Celebrating Brilliant Breastfeeding Milestones
Posted by Bryony Lewis on
Boobs are pretty amazing right?
I used to be rather underwhelmed by mine, they showed up late to the party (I was flat chested until my mid teens), were significantly smaller than I'd have liked and I could never find a bra that they would fit into nicely. Fast forward to my early 30's, my eldest child was born and suddenly my boobs took on a whole new identity! My magnificent mammaries were now nourishing a tiny new person, providing him comfort, safety, pain relief and protection.
My first breastfeeding journey was not without its obstacles, little T struggled to latch, dribbled milk, coughed and spluttered at letdown and lost weight. Eventually he was diagnosed with a posterior tongue tie which was cut and this improved our feeding journey hugely. We fed through teething, through illness (both of us) and even adapted our feeding routine when I returned to work. He stopped feeding quite happily by himself when I was pregnant with his little sister and I reached the milestone of 'Platinum Boobs' - 18 months, which I was super proud of.
The arrival of my youngest tested my commitment to breastfeeding to its limits, she had all the enthusiasm but lacked any of the ability and her shallow latch and strong suck caused pain and damage that meant I had to rely on nipple shields for the first few weeks. She also had a posterior tongue tie, but although it was divided when she was tiny and this did improve things, she has always been challenging to feed! On top of this, I suffered from cracked nipples and mastitis. If you had told me when she was 2 weeks old, that I would still be feeding her now at almost 11 months old, I might not have believed you. I celebrated making it through our first month of feeding together because there were points when I just thought we would never manage it.
My experience of breastfeeding inspired me to create a range of enamel keepsake pins to mark points along your breastfeeding journey, or the number of months or years that you breastfed for. Everyone's feeding journey is different, but most of us have overcome struggles at some point along the way and I wanted to create something for mummies to treasure. I chose pins as they are hard wearing and will last, plus they can be worn on clothing or bags, which will help to normalise breastfeeding and show support for other boobing mummies.
