How Successful Were You Breastfeeding?

[dannii87]

Just out of curiosity, I wondered how successful you were breastfeeding?

I plan to breastfeed (if all goes well)

 

[SarahH]

I chose "not as successful as I would have liked" although that is not entirely true...

Arianna just refused to feed direct off me so I exclusivley gave her expressed breast milk for about 16-17wks.

Yes I would have prefered to feed her directly off me, but I still think I did blo*dy good to express for that long and stick to it.

 

[zebrastripes]

SarahH that's brilliant, I've been feeding and expressing for 4 months now and it's hard enough to keep up supply as it is!

I think I've been pretty succesful at bf, almost 9 months now, didn't expect to make it to 6 weeks tbh!

 

[Tangerinedream]

I tried to bf for about 5 days but produced very little, not even a tea spoon full in total. Obviously I gave him formula to keep him fed. After 5 days of me and Jake both crying and having the most miserable time, me dreading trying to feed him rather than enjoying the bonding... I decided to give up and enjoy the time with Jake. I have never looked back, although I do wish I had persevered, especially when my milk eventually came in a few days later, but hey ho... maybe next time

 

[maybebaby]

I put "very successful".

I breastfed exclusively for the first 6 weeks, then introduced 1 bottle of EBM a day. I had to go back to work 2 days a week when he was 3 months old so he would have a couple of bottles of EBM on days I worked. I still breastfed the rest of his feeds. When he turned 6 months I replaced the EBM with formula. When he was 9 months I dropped his night feed & swapped his day time feeds to formula but still breastfed him in the morning. I completely stopped breastfeeding about 2 weeks before his 1st birthday.

I always had the goal of 6 months in my head & was pleased that I got there. Anything past that was a bonus.

I won't lie to you, it was bloody hard work to begin with & I nearly gave up a couple of times, but it's also the most incredible feeling in the world! I was the same as Midna & didn't even have formula in the house for the first few months.

I'm hopefully going to be able to take longer maternity leave with this next baby so will be able to feed exclusively for longer.

Good Luck, be prepared to work hard at it & it will be worth every toe-curling second!

 

[happy-chick]

I put very sucessful as my aim was 6 weeks & we're now on week 14 I really struggled at first & couldnt get her to latch on so had to top up with formula we over came that and now have no problems

 

[daftscotslass]

I tried to bf for about 5 days but produced very little, not even a tea spoon full in total. Obviously I gave him formula to keep him fed. After 5 days of me and Jake both crying and having the most miserable time, me dreading trying to feed him rather than enjoying the bonding... I decided to give up and enjoy the time with Jake. I have never looked back, although I do wish I had persevered, especially when my milk eventually came in a few days later, but hey ho... maybe next time

This pretty much sums it up for me too. It was hell lying in hospital not able to get up for 2 days and trying for the best part of an hour to get her to latch on every time she was hungry - I had to rely on the staff to hand her to me each time. I had to either try feeding her lying down or bear the pain to try and sit up. By the time I was well enough to try out different positions I had no colostrum and no milk.

I did persevere when we got home and my milk came in but trying to get her latched on was upsetting her and in turn upsetting me. Even after this experience I'm still getting (mostly from people who don't have kids!) "you should have persevered and it would have been fine!" from people.

So maybe next time. Sorry for the rant

 

[leckershell]

I had flat nipples (didn't know until the midwifes told me) which made it a complete mission because Ryan had nothing to latch onto. I fed him for 7 and a bit months, after discovering nipple shields. So for me that was a good achievement Only stopped because he was too ill to do it and it seemed a convenient time as I was shortly returning to work.

 

[dannii87]

Brilliant responses girls! Thank you

You lot are great... Well done those of you who tried but unfortunately couldn't or it wasn't as successful as you'd have hoped. I understand it doesn't work for everyone so I wont beat myself up if I can't. I would love to though, so here's hoping!!

Another question, did you find your baby's were more for you than anyone else as you were providing their feeds? xx

 

[mrs_tommo22]

I didnt do well either times. Having G boobs made it impossible for me both times due to the fact neither baby was comfortable, not getting enough milk - we have since found out recently that my ducts are possibly damaged from some physical abuse i suffered as a child. Do not let people punch you in the chest- or this could happen to you.

So even if i had another child I would have to formula feed ehich i pretty much did with the others. And its never did them any harm. They are strong and healthy and rarely ill. So I dont feel bad about it now as i know it wasnt my fault.

 

[NIE]

I wanted to breast feed but was unable to as I never produced anything. It is very unusual, but it happened to me. xxx

 

[Mrs_Jay]

i tried to breast feed for 4 days but jack ended up losing alot of weight so we ended up back in hospital i then swapped to formular as this had made me over paranoid about whether he was getting enough or not. and with a bottle i could see it.. im still very unsure as to what i want to do this time round

 

[leckershell]

Another question, did you find your baby's were more for you than anyone else as you were providing their feeds? xx

Definately... hard to explain but yes, in the early days it was just mummy mummy mummy, nobody else would do because mummy smells like food and food is gooooooooooooood...

lol

 

[Gem & Leland]

i couldnt even start breastfeeding for over 12 hours ( he was in neonatel tube feed) , then he couldnt be bothered ! we struggled for 3 weeks inc one lot of mastitus when in the end my milk just about dried up and there was more formula feeds then expressed feeds and even less breastfeed as it was a hurrendous battle of tears and screams from him . HV at 3 weeks told me to go full time formula

 

[elaine22]

I put 'very successful'. I was lucky and had no probs with her latching on, and breastfed until 7.5 months with the occasional bottle. The hardest time was at about 2 weeks when she wanted feeding every hour and it was exhausting, but glad I persevered. I do miss it a little now - when she went into her own room she started sleeping through and expressing did little to stimulate production, so I switched over to formula.

 

[Redshoes]

I feel I was successful with Isaac in that I partially BF him until he was 6months old and never felt it was painful or hard at any point, except in the beginning when he wasn't well and the BF took a step back, would have prefered to exclusively BF but my mental state wasn't that great and I was fine at partially. Whatever works for you is best, whether it be partially or not al all, giving it a go is all anyone can ask of a Mummy, so many other things are more important, happy Mummy being the most

 

[Xena]

Very successful. Alex is still exclusively breastfed, and only in the past week has he even started to have any food other than breastmilk - he's SUCH a crazy little boob monster!

Another question, did you find your baby's were more for you than anyone else as you were providing their feeds? xx

yes, very much so, Alex is my little clingon. He screams blue murder if I'm not with him. It's frustrating actually, I even have to take him to the loo with me sometimes.

 

[Urchin]

I've been VERY lucky, my 3 boys have all been great at latching and feeding.
I have had no breast problems (touch wood) and fed Mason and Brody exclusivley for around 6 months, hopefully will do the same this time around.

 

[beanie]

I put successful but with Seren it was more of the "not as successful as I liked" as I topped her up with formula from birth as I did not know it was normal for babies to want to be fed so often and thought she was satrving when she wasn't. It took 2 months till she was exclusively breastfed. Had a terrible time with Seren, she fed every hour for 40 mins at one point, my nipples were such a mess and a bit came off then there was thrush and mastitis but I got there in the end and managed it till she was 20 months.

So thought it would be a walk in the park with Cally but she had problems latching on, leading me to be very sore again so I used nipple shields which she became reliant on so I had to wean her off them but fingers crossed it is going a lot better this time round.

Another question, did you find your baby's were more for you than anyone else as you were providing their feeds? xx

not at all. both Seren and Cally are happy to sit with other family members and Seren is a complete daddy's girl and has been since she was teeny.

 

[Linda]

Ellie just wouldnt do it ,

i did express but it made her sick so we decided to give her formula