My SNS Story

FEATURE MY SNS STORY

By Bec Hancock

Like many women I faced challenges with our first three children which ended our breastfeeding journey far sooner than I would have liked. I was determined with our fourth and final pēpi, that I would give her breastmilk for at least 6 months. I knew the ways I could achieve my breastfeeding goals were to engage with maternity care early, share my concerns, fears and aspirations, birth where I felt calm, safe, and supported, have immediate skin to skin, and finally ensure that my family understood how important breastfeeding our pēpi was to me. At 41 + 5 in the comfort and safety of our home with our midwife present our baby arrived. We enjoyed uninterrupted skin to skin where she nuzzled my breast and latched on for the first time. It was at that moment I thought, “I can do this.” We decided to not have any visitors for the first week, this included family and friends. We acknowledge how difficult that was for our parents and siblings, however, it was an important part of our bonding experience and ensuring our baby had unlimited access to my breasts.

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On night 7, my breasts felt extremely empty, and our pēpi just didn’t seem satisfied - she was extremely unsettled, had low output, and I was sure she was hungry. My head kept screaming, “I can’t do this!” I contacted my midwife who consoled me, supported me, and asked how I felt about using a small amount of donor milk to get us through the evening. My husband and I agreed that donor milk was a viable option for our pēpi to support her immune system and support my breastfeeding goals. The Manawatu Milk Sharing Facebook Group was instrumental in sourcing newborn milk,

within 5 minutes of my post late that night I had offers of help from several women! I collected a few mls of donor milk from a wonderful woman who had a baby born on the same day as ours. We fed her via syringe which took a lot of pressure off that night. My midwife arrived the next morning and we considered how we could boost my supply while keeping our baby fed with breast milk. We discussed and agreed that alongside breastfeeding and pumping we would supplement with donor milk. I had a small stash of milk that had been given to me and I asked how we should feed it to her. My midwife showed me a small bottle with tubes, “Let’s try this.” She offered me a supplementary nursing system (SNS). I had heard of these through my previous role as a childbirth educator but never had I thought about using one. SNS are an excellent alternative to bottles, it allows pēpi to be fed milk (yours, donor, or formula) while at the breast. It can be an effective way to increase your supply, keep pēpi interested at the breast, and for some women who for any reason are unable to produce breast milk it is a way that they can breastfeed their pēpi. It was tricky, I won’t sugar coat it. Taping the tubes to my breast and getting a good latch took a lot of time and patience. I was tired, I was frustrated, and I was feeling extremely sad about not being able to feed my pēpi solely my own milk. Then, the most amazing thing happened; I watched as the donor milk flowed through the tubes to my pēpi… it was

incredible, she was content, her wee hands began to relax. Tears of joy streamed down my face as she gulped donor milk from the SNS all while stimulating my own breast to produce more of my precious milk. I knew at that moment the SNS saved our breastfeeding relationship. Our pēpi is now 20 months old and is firmly attached to my boobs! I never imagined breastfeeding into toddlerhood and you know what? Now I can’t imagine not breastfeeding!! Breastfeeding can look all sorts of different; breastfeeding might be ‘natural’, but it isn’t always easy. If you are having challenges or wondering what options there are to support your own journey please talk to your midwife, childbirth educator, or a lactation consultant. They are there to support you and, in my case, exceed your breastfeeding goals.