Unsure if I will be able to breastfeed. What supplies should I get?

[AmberH]

I have had reduction surgery and don't know if I will be able to breastfeed (although I want to). What supplies should I get before baby is born? I don't want to buy too much in case breastfeeding isn't possible for me. Any help would be appreciated.

[Geebee]

Bottles, formula, and a breast pump. Nursing bras and pads (I think that J&J have the best ones, available at Target.) I would wash, etc. the bottles so that you are ready for any case.

In the case that you cannot breastfeed, you will need the bottles and formula. If you can breastfeed or you aren't producing enough (you can breastfeed and supplement with formula), you can use the breast pump to stimulate milk production or to build a supply of milk to bottle feed at a later date. Two nursing bras will probably work until you figure out if you can breastfeed. And pads are for leaking (which you may or may not leak).

If you don't want to invest too much in a breast pump, stick with a small single electric pump. I'd wouldn't get a manual pump unless you really have to save money. I would definitely have some sort of pump, though. If you are trying to save money, I don't really think that you need a high-powered double pump unless you are exclusively pumping, you are away from your baby (working), you need to stimulate a lot of milk production, etc. In any case, you could wait and see if you need to invest in those double high-powered machines.

BTW, take the pump, nursing bras, and pads with you to the hospital.

I hope that helps. Please post if you have any other questions.

Good luck.

[lisaflores]

I also had breast reduction surgery and have been able to successfully breastfeed. However, it was very hard at first. I would not invest in anything too expensive at first. I would also find a good lactation consultant who will work with you. My health insurance ran a Breastfeeding clinic that worked with us for the first few months.

You should have a pump handy to help increase milk productioon if needed. But I would not buy at first. The good pumps will be expensive and then if you don't like them or have difficulty, you have wasted money. Rent a hospital grade pump for the first month. My insurance actually provided me with rental pump free (ask about that). They loaned me a Medela Lactina which worked well.

I guess you should have the breast pads available and definitely have some bottles for backup. But for me, I have almost never had any leakage, and I do not know if this is from the surgery or not. Don't over invest in bottles either. If you seriously want to attempt to breastfeed exclusively and you have problems with milk supply at first, you will really need to use a breast supplementation system. These are the containers with tubing that attaches to your breasts so baby can be supplemented but still learn to breastfeed and benefit from milk you do have. Yo9u can purchse these systems from Medela, via the La Leche League, I think. But it is hard to learn how to use approrpriately and takes effort, so it is really best if you can find a good LC who can guide you throught the process.

There is a book I bought through amazon.com recommended by the LLL, about breast feeding after reduction. It has some good factual info. But it also made me feel like a bit of a failure, because there are a lot of personal stories from women who seem ed to sacrifice everything to breastfeed, and reasding their stories did not make me hopeful but rather made me feel like I could never do hat they did and maybe I was bad, for not wanting to!

Okay, this is very long. The end result is after using several methods to bring up my milk supply and continuing to persevere with different supplementation systems, my baby is now 2 months old and we breastfeed exclusively without supplementation of any kind. If you would like more info, please let me know and I'd be glad to help! Good luck!

Oh, I just remember buy some of the lanolin cream (i use Lansinoh, bought at Walmart). When you are learning and breastfeeding frequently, nipples get sore and sometimes cracked. Put it on after every feeding and it really helped a lot!