweru

Breastfeeding is a beautiful feeling. The mere aspect of being the source of food for your tiny human gives one a sense of importance that nothing else on earth can.

Learning how rich in nutrients breast milk is also really boosted my psych for breastfeeding.

My firstborn were twins so I only managed to breastfeed for a year. I hope to go longer with the second.

Breastfeeding twins is tough. First, you need to look for a comfortable position for yourself because most of the time (especially when they are younger) their urge to feed comes at the same time.

I’d place each of their heads on my lap, with the rest of their bodies on the couch/bed (completely unusual).

Advice: You need to have fed well to be able to breastfeed! That body you want will come later. Your baby deserves it.

Surprise: Babies don’t sleep at night

Kavata Kiaro

Wow, let’s start from having no idea how to breastfeed. I appreciate that it took a lactation manager (yes they exist) to show me how to breastfeed. No one warned me that it would mean pulling out your mammary glands for the lactation manager to help you to latch as well as to confirm that one has milk. No milk means not being discharged from the hospital!

I am grateful that eventually I did get milk and I was able to exclusively breastfeed for six months. I used to hear mums say it was an opportunity to bond with the baby as they breastfed, but at some point I think I was on auto pilot. It was not always stars and fairy tales. I mean midnight calls and all. I would do it again though.

When my little one grew teeth, at about one year, she bit me with her very sharp teeth. I cried, and had to remain calm so I do not scare her and get bitten again.

Suffice to say, that was how we stopped breastfeeding I mean she was already one year, I was too traumatised to go back and also I actually did not have much milk at that point. It was more of a soother for her.

I was happy to teach her independence and to self sooth!

However, once we stopped breastfeeding, I realised my little girl was learning independence, and did not need me as much. I guess I missed that she would just come to me even though it was just for food.

I’ve had to learn to intentionally build a relationship with her that it is not based on need. Need for food in this case. All in all, I am glad and grateful that I was able to breastfeed her and that I had the milk.

I am also grateful for the miracle that is breast milk. It contains all the nutrients a child needs to grow. It was always so encouraging going for her clinics and seeing that she was developing well.

God is amazing really. I mean what is in this milk?

Trizah Mungai, mother to a three-year-old boy.

Other than bringing forth a healthy baby, breastfeeding was the best experience of my life. I consider myself blessed because I had heard mothers sharing their painful stories of their children having difficulty latching onto the nipple.

We’re usually told during delivery that the first feed, that first colostrum that the breast produces, is very important for the baby, so I remember I was very worried about it because I used to hear stories. But I was fortunate enough. I remember I started producing colostrum weeks before I even had my son. So when my baby was born I already had the milk. I had already prepared myself for breastfeeding. God was faithful as my baby was able to latch.

I can’t emphasize that feeling enough – that bond when you feel your little one feeding from you. You’re feeding life. You’re feeding health. Whatever nutrients that you have is what you’re giving the baby. So that was a plus for me. I actually miss it a lot sometimes!

But there was a big downside for me this one night. I was feeding healthy and I had plenty of milk. I had already fed my son and he was already full but my breasts had swollen. They were very hard, like a rock. I was in so much pain.

I was feeling so cold it was like my body had frozen. I asked my mum to bring me a blanket because I felt like I was going to die due to the cold. Only to realize that it was mastitis – where you have so much milk in your breasts that they feel like stones. I remember we spent like two hours of that night placing really hot clothes on my chest so that the heat could liquefy the milk to reduce the hardness and then I spent the rest of the night expressing. That was the worst kind of pain I have ever felt and that day I learnt the importance of expressing.

The other downside is bittersweet. It was when my son was teething. They use your nipple as the teether. The thing about that is that they can crack your nipples, which is very painful. At times with cracked nipples you might be feeling pain but you have to feed your baby. At times as you feed the milk comes out with blood because of the sores. I only got to experience that once, but I have relatives and friends who went through that for months and they say it was so painful they would even breastfeed in tears.

All in all, it’s just like when they say that the pain during childbirth is a lot, but the minute you see your baby it’s worth it. You forget about it. So for me, even if there was a bit of pain when breastfeeding, when I look into his face - just the way it lights up, the look in his eyes, how much he’s enjoying - it just gives you comfort and you say to yourself that it’s worth it. Your baby is healthy. You’re feeding your baby. You’re bonding with your baby. I breastfed for two whole years and I really miss it.

 The pros are more than the cons. Those are the best moments you get to share with your child. When you look into your baby’s eyes, that connection is not one that you can forget. There is just a bond that builds between a mother and a child through breastfeeding. I feel like that is the best gift that was given to a woman when it comes to raising your children.

Sometimes I feel pain for women who are not able to do that for their children. Mothers who have been in labour but lost the baby for one reason for another so they’re never able to breastfeed and those who are not able to because of unavoidable circumstances really need to be supported.

They ask you, ‘How does it feel for a baby to latch?’ and they wish they would have experienced that. So people need to embrace such women a