Feeling nervous about Breastfeeding...

[Rooster30]

Hi breastfeeders, just looking for some reassurance on breastfeeding. I did not breastfeed my son (reasons I won't get into), however I'm determined to give it a really good go this time around when new baby arrives in April. I was so unprepared last time, so I've been doing a bit of reading on the subject and it's actually making me more nervous. It doesn't exactly seem simple, and I'm worried I won't be able to get my head around it or have the patience to settle into it, especially when I have a toddler running around too.

I'm starting to worry about everything, the latching, whether baby gets enough milk, whether baby gets enough of the hind milk, what breasts it should feed off and what routine I should be in, whether I'll get sore nipples etc etc. I know that these issues will mainly resolve themselves after a month (hopefully). But I'm just worried that a newborn, trying to get my head around breastfeeding and a two year old will overwhelm me too much?

 

[SR35]

I was worried too but when lo was born the midwife put her on me and she just started doing it naturally and she even had tongue tie which makes it harder. You do need to be prepared that the first couple of weeks are the hardest, getting the latch right, sore nipples (definitely use lansinoh nipple cream!!), your breasts becoming engorged etc. BUT just remember that it does settle down and become easier after this. I also worried if she was getting enough milk as it didn't seem like she was but every time she was weighed she had put on weight really well. You will be able to tell when they have drained one boob and then you can switch to the other one. Or some people just do one side for ten mins and then switch to the other for the rest of the feed. I found the midwives and health visitors really helpful so don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it. They will come out and check that baby's latch is correct and show you how to hold them if you need it, which I did!! I would definitely say it's worth persevering as its so rewarding being able to feed your baby and having that bond, plus there's no messing about with bottles in the middle of the night and sterilising etc. good luck, I hope all goes well xx

 

[Sprout]

I think the main thing with breastfeeding is that you have to be stubborn. You will almost certainly face challenges like the ones you've mentioned but they can pretty much all be overcome with good advice and perseverance, you just have to say from the outset that you won't give in.

I was very lucky and have never had any pain or difficulty with latching. However, I don't think I was quite prepared for how often my baby would want to feed (every hour or two hours in the day time) but now I know that's perfectly normal, it's fine.

There is a Facebook group called UK Breastfeeding and Parenting Support which I've found very useful, it might be worth joining. There are also breastfeeding support groups out there who have coffee mornings etc.

Good luck!

 

[Rose83]

I second everything above - especially being stubborn. Too many people want to give you an easy excuse not to carry on when it gets hard and tell you that you should stop because it's causing you too much frustration. But it is difficult at first but once baby and you have got the hang of it then it's simple! Unfortunately for me I got thrush (on the nipples) at about week 3 and couldn't understand why my baby was getting more and more fussy and would cry when I tried to feed her. Eventually at week 5 the health visitor helped me realise what it was and started to try to treat it. In the meantime I had been expressing and gradually all but one of my feeds turned into expressed bottle ones. I am now almost exclusively express feeding (one feed most days on breast) because I still have thrush after three courses of drugs and four weeks of creams. The reason i probably developed it was because I had to take antibiotics for a womb infection and that has set off the thrush (this has often happened to me in the past). Express feeding is hard work because I have to do all the bottles and expressing as well as sitting and feeding but it is my stubborn desire not to use formula that has got me through! I hope that she might go back on the boobs if I ever shift the thrush properly. I use the Medela bottles which make her work for the milk still so she hasn't forgotten how to suck hard enough to feed from me

Good luck. Don't worry and buy Lansinoh! X

 

[tinkerbell13]

I second everything above. We had A LOT of challenges along the way but overcome every single one, this however was down to determination and perseverance on my part. I agree with above that too many people want to give you an easy excuse to stop and say that it's causing you frustration, sadly I believe that the majority of these people gave up themselves and we're maybe not given the right advice and support at the time. Something that really sticks in my mind is when I had to go for a blood test at 3 months pp with the nurse at my doctors, she asked me how I was feeding baby and I said breastfeeding and she said 'oh its gets harder, you've done rally well getting to 3 months, but not many people make it past 4 months so don't worry if you want to give up and get your life back! ' erm hello that's really supportive, this made me even more determined to reach my 6 month goal. You've probably read my comments before but I will just recap. My lo had severe tongue tie and was not able to latch until we'd had the procedure done at 6 days old, long story but not diagnosed at hospital only diagnosed by midwife at first home visit so at the hospital I was told I had to top him up with formula as well as expressing, I now know that there was absolutely no need for me to do this (top up with formula I mean) but obviously I didn't know at the time, so this could have been a very slippery slope for us eg if I hadn't have determined enough we'd have probably ended up taking the easy option of bottle feeding (in no way am I poo pooing bottle feeding and saying it's easy but in my eyes this would've been the easier option) I've been told since that we are quite rare to be able to pull back from neatly 70% bottle feeding to exclusively breast feeding as normally this doesnt happen. As I said before this is from sheer determination on my part. My lo is also a grazers and feeds every 1.5 - 2 hours still at nearly 24 weeks. Good luck and I hope all goes to plan. I should also point out that without the help of the local breast feeding peer supporters my journey would've been even harder so I'd urge you to have their number on hand immediately following the first few weeks after birth. Sorry for the long post lol X

 

[tinkerbell13]

A group on facebook I found useful is 'TLC mummies bf support' this is a closed group (but just send a request to join) and is for my local area but there are people on it from all over the country. There's some brilliant advice on here. .

 

[Rooster30]

Thanks ladies... Though I'm still feeling really apprehensive about it. To be honest I'm not sure if I'll have the determination to 'stick it out' throughout the exhaustion and having a two year running around. Though, at least this time I'm a bit more mentally prepared that the first month will be tough! Eugh, I'm not looking forward to this

 

[tiggy85]

Try and remember that if you can get to 6-8 weeks it is so so much easier than bottle feeding as you can just go out whenever and feed when ever without having to worry about sterilsing, making the bottles and the time element of having a prepared milk bottle. I'm going to have a 2 year old when this baby comes (2 weeks!) and I remember how hard it was first time (I my fed my first till 12 months) . But this time I'm going to just concentrate on feeding for the first 6 weeks and then worry about going out/cleaning/shopping etc. I will have to rely on TV time and iPad time for feeding when my little boy is awake so he is entertained but I know it's only going to be hard for the first couple of months.