We waited until she had fed from Hannah and then put her to my breast for the first time and nervously waited to see what would happen. Of course she latched on immediately and was feeding without any problems. It was an incredible feeling and we loved that I was able to do this for her.
That said, I felt nervous and worried that somehow my milk might harm her, especially as my milk was also feeding a toddler who had different nutritional requirements.
I took it very easy with her to begin with and slowly increased how often I fed her. Rilee thrived and never lost any weight from her birth weight. I have since found out that breast milk is capable of adapting, depending on the needs of each child.
Hannah provided most of Rilee's feeds, but it was amazing that I could step in too. I could provide Rilee with comfort in the same way, and it was such an honour. It also meant that Hannah could have some time away when she
needed it. Of course we were now also wondering about Kathleen feeding from Hannah, but despite numerous offers she wasn't interested. The couple of times she did try, she spat it out and didn't appear to like the taste at all. This was hard for Hannah, as she desperately wanted to share
this special time with Kathleen in the same way that I could with Rilee.
Then, Rilee reached 6 months and, as if by magic, Kathleen decided she wanted to feed from Hannah! It must have
been due to the content of Hannah's milk changing but she suddenly wanted it just as much as mine. She would ask for either 'Mammy boobie' or 'Mum boobie'.
As wonderful as all this was, our nights were pretty hellish, as we were both up, feeding both girls through the night. By then we were both back at work, and it was very hard. We were exhausted beyond belief. We have no family around, so we are entirely reliant on ourselves. So many times it felt easy to blame the sleeplessness