Interview Section : Healthtalkonline

Full list of topics

Deciding to breastfeed :
Previous awareness of breastfeeding
Gathering information, making the decision & preparing for breastfeeding

Getting started with breastfeeding :
The first breastfeed
Support from hospital staff
Positioning & attaching/latching the baby at the breast
The milk coming in
Sore nipples
The sensation of breastfeeding
Feeding patterns in the early days
Going home with a breastfed baby

Managing breastfeeding :
What daily life is like with a breastfed baby
Breastfeeding during the night
Getting support for breastfeeding
Monitoring baby's growth
Dealing with difficult times
Impact of breastfeeding upon the mother
Changing family relationships with breastfed baby
Breastfeeding an older baby
Breastfeeding and working
Breastfeeding away from home
Variations of the breastfeeding experience
Emotional & psychological aspects of breastfeeding
Cultural aspects of breastfeeding

Breastfeeding in special circumstances :
When extra care is needed for mother and/or baby
Breastfeeding more than one baby

Weaning the baby from the breast :
Introducing solid foods
Managing weaning including thoughts and feelings

Reflecting upon breastfeeding :
Advice for pregnant mothers and new mothers
Comments for health professionals
Thinking about the wider breastfeeding environment

Search the whole site
Search in this condition

Breastfeeding

People's stories

Age 30-34

Interview 31

Interview 31

Age at Interview: 30
Sex: Female
Background: At the time of interview, this 30 year old, Indian woman was breastfeeding her 15 week old son. She also had an 18 month old son whom she had breastfed. A pharmacist, she was married to an analyst programmer (IT).

Brief outline:First month of breastfeeding was the hardest thing she has done in her life. Very sore and cracked nipples. Fussy babies at 4-5 months, early weaning with first baby.

More about me...

To watch or read an interview clip, click on the heading that interests you. Either a video,audio recording or text will open, depending on the clip

To close transcript boxes, click here
To print the interview’s text, click here

She listened to all of the advice and then did what suited her and her baby. Sometimes she woke the baby, sometimes she let him sleep.
Print In the end I ended up doing what I wanted to do mix match of everything that everybody had told me and then just getting on with it because nothing seemed to be working so I couldn't get any worse well I didn't think I could get any worse and things did seem to be getting better after ten days so I just carried doing what I was doing and lying down when breastfeeding and it worked in the end. Not my best of memories. What was happening to the baby's weight at this stage? The baby was putting weight on fine, very well he was a good weight to start off with anyway he was his weight was very well. So he was getting the milk obviously? Yes, yeah. It just wasn't suiting you the way he was getting it? No, he I mean for a breastfed baby he was doing very well he was feeding every four hours he'd sleep for four hours and at six weeks he was sleeping through so as a breastfed baby he did very well so and his weight gain is fine. So he put himself on a four hourly schedule? Yeah. I mean, yeah, again because of conflicting advice or different advice from different midwives some midwives were saying to me, “Well you must wake him up to feed him after every four hours”. Some were saying, “Well if he's asleep he's happy and content leave him asleep,” and in the end I resorted in doing a mix match again of both some days I'd wake him up after four hours to feed and then sometimes I just let him be.

Mail to a friend