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any tips please,anxious
hello my second baby due in may and i wasnt able to breast feed my son,now 2. he was tounge tied and jaundice and never latched on other than directly after birth. i tried for 6 wks! expressing and trying to no avail.i was very upset when i had to put him on formula,not because im anti bottle feeding,but it wasnt what i wanted.
now as im 26 wks im thinking about bf,i really want to do it this time. i do feel anxious about it ,there are so many reasons to bf,apart from the obvious reasons, this will be last baby and i really want to experience this breastfeeding bond for 6 months at least.
are there any things i can do? tips? i no i MUST relax!
now as im 26 wks im thinking about bf,i really want to do it this time. i do feel anxious about it ,there are so many reasons to bf,apart from the obvious reasons, this will be last baby and i really want to experience this breastfeeding bond for 6 months at least.
are there any things i can do? tips? i no i MUST relax!
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Replies
Please dont let your previous experience of bf'ing make you more anxious this time. I dont have personal experience because i only have one child, but a friend of mine from the local breastfeeding group has successfully managed to breastfeed her daughter for 16 weeks ( still going) after only managing with her son for a few weeks. It is possible.You need lots of support and the right information. Talk to your midwife about your concerns before LO arrive and see if you can find out about local support groups/organisations. Have a look on the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers website (www. abm.me.uk) or use google. Mine welcomes pregnant woman wanting to bf as well as bf'ing mums so i imagine most would.
Good Luck
I had my dd in October and I'm still ebf and she's 20 weeks. This is my second baby, my ds only latched on a couple of times and I ended up expressing and mixed feeding with formula. I was absolutely heart broken - nobody tells you that you might not be able to bf, you just expect it to happen.
This time like you I was really determined to bf so I just did lots of research and was obviously just more aware that it might not happen, I think this helped me relax a lot more. My dd latched on straight away there was no problem at all so a lot of it can depend on the baby/type of birth - things that are out of our control!
Try not to feel anxious or put too much pressure on yourself
Good luck
The chances are this lo may have Tongue tie also as it in inhereted, but don't let this put u off!! It can be sorted with a small op, the best piece of info I can giv if this happens is to ask nurses in post natal ward to not feed lo with a bottle, this will hinder the attachment. The op may not happen straight away (did ur 1st born hav an op to correct?) in this case ask for a tube to be placed down into the stomach, this will help lo not to get nipple confusion(feeding from a boobie is different from a bottle) I had this done to ds as he had low blood sugar levels and had to be fed formula until my milk came in. It made a world of difference and didnt affected or hurt him at all.
Also the 1st 6 weeks r the hardest, your milk production hasn't settled yet and baby will need feeding often to begin with until they get their own routine established. Try not to give a dummy as this can affect latch on, instead if they're feeling grumpy latch them on. Then once they've fed if it's bedtime give them to daddy. This is the best advice given to me! Baby can smell milk on u and so will want to be latched on but daddy smells different and so are more likely to fall asleep without comfort of sucking.
If u want to do it nothing will stop u, get the Tongue tie (if they do have tongue tie) sorted as I've said and it'll b easier.
Is there any bfing clubs/advice near you? They're good as you can ask questions to other bfing mummies and there us usually at least 1 peer supporter/professional to talk to. Read up on latching on loads b4 lo arrives and practice with a doll to make sure ur holding baby right to enable a good latch on. Health visitors/midwives are there to help.
Plus like I said I'm on dim forum so u can ask me questions wheneva, before and after lo arrives. All the best hun!! Xxxx