I have an interest in supporting women who didn’t manage to breastfeed their first baby. Many tell me they ‘failed’ at breastfeeding and still feel angry and guilty. I feel huge compassion for these women, who have stories of trying so very hard to breastfeed, who showed great courage, who did their very best in a difficult situation and feel such a mix of emotions.
I have found that these women need a special kind of preparation for feeding their next baby. Understandably they are worried the same thing could happened again and they want to be sure that doesn’t happen. For some they will decide to bottlefeed. Maybe to exclusively express their milk or to bottlefeed some expressed milk and the rest formula milk.
For other woman that desire to breastfeed hasn’t gone away but as they prepare for the birth of their baby, thinking about breastfeeding can bring back upsetting memories and anxiety about how breastfeeding will go this time.
While it can be painful, to revisit a difficult time and talk over what happened, it can be empowering to have questions answered, understand what went wrong and then plan for feeding the next baby. Women talk about the sense of relief, feeling a burden lifted as they approach the birth of their baby, better informed, with a flexible feeding plan in mind and knowing that they will have options and much better support this time around.
I see my role as a knowledgeable guide, to support you through this process. I will use my knowledge, skills and experience to provide you with the information and support you need. We can discuss different feeding options, what’s involved, how that might work for you and your family and make a flexible plan together.
I have experience of supporting women who exclusively pumped for their baby. Getting off to a good start, having the right breast pump and pumping strategy can make all the difference
I have also supported women whose plan was to combine breast and bottlefeeding. The standard approach of first establish breastfeeding before introducing bottles wouldn’t work for them. They need a different approach to feeding their baby to meet their goal of combination feeding.
For some women, having thought everything over, the right choice is to bottlefeed infant formula. I completely understand and support you whatever your choice. I can discuss bottlefeeding too, building a loving bond with your baby, choosing an infant formula and how to bottlefeed.
To book and antenatal consultation at home call Ann 07828169427. Consultations can be arranged in the evening or at the weekend, your partner or support person is very welcome too. Consultations cost £75 (if you live in a 20-mile radius of Northampton, a little more if I have to travel further) and £45 for a follow up consultation.