Breast feeding

The first hurdle we approached after Morgan's birth. The firsts and 2nd day was fine, the 3rd she tore skin off my nipples after 5 hours of trying to get her full of colostrum, with little success. We then had an hour sleep and another 4 hours of the same thing. Needless to say by this stage we were both exhausted and Morgan was still hungry. So when the nurse came to check on us again, she found me feeding her again and crying. This is what they call the 3rd day blues, mainly because it means your milk comes is about to come in, so we made the decision to call the pediatrician as we thought she was becoming dehydrated. After waiting 3 hours for her to come, as it was a public holiday, we talked it through and decided to top her up with some formula to give us both a break and to get some sleep. After successfully giving her 50 mL of formula, I went to sleep and John rocked her in the bassinet and finally off to sleep. She slept for 4 hours and I slept for 3.
Once I woke up I decided to shower. And once I had hopped out I realized that John and Morgan up and she was crying. Getting dressed in a hurry, I couldn't work out why I kept getting wet on my stomach after I had dried myself, till I looked down and milk was going everywhere!! This made me so happy. Feeding her was so much easier now and I was so glad I didn't give in.
We continued with easy feeding for a while. Even though let down hurt a lot. And my nipples were really sore. Once home I decided to use nipple shields to give them a chance to heal, I also used healing pads. I used these for 2 weeks and after healing I started feeding her normally again. Feeling let down stopped, which made feeding even more enjoyable.
The next hump we hit with feeding was after her first growth spurt. I would spend 2 hours getting her full. She would sleep an hour then need feeding again. After consulting with child health nurse and our doctor I started taking motilium 3 times a day. This is used to help increase production of milk. I noticed straight away the difference. She took 20 minutes each side and would sleep for longer as she was fuller.
I'm writing this to show other mums that anything can happen and there are ways around obstacles. And after speaking with other mums I wanted to share.
Stick with it, it all comes together on the end, just remember sometimes it won't and it's not the end of the world. Topping up a baby with formula is not the end of the world that I thought, it helped me to get a rest.
Morgan is now 11 weeks and it takes 8 minutes a side to feed her. And she feeds Every 3 hours. I'm still taking motilium and still happy to breast Fred for as long as she needs it.
Aimee x