Lack of education all round.
My experience of starting out in breastfeeding was difficult. My daughter was whisked away to NICU and then special care. No one told me I could breastfeed her (a lady made a comment along the lines of you weren't here so we gave her formula). I was devastated and knew I had to do something. So I initialised breastfeeding and comp fed until day 3 when she was discharged to ante-natal and I weaned her off the bottle, unto the cup, onto the breast using a nipple shield (told I had flat nipples) and then off breast shields. The whole time refusing to be discharged until I felt ready. Amazed when I think back, that we actually acheived a breastfeeding relationship and maintained it until recently.
My experience of the midwifery staff was like most I think; some made sense to me and others gave random advice and didn't look like they even wanted to be there. My head midwife commented on my breastfeeding without having read my file and left me feeling very deflated and lacking in confidence. But she was the only one really, everyone else did their best to help even though it was conflicting advice at times.
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