This post may contain affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something we earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Powerful Mothering is supported by its audience, thankyou!

A post dedicated to my April 2009 birth group, posted back in August 2009.

How I wish I had joined the BC groups while I  was pregnant and in the early days of having my little one, I could have really used the support and caring from the ladies in various groups, especially those from the April 2009 group, you ladies are awesome!

I made so many careless mistakes with no-one to fully talk to. I didn’t know what thrush was, which lead to sore nipples and horrible feedings, which I phoned my midwife about and got told I wasn’t producing enough milk and to top up with formula. the worst thing I have done to date :'( , it breaks my heart just thinking about it. less breastfeeding, even less milk. another reason I wish I joined earlier, I knew nothing about the wonders of fenugreek and other wonderful things that were right there in my grasp!

As my nipples were still sore at every feed I began pumping my milk, not enough unfortunately, as I could only give my little one 1 feed a day. i also blame the stress from all the worry and the c-sec area was still hurting like mad! another sore point in my was to be wonderful experience, the c-sec.. which i had to have because my little one was breech. i had not done any research or even thought about it during my pregnancy.

i pumped for about 5 weeks after the 6 weeks of just breastfeeding then began to resent the pump and my little for making me pump (manually!), which i felt even worse about because it wasn’t his fault, he needed me and i had let him down in my ignorance. i then slowly pumped less and less and then eventually went totally over to formula.

it was at this point that i had to go see someone to talk about vaccinations. What a difference it makes to talk to someone!! I had been told about this little clinic at the local pharmacy and how great they were as there was hardly ever a Q to see the nurse.

Here we chatted about my concerns. thrush! the light at the end of the tunnel, and dreaded cradle cap that had just shown itself and colic to boot! shew.. what a relief!!. after i had tried all the off the shelf meds for the colic the nurse suggested i try the homeopathic colic rem, o my word, wonderful stuff!

so armed with my new knowledge of the thrush, cradle cap and colic rem, i was feeling more like my old self. i then decided i was not going to let this happen to myself or my new found fam ever again!! i did a google for baby support groups, and bam!! BC and the awesome ladies form the April 2009 board!

I have since joined many other boards of interest and learned soo much! my next little one is going to benefit from all this experience, but it still breaks my heart sometimes that i didn’t get it right the 1st time around. but my husband reassures me that i gave our little one a good start with breastmilk for the 1st 2months of his little life, and he does seem like a happy content little fella, minus the teething he seems to have going on at the moment.

from deciding that we were going to try for another baby soon, i have these last few months gone more into a healthier way of eating, not that i was eating so badly in the 1st place 😛

i now bake my own bread (cheer for the breadmaker!) and have also started sprouting my own sprouts.

also since my little fam is mainly vegetarian, these sprouts are excellent source of protein, minerals and such.

as i no longer breastfeed my little one and have stopped producing milk, i decided to sprout some fenugreek as it as a nice spicy tang to it. well, i wont be making another batch! my breasts feel heavier and i have started leaking breastmilk at night! arg.. makes me really wish i had known about this stuff earlier.. hehe.. but these days i just have to laugh at the irony of these fenugreek sprouts…

Life goes on, i am enjoying my baby and i am better equipped than before for the 1st few weeks on my next baby. I am also  extremely sure my 1st born is going to make an excellent big brother!

i would just like to say thank you to all those ladies in the groups i have joined and especially the ladies in April 2009. big /cheer for you ladies.

comments left:

bless u hun xx yes u did give ur little one the best start!! and i bet u was a fab mummy xxxxxx welcome to bc hun xxx i agree that i wouldnt be as clued up and as calm if it wasnt for the help of the girls xxx

That is a really nice journal! Thanks for sharing.

Many mums don’t manage to do things the way they would have ideally liked, first time round, as it all such a massive learning curve, and without support its even harder. I too struggled with BF, and it is one of my biggest regrets. But it is my regret, not LO’s, because he was well fed and happy regardless, ifykwim.

Anyway, all these things give us the experience to do things differently next time. I know I will nail the BF with #2. Just watch me. and that’s not to say that FF is wrong, it’s just not how I wanted to do it.

I too have found this site invaluable and just the best thing since sliced bread!  3 cheers for peer support and BC!! Wishing you the best of luck with your dreams for #2!

yes.. there is nothing wrong with FF 😀 but i also regret not being able to BF for longer than i did. #2 is so gonna get it.. rofl

You have done a fab job hun. Having babies is a huge learning curve. You learn from the things you get wrong the first time!(not that you got anything wrong of course) I am certainly doing things a lot different with my second and if i had a third i am determined to do it different again!!

Much has changed since these early days. 3 babies later and still learning! Every baby is different and I am grateful for healthy and happy kids!

You can read my first born’s birth story here.

Did you use support forums in your pregnancy? Do you have a birth group?