{Review and Giveaway} tommee tippee® closer to nature® Express and Go

This post is brought to you in collaboration with Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature and Kids Business.

I've been breastfeeding Darcy now for just over a year, and whilst I could just transition him to cow's milk I would prefer not to and for a while there he was refusing bottles of expressed milk completely and would only feed from me, but now he will happily take a bottle from B and this allows me to have a bit of a sleep in occasionally or to go out at night without worry about him missing a feed.

We recently received the tommee tippee closer to nature Express and Go system and have been trailing it for a few weeks now.

I love that it comes with adaptors so that the pouches can be used with my Medela breast pump. It also can fit Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature, Ameda, Evenflo, Lansinoh, Philips Avent pumps.

The storage case fits perfectly in my freezer and I'm no longer worried about people moving my expressed milk on me or leaving it out of the fridge/freezer.

And well the bottle warmer is just a lifesaver when I've decided to go out at the last minute and B's got now defrosted breast milk to for Darcy. I've never used a bottle warmer before and let me tell you, I'm kicking myself right now! All those years of sitting and waiting while a bottle heats in a bowl of hot water that you had to boil the jug to get could have been prevented. Or even those phone calls from B asking how to heat or defrost frozen breast milk.

The bottle warmer is really easy to use and comes with really clear instructions.

And the sterilised pouches not only have adapters for a range of breast pumps, but they also come with a breast milk pouch bottle (pictured below)

And now for the the giveaway!

One lucky reader has the chance to win a Breast Milk Starter set valued at $44.99 (pictured below).

To be in the running to win this great prize simply comment below and tell me in 25 words "How will the tommee tippee closer to nature Express and Go System make your life easier?" 

For more information on the Express and Go system be sure to check out the following links:

• www.closertonaturebaby.com.au/
• www.facebook.com/closertonaturebaby 

*Giveaway conditions: Entry is open to Australian residents and closes midnight October 14th 2015 AWST. Winner will be notified via email and will have 5 days to respond with their postal address in order to claim their prize. 

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Celebrating MY breastfeeding success

So if you spend any amount of time on Facebook you would have noticed by now that it was National Breastfeeding Week last week and if you didn't, well then you must have been hiding under a rock.

But anyway, it's made me look back on my breastfeeding journey so far and take a second to celebrate the fact that my breastfeeding journey with Darcy has been my most successful to date.

With Caden I only made it to about 8 weeks when the pain of my letdown and cracked nipples got the better of me and we switched to formula and pumping. I think I managed to pump until he was 3 months old and then we switched to formula full time.

Fast forward 15 months and my journey with Mahli started, this one lasted a lot longer and she was breastfed until 8.5 months when she started to refuse breastfeeds. I had started work when she was 4 months old so I think we both did well to get to that point.

And well my journey with Ethan was a completely different story. He was breastfed until 6 weeks of age when I was diagnosed with postnatal depression. I was put on medication that wasn't compatible with breastfeeding and that was that.

So this time round I was determined to give it a red hot go and Darcy seemed to be on the same page from the get go.

He had a pretty perfect attachment right from the very beginning and I had enough confidence in what I was doing to correct it when it wasn't 100% right. The only issues we have had in our breastfeeding journey was unbelievable painful letdowns until he was 12 weeks old.

Yep, you read that right! Even with perfect attachment there was pain. So many times you hear that breastfeeding SHOULDN'T hurt if you are doing it right. But I want to say that it can and does, it is something that both you and your baby have to learn and get used to.

After speaking with a few lactation consultants and lots of support from B I managed to overcome the painful letdown when he was around 12 weeks old and it been pretty much smooth sailing from then on.

I'm not sure how long this journey will last, but right now we are both happy doing what we are doing.