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Breastfeeding -Your trials and tips

Hello Ladies,

You may have heard it's National Breastfeeding Week this week. To mark it we want to hear about your breastfeeding trials, your top tips, what you struggled with and what you felt the rewards were. 

Plus if there's anything you struggled with or are still struggling with or any niggles you'd like an answer to, ask below and during the week we'll be putting your questions to an expert.

So ask away!

Replies

  • I am quite a shy person, one to cover up in changing rooms etc, so before I fell pregnant I never ever even thought of breast feeding, but after hearing about the benefits of it decided to give it ago.  Harry took to it like a duck to water and knew exactly what to do so I found it very easy.    I did really struggle with the constant feeding at the time as I was up frequently in the night and spent less time in bed that out of it.

    Once I was confident in BF, I fed anywhere I needed to without worry. I surprised myself.   I ended up qutting BF at 7months old as he just woudlnt go to sleep withough a feed from me so I had to stop  and we did some sleep training. 

    At the time I found it fraustrating the amount of time I seemed to be sat feeding him, now I look back and realise that I should have just cherised that time with him as it doesnt last very long and it was our time together.  If I hvae any more it would be different as I would have H to consider but especially with your first just enjoy every moment of it.   I was lucky I didnt suffer with mastitis but  i did feed on demand so I never seemed to get really swollen breasts

    If you do struggle with it, seek advice from you Health visitors they will tell you where the BF clinics are or contact the NCT

    Last thing I would say is if you try and cannot continue with BF, dont feel bad about it - you tried and its not for everyone. (some babies dont seem to thrive on it quite as well as others)

  • Lansinoh cream-so,so good.

    I'd agree with Charmaine in that I did find it frustrating feeding baby for hours,but also I think of that as special bonding time.

    I fed my first baby for three months but let social pressures influence my decision to stop.We lived in a shared house and when you're sitting feeding baby and one of your BIL's friend comes in a goes            "Ah,she's got her ***s out again" it's the last thing you need,and my Harry fed constantly.I ended up hiding away like it was something to be ashamed of ,and after nine weeks started weaning him off,but gave up completely by three months.Of course months later wished I hadn't.

    With babies 2,3,and 4 I had the confidence to just get on and feed baby,and if anyone felt uncomfortable with it that was their problem,therefore they left the room.

    My youngest three babies had formula because I didn't produce enough milk for them.Number 5,lasted 3 months,number 6 just one months and 7 just a couple of days.I felt guilty with 5 and 6,it is claimed you will always produce enough milk,I should be doing this or that,but I should not be feeding my baby formula.All rubbish of course.Formula is not contraband,it's not some illicit potion fed by lazy women to babies they can't be bothered to feed.It doesn't make you any less woman or mother.So making the decision to feed 7 formula almost right from the start,this time I didn't feel guilty,it was the realistic sensible option.

    Tips though.

    Sore nipples,Lansinoh cream.Cannot recommend enough.

    Don't be put of by other people's attitudes,they have a problem,not you.

    Make the most of  breastfeeding your baby,this time is special time,it doesn't last long.

    Nightfeeds,have a few pillows ready by your bed,a dim lamp,glass of water,tissues.Make yourself comfy and feed baby in bed.Doze while you feed,so the nighfeeds are not such a disturbance to your sleep.

  • No pude dar pecho a mi bebe. La verdad me dais mucha envidia
  • My tip is don't give up!

    My LO feed very badly, not latching on properly, constant feeding, and losing weight, I was so stressed about it especially as the Health vistors were asking me to bring LO in every two days to be weighed. BUT I was sure it was a tied tounge and I nagged the health visitors to get a refferal to get it cut, eventually happened at 5 weeks (took 1 min, and a lttle cry and thats all). I was quite disapointed at by 5 weeks I had already introduced a bottle to help with the weight gain, but through mixed feeding (bottles and breast) up untill 6 months eventually LO weaned himself off bottles onto breast, and I carried on feeding to 14 months.

    My biggest tip is don't just think about breast feeding as a way of feeding its also very much about the bonding and closeness. If you can't carry on breast feeding consider just doing one Breast feed a day, maybe morning one or afternoon so you can really be close with LO.

  • The best thing you can do is feed as soon as possible after the birth. I did this with both my boys (within 10 minutes) and had no problems breast feeding them. In fact my youngest son was rooting for the breast within minutes of being born. Also ignore any negative attitudes about breast feeding in public. It is the other person's problem, not yours - you are just feeding your baby, they on the other hand are extremely narrow-minded. I was brought up thinking that it was normal and natural to breast feed and that bottle feeding was not natural. In fact I dislike the idea of bottle feeding so much that both my boys have never drunk from a bottle and were weaned onto a cup at 5 and 6 months old, with expressed milk, however, I did still keep breastfeesing as well as the occasional expressed cup feed.
  • I agree with Lumpy! I was so lucky. I fed Alex when she got handed to me after her birth and we have never had any problems. Both took to it like a duck to water! My heart bleeds for women who really get stuck with breastfeeding. I just don't think there's enough help out there for everyone. Also, the stigma surrounding feeding in public is just so ridiculous. I am so thankful that in Scotland it's illegal to ask a woman to stop breastfeeding. I'm not one for all these silly laws they bring in for everything nowadays, but the breastfeeding law would be very useful to throw back at someone who was asking you to stop!

    So I suppose my main tips would just echo what everyone else has said! Don't give up, do it as soon as you're handed your little one, don't get overwhelmed by it - just get on with it like you've done it all your life and you know what you're doing, enjoy it - when times get tough, just remember you don't have to get up in the middle of the night to make up a bottle!
  • Agree with all of above. Would also say that would be good if antenatal care was more honest about BF, i.e it can hurt to begin with even if you're doing it right. Although I found it realtively easy to BF my two, a lot of my friends told me they expected to just be able to do it and hadn't expected it to be something they'd need to practice. Maybe this is because health professionals don't want to put us off? Also, I've found feeding is often explained as breast feeding or bottle feeding so you feel you have to make a choice. I've been combining for the last few months (one BF at night and one first thing then bottles in the day) and it has helped me continue to BF for longer.
  • Expect it to look like you are producing no milk the first couple of days, you're not!!  It's colostrum and barely a few drops but enough for baby.

    Expect comedy boobs when milk first comes in.

    Expect it to really hurt to start with, then become way easier than bottle feeding.

    Expect your baby to want to feed frequently and for long periods of time. Mine started every two hours at least, but it does tail off.

    Don't compare your feeding timetable, baby sleep patterns or baby weight gain with bottle fed babies - it is completely different.

    Wear a tight vest under your normal clothes if you don't want to flash your post bump belly when feeding, also wear loose clothing that is slightly too big for discreet breastfeeding.

    Lansinoh nipple cream and breast pads, they are the best ones for leaking.  I have tried them all and was really over-producing milk, once ran out and had to use a panty liner!!

    Mastitis gets better if you continue to feed or express from the poorly boob.

  • Hi there
    my tip would be to wear 2 x spaghetti strap tops when out & about.
    The underneath one can be pulled up & the top one can be pulled down
    This allows you to breast feed without exposing your post baby belly or breast to the world
    Don't give up - it gets easier & its a great bonding tool & its cost effective!!
  • peace be upon every mummy image

    iam a pregnant premaman

    and wanted to thank u all for ur tips

    we in egypt try to breastfeed our babies as long as possible

    and it was an advice from Allah in the hollyqur2an too , as it has many benefits for the baby

    again thank u image

  • For me the best think I did was to prepare for engorgement (the issue that made me quit first time). Babies find it hard to latch onto an engorged breast. Get a nipple shield to get an initial latch and slip it off once baby has fed enough to soften the boob. Express off before each feed.

    I fed expressed milk from a bottle as soon as my milk came in. My baby never got nipple confusion. Personally I've seen more people struggle the other way around getting baby from nipple to bottle. If you are finding it too much getting your husband to give a bottle whilst you rest is much better than getting too tired and giving up.
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