Journey of the Lactation Consultant – empowering the breast!

No fertility journey is complete without the 4th trimester support. What’s the 4th trimester? It’s the first few weeks after birth, the first few weeks of your baby’s life. One of the decisions new mums are faced with, is to breastfeed, or not. And even if you want to breastfeed, you may not be able to. We, here at Freyja Health, have the honour of introducing to you, the beautiful Laura, our ‘boob juice’ aka breast milk supporting consultant.

Hello! I’m Laura and this is my story!

I remember watching in awe as my mum breastfeed my sister. I thought my mum was amazing and she was, especially considering my sister was ten weeks early! I come from a family where breastfeeding is part of my family culture and I assumed I would be able to do this too, when it was finally my turn. I didn’t give it a second thought. My breasts were going to do what nature intended them to do. Being a midwife I thought I’d have it in the bag. Unfortunately, like many things in life, it did not quite go to plan.

During pregnancy my breasts decided they would start misbehaving and became extremely swollen. Things went from bad to worse with my breasts after my caesarean section at 32 weeks. Having had a premature baby, I started squeezing my breasts like a woman possessed – so driven to be the quintessential breastfeeding provider!

I knew about all the benefits of breastmilk, especially for my premature baby, and so expressed as much as I could. But with each expressing session my breasts became more swollen. This went on for far too long and I needed help desperately. I was so vulnerable, so broken, so exhausted and all I wanted to do, more than anything else in the world was to feed my baby. It was devastating and I felt so alone without my baby and in so much pain physically and emotionally. Because of my personal journey, I decided to gain the skills to help myself and others with breastfeeding.

I have rolled my experiences into a passion, which motivates and drives my work as I truly feel aiding women in this challenging yet beautiful time in their lives is my vocation. Whether it’s smooth sailing or there are a few speed bumps, I will walk beside women (and their bubs) in this journey.

As a side note – You’ll be happy to know I went on to exclusively breastfeed my son for the first 6 months of his life and continued up until he was 2 years old. Breastfeeding my son holds the proudest and happiest memories for me and I am so grateful for every breastfeed we shared together. If this is your wish, then come knock on my door.