AD: 5 Ways Cake Maternity Helped My Breastfeeding Journey In The First 4 Weeks
If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that I welcomed my beautiful baby boy in February.
Since then I’ve been in a lovely newborn bubble, enjoying every hurdle, sleepless night, gurgle, and smile. It’s been a wild ride and nothing can prepare you for the birth of your first baby.
When my gorgeous boy was born, I received a wonderful package from the fabulous Cake Maternity and it instantly improved my breastfeeding journey – and then everything kind of started falling into place. For all new mums, mums to be, and mums going again, this guide on Cake Maternity is for you!
Ease Of Access
Having a newborn is a wild ride – giving birth is also a crazy journey. In my experience, you leave your dignity at the door the moment you enter the maternity ward. I was semi-naked, mooing like a cow and showing off all kinds of body parts with not a care in the world.
In all honesty, in normal life, I’m a bit of a prude. I’m never the first to get my kit off on holiday, my husband is used to me being embarrassed about how I look in front of him and I don’t really flash the flesh.
However, when you have a baby, your body doesn’t belong to you – at least at first. If you’re planning on breastfeeding, like me, you’ll know that ease of access to your boobs and skin is key to quick and effective latching.
I received the Milk Bamboo Sleep Bra soft touch bra from Cake Maternity to try out and it is my go-to for the middle of the night cluster feeds when I need to be up as quick as possible to give my baby comfort and food.
This gorgeous bra is super soft, supportive but also gives the baby the chance to have skin to skin while I’m scrambling to get my boob free to feed him. It stops him from getting hangry and crying his head off and ensures that he latches quickly and comfortably.
I sleep with this bra every single night – the nights that it’s in the wash lead to longer, unsuccessful feeds and slower days.
The ability to simply drop the bra down to give my baby his milk makes life so much easier when it’s 3am, I can only see out of one eye and I don’t know what day of the week it is.
Cake Maternity is a 10/10 for ease of access!
Comfort
As I mentioned above, I’m not usually a big one for flopping my boobs out every hour and a half and examining my nipples. But, now that I am a mummy, that seems to be all I do.
Cake Maternity bras make the entire breastfeeding process comfortable. Their bras fit perfectly, have plenty of wiggle room for when you need to access the boob under clothes, and look pretty.
On a normal day, I tend to wear the Posh Nursing Bra – it’s changed the game for boob comfort for me.
It might sound silly but breastfeeding, at least at the beginning, is not very comfortable, is often sore, and when your nipples are overworked due to cluster feeding or a growth spurt, sore and painful.
During the early days when we were trying to learn how to feed properly, my nipples would hurt if the wind blew. I’m not joking. My chest was sore, my arms were stiff from birth (cannulas, drips, tensing), my back was sore (again from birth and from not bringing baby to me and being stuck in really uncomfortable feeding positions), my breasts felt like they were on fire and I was being used as a dummy when my baby needed lots of comfort.
Your baby is the most important thing when you become a mummy but you’re still a priority too – your comfort is key for peace of mind, happiness, and a settled baby.
There’s a lot to be said for happy mum, happy baby!
The Posh Nursing bra is super comfortable, it fits my larger breasts (even bigger now that my milk has come in), it comes in black (my favourite colour), and the clips for access are comfortable – even when you’re in a panic and trying to free a boob for a screaming infant!
Confidence
It’s probably a stretch to describe myself as a confident breastfeeding mama – it’s all still very new and I second guess myself with every feed. In one feed he seems to latch perfectly and we have a dreamlike feed where we snuggle and coo. In another feed, he’s completely forgotten how to latch, he cries, I often cry and we have to start all over again.
However, having bras from Cake Maternity can mean that I can stride successfully into motherhood.
My breasts are fully supported, no leaks are in sight when my baby starts to cry in the middle of the supermarket and I can get him fed discreetly in seconds.
Having such great support from my Cake Maternity bras means that I can grow my confidence with every wear, feed, and latch!
Support
Before my baby was born, I knew I wanted to breastfeed. I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself and I invested gently in some cheaper high street bra alternatives.
That was a mistake!
The highstreet ones offered no support, scratchy material, odd boob shapes and really just made breastfeeding difficult.
All of the Cake Maternity bras I’ve tried have given me great support. They are made so well, with such amazing quality, and last the million pull-downs, adjustments, move around and pulls from me.
To have real support for my big boobs while trying to take care of myself and my new baby has made breastfeeding easier. Not having to readjust myself, itch, and scratch, or avoid leaks has meant that I can carry on with my day with ease.
Pumping & Supply Issues
My baby is one hungry boy, he has a healthy appetite and he loves cuddles and comfort. This means that if he has his way, he’d be on the boob day and night, 24 hours straight, only releasing for a big stretch, yawn, and nappy change.
In the early days, my supply was growing, the colostrum was settling him and things seemed ok. Then he has his first growth spurt and boy did we know it.
Breastfeeding is all about supply and demand – the more you do it, the more milk there will be for your next feed.
So, we bought a bog-standard pump and I began a kind of routine of expressing when I could and feeding on the boob full time.
Now that we are just over 4 and half weeks in and my milk supply has arrived, we are now in a good spot where I can pump when my husband is home and feed on demand but with less pressure if we leave the house.
Before my baby was born, I had no clue that pumping bras existed – but thanks to Cake Maternity, I do now!
Pumping is not sexy. I bought the Bella Baby one and it is fabulous for expressing my breast milk but not so good at making me look fanciable.
This Lotus Hands Free Pumping bra gives me back some of my discretion and dignity. I can pump away while hiding my boobs from prying eyes (so far, I’ve only pumped at home or at my mum’s) keeps my dignity intact, and lets me move around the house with two free hands.
It’s a serious game changer!
If my baby is unsettled and needs me to pop a hand in his, I can. When the postman arrives with some blogger mail, I can open the door and not show the whole street my breasts. I can even make a cup of tea and eat food while pumping – what a life!
Without this hands-free pumping bra, I’d be back in the dark ages of being firmly stuck on the sofa and having to abandon expressing as soon as the baby cries.
Cake Maternity Favourites
It’s clear to see just how much I LOVE this brand. Without them, I don’t think I’d be feeling so settled in my breastfeeding journey. They’ve transformed how I feed my gorgeous baby and made it one less thing to worry about – and Lord knows there is enough to worry about when you become a new mummy!
Cake Maternity have so many amazing products that I’d like to try next but the three I’ve mentioned above are my top picks. You can shop them here:
Posh Nursing Bralette F – H Cup
My other recommendations are:
I cannot recommend Cake Maternity enough – in fact, I’m off to make a new order now so that I can alternate each night without having to be uncomfortable on wash days!
What did your breastfeeding journey look like?
Did you breastfeed your baby?
LoveRosiee
xxx
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