Meet Jessica
Jessica lives in Nottingham with her husband and their two sons, Jackson and Marley. Jessica’s first experience of breastfeeding wasn’t without challenges. Jackson had tongue-tie and this resulted in a lot of pain and discomfort.
It didn’t get any simpler with Marley, who was three months premature. He spent the first few months of his life in neonatal intensive care. Their feeding journey began with a lot of complications. While Marley was being cared for in hospital, Jessica was expressing milk and feeding Marley using different techniques. Although it required a lot of patience, Marley eventually gained weight and was strong enough to latch. Jessica and Marley got into a good breastfeeding routine. Jessica has been exclusively breastfeeding ever since, and Marley has just started on solid foods.
Jessica found support from her mum, who had to stop breastfeeding earlier than she intended. She also attended feeding groups and met other parents at different stages of their breastfeeding journeys. It was through this support that Jessica was able to keep going through the tough times. She’s breastfed Marley ever since she was able to. Now, one year later, they’re still going strong.