did anyone just prefer to nurse anywhere else but the bed?

[AnnieW625]

I did it a few times with both of my girls (once I was home from the hospital; I only nursed in the bed at the hospital though), but in all honesty I found it soo uncomfortable to nurse in bed, and I always felt like I was slipping. I much preferred the couch or the glider to nurse.

[LadyPeter]

I nurse in bed through the night, just because I'm too tired to get up. I'll admit it's terribly uncomfortable. Hurts my back and shoulders, and is darn near impossible without the MBF pillow. On the couch or chair, however, I don't need the pillow and it's a lot less strain.

[edurnemk]

You mean sitting up in bed? Yeah, that's awful. I tried a couple of times, but then I always used the glider and the boppy. I only nursed in bed lying down, that I did every night once I got the hang of it.

[Katigre]

You mean sitting up in bed? Yeah, that's awful. I tried a couple of times, but then I always used the glider and the boppy. I only nursed in bed lying down, that I did every night once I got the hang of it.
Pretty much this. If I sat up in bed it worked if I was cross-legged to provide the right lap support/angle. But 90% of my in-bed nursing was laying down which was pretty comfortable.

[SnuggleBuggles]

No desire at all to sit up in a chair to nurse in the middle of the night. Dh would bring the hungry baby to me, I'd barely wake up just enough to feed him then when done I'd take the baby back to bed (or with ds1 I'd wake dh take him back and so I never had to get out of bed :)). Laying down in bed was fine. In the early days of nursing ds1 I'd sit in bed with my Boppy and that was ok too but it woke me up too much. so happy to master side lying!

Beth

[smiles33]

I never figured out how to nurse in bed comfortably so I always hauled myself out to the glider in her nursery. During the day I'd nurse from the couch downstairs. i can only nurse in bed when they're older and can climb on top of me so I can lay on my back.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

You mean sitting up in bed? Yeah, that's awful. I tried a couple of times, but then I always used the glider and the boppy. I only nursed in bed lying down, that I did every night once I got the hang of it.

:yeahthat:

for the first couple months i always nursed in our glider with a my brest friend. nursing sitting up in bed killed my back. when i finally figured out how to nurse lying down, that was a godsend. i am definitely going to be doing from the get-go once my dd is born.

[Dr C]

I hated nursing in bed! Glider was MUCH better!

[wellyes]

I can only nurse in bed once the baby is 3-4 months old. Before then we're in the "my DDs are bigger than the baby's head" territory and it just doesn't work.

[star04]

At first I mostly nursed on the couch/chair. Sitting up in bed was uncomfortable. Then I tried lying down and it was sooo much better!

[♥ms.pacman♥]

sort of OT, but i should add that the *only* way i could nurse comfortably in sidelying position is to nurse from boob on top (e.g. the boob *not* closest to the bed). this is the opposite boob of what is typically shown in nursing books. on another forum someone had suggested this tip for those large-chested mamas, and i tried it and it totally worked!!! i only wish i had heard about this sooner (i think my son was already 3-4mo old when i first heard of this tip)...it would have saved me a ton of sleep in the early days of all those long nursing sessions at night!

[srhs]

Gosh, both of mine were mostly nursed laying down in bed. Now that DS2 is 14 mos, I don't think he has nursed any other way for many months.

But, no, I could not nurse sitting up in bed. It was awful, and I remember trying to do it in the early days when I had company and nowhere else to go. And we already had latch and other issues. What a nightmare!

[wellyes]

sort of OT, but i should add that the *only* way i could nurse comfortably in sidelying position is to nurse from boob on top (e.g. the boob *not* closest to the bed). this is the opposite boob of what is typically shown in nursing books. on another forum someone had suggested this tip for those large-chested mamas, and i tried it and it totally worked!!! i only wish i had heard about this sooner (i think my son was already 3-4mo old when i first heard of this tip)...it would have saved me a ton of sleep in the early days of all those long nursing sessions at night!

Oh, yes, I totally do that too. I thought that's how everyone does it!

[citymama]

Wow, that's incredible to me! With DD2, I pretty much only nurse in bed when at home. I sit up leaning against the headboard, prop a pillow behind my back, no nursing pillow or anything. With DD1, I used the glider a lot more, but the darn thing is still in DD1s room so I never use it to nurse. The bed is fine - anywhere I can recline is ok. A straight backed chair is super uncomfy.

[luckytwenty]

I'm 2 1/2 weeks PP and nursing still isn't always comfortable for me, so I can't be all relaxed and sleepy lying down. I prefer to either sit up in bed (I have a big wedge that kind of makes sitting up in bed like sitting in a chair) or nursing while in the glider. He is "quick on the draw" and I need the lights on anyway to make sure he doesn't latch on just the nipple. But I remember nursing in bed with my daughter when she was a bit older--that was fine.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I'm 2 1/2 weeks PP and nursing still isn't always comfortable for me, so I can't be all relaxed and sleepy lying down. I prefer to either sit up in bed (I have a big wedge that kind of makes sitting up in bed like sitting in a chair) or nursing while in the glider. He is "quick on the draw" and I need the lights on anyway to make sure he doesn't latch on just the nipple. But I remember nursing in bed with my daughter when she was a bit older--that was fine.

If you are using a lamp, try weaning down to a nightlight. It'll help everyone stay in middle of the night mode. I remember how excited I was when I could finally do it without the nightlight too. :)

Beth

[artvandalay]

Nursing in bed is the worst. I hate it. So uncomfortable

[mousemom]

I never was able to get the nursing in bed routine down. DS had lots of problems latching on for the first couple of months and somehow it just didn't work in bed. I used a comfy chair in the living room and it worked better for everybody. I dozed in it many nights while DS was nursing.

[LD92599]

If i nurse in bed sitting up then i've got at least 6 pillows behind me. Otherwise no go. Lying down in bed.. Great!

[MeISOE]

Bed, couch, chair - sitting up, lying down - for me it just depended on the time of day and/or how things had been going recently. Now at night DS is in bed with me so I just roll over, feed, and sleep. I'm outrageously lazy though. I admire everyone else who somehow manages to get out of bed, feed, and get back to sleep. When I get up it is at least an hour commitment because even with minimal light I wake up. For a while my back was really hurting so I always nursed lying down no matter what.

[brittone2]

I'm always thrilled when my babies figure out how to nurse in sidelying.

DS1 was nursing in sidelying before we left the hospital. So. nice.

DD took longer to figure it out (a few weeks?) and I sat up in bed to nurse her (not that comfy).

DS2 figured it out by night 2 and that was wonderful as well.

I have overactive letdown, and it also slows the flow a little bit. In fact, DS1 would *only* nurse in sidelying for a good portion of his first year of life. We would go places and he simply would not nurse while out and about. One time he went like 8 hours because we were out of town for a triathlon for DH and he refused to nurse even though I knew he was hungry!

But yeah, sidelying is where it is at for me. A wise mom gave me that tip when I was pg and attended a LLL meeting. She was so right IME...it makes it much more relaxing and easy (for me anyway).

eta: DS2 is already super distractable and doesn't nurse all that well unless I take him to a quiet room and we nurse in bed (in sidelying). With the older kids around and all of the distractions of daily life, he gets too distracted. He almost never NIP even though I have no problem with it because he won't focus on the job LOL.