Anyone here have any advice for mom to be with breastfeeding

[ladythepup]

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone has any good advice for me I am due in August and would like to try breastfeeding. I have been told to stay away from books becuase i bought 2 1 was a sears book and another one and it just discouraged me.
I dont know what to do.
How hard is it to get baby to latch? i am nervous baby wont latch or will latch on wrong.
Any Advice would be helpful

Mel

[lag555]

I don't really have any profound advice to give you, but I do want to offer my best wishes. It is most likely that your baby will be able to nurse with no problems. Does your hospital have a lactation consultant? Make sure you meet with her/him before you leave the hospital. She'll probably be able to walk you through it and give you some pointers. My nurse also gave me telephone numbers of volunteers who live in my neighborhood and would be willing to give advice or help out.

Good luck!

Aggie

[AvasMama]

Hi,
I liked "Breastfeeding: A Parent's Guide" by Amy Spangler. Very straightforward and helpful. I was very worried about the latching too, but Ava knew exactly what to do and I was able to feed her the minute they brought her to me.

I am no expert, so I only have a few suggestions:

1. If you find a book you like, take it to the hospital with you! I was so tired I couldn't remembre anything I had read. I made my husband go home and get the book so I would have info on latching, how long to feed, etc. on hand when the nurses weren't around.

2. Take advantage of the nurses. Anytime they were around when I was feeding Ava I would have them check her latch. They helped me correct problems early on and gave me lots of reassurance that things were going along as they should be.

3. Make yourself a promise to stick with it through the first few weeks if at all possible. We had no problems, but it was still very painful the first two or three weeks.

You'll want to have Lansinoh ointment (pure lanolin) on hand. It says only to use it if your nipples are sore but I applied it after every feeding and it helped prevent some soreness. I also read that you should air dry your nipples after each feeding. I didn't do that at first, but once I started doing that, I noticed a big decrease in soreness.

Last, I got really sore when my milk came in. My husband bought me these Gerber hot/cold packs that worked wonders. I kept them in the freezer and applied them when I got sore.

All in all, it has gone MUCH more smoothly than I had expected. I know I was lucky and that others have had problems, but I hope your experience is as positive as mine has been!

Best,
Robyn & Ava (1-15-04)

[COElizabeth]

Some babies latch on correctly right away, and others have a lot of trouble. Mine was in the middle, probably. I asked several of the nurses to help us get him latched on for feedings in the hospital, and by the time we went home I could do it pretty easily. Don't be scared if your baby doesn't get it right away. Just get a willing nurse or LC to help you - they should expect to do that. After a short period it will most likely become very easy to get a good latch. If it's still hard, get an LC to come to your home for a consultation. She can spend more time with you and help you figure it out. You'll do great!

Elizabeth, Mom to James, 9-20-02
EDD #2, 10-30-04

[calebsmama03]

Congratulations on your babe to be and on your decision to BF! First, take a deep breath and relax. Do not be discouraged! You are doing great to be planning so far ahead! DS was exclusively BF through almost 8 mos and is still going strong at nearly 14 mos. Here is my advice.

1. Think about attending a LLL group in your area. Here is a link to locate groups http://www.lalecheleague.org/WebUS.html
You will be able to hear stories from and ask questions of BFing moms and the leaders are invaluable resources and can come out to assist after baby is born 9they can do this even if you don't attend meetings - free of charge - but you may be more comfortable calling someone you know).
2. Take a class. This should also give you a chance to meet the lactation consultant in your hospital. She is your friend - do not be afraid to ask (or insist, as I had to on a isit while youre in the hosp if you need help! Some post partum nurses are better than others at helping BFing moms.
3. As someone else said, try to make a committment to last for at least 6 weeks. There is a definite learning curve and you'll probably have some doubts if not difficulty, but once you get past the first 6 weeks it is so easy and you'll be glad you did! It is truly so much easier than bottles!!
4. Have comfort measures on hand before baby arrives. Someone else mentioned Lansinoh, which is great for most moms - the hosp should give you a tube. I actually hated lanolin creams but LOVED Soothies = these little gel pads that you can chill in the fridge and they help heal and protect sore nipples. Here is some info
http://www.puronyx.com/ Do a froogle/google search to find good prices - usually from $10-12 per pair, I only needed 2 pair. Gerber makes something similar but they aren't reusable and I didn't find they helped as much.
5. Enlist your DH/SO's support! DH came with when we visited the LC ad in the early days would help me get DS latched on right.
6. Get help early if you think there's a problem. Have numbers for your local LLL or LCs on hand and USE THEM if you feel the need. The cost of an LC visit is well worth it!
7. If you're worried whether baby is getting enough, have him weighed pre and post feed to help reassure you - that can work miracles when you're hearing that your baby must be starving if youre BFing him (yes, there are people so ignorant they would say it!!) DS has always been small (5%) so having him weighed to know he WAS eating enough helped my confidence a lot!

I'm doing this one handed since DS is nursing now but I'll return and post more if I think of it. Good luck - you will do great!!
Congrats!!
Lynne
Mommy to Caleb 3/3/03

[murpheyblue]

The single best thign you can do is to take a BFing class. It will increase your confidence tremensously. You can do this! :)

Ali
Mom to Megan 9-28-03

[sntm]

Most women do this with minimal/no difficulty.

1. I agree with the minimum 6 week commitment. That age can be such a turning point that horrible problems early on may melt away at that age (but if they don't, don't worry either!)

2. Attend a LLL meeting or try to pair up with a mom who is successfully breastfeeding. Try to watch her breastfeed before if possible.

3. Use the LCs and nurses. If they give advice and it still doesn't feel right, keep bugging them. Sometimes it isn't obvious from looking at the baby's latch what is going on so you will be the best judge.

good luck!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03

[quikeye]

Congrats on your pregnancy! I didn't take a class (I was going to, but then time just got away from me) but I read "The Nursing Mothers Companion," which was really helpful for me -- esp. that they show you & recommend a cross-cradle hold for a newborn, as well as a football hold. When I was able to hold baby with these, I had much more control over his head and getting him on the breast than I did when following the Sears' breastfeeding book's recommendation of a cradle hold. It also has a great appendix of info and resources as well. Also, I read this forum a lot before giving birth, and had pretty much heard of all of the "problems" had by moms, and if I've run into them myself, I haven't felt so alone about it (even though I've had to ask a lot of questions!)

One thing I took away from the Sears' book was to try and breastfeed immediately, and ask to hold off on the eye ointment for at least a little bit. When they're 1st born, those eyes are SO wide open (more than they were the following weeks!) and it was an exhilerating feeling looking down at baby trying to feed and looking at you (he was more interested in licking the nipple! But he eventually got it, just a little after being born)-- and this 1st feed can be such encouragement in itself! (Later, ds did have latching problems-- I was able to pretty much solve it with advice from this board; he wasn't able to get his mouth around my nipple enough, and I had to help him by making "nipple sandwich": pressing just above the areola with my thumb and finger to flatten the nipple in order for ds to be able to get his mouth around it; once we did it and got it down, he was able to latch on and not fuss at the breast as much.)

Don't be too nervous as well-- the nurses in your hospital are (more likely than not) going to be "experts" in trying to get baby to latch and feed.

Best of luck!!

[Cassandra27]

I think the first step to ensuring BF'ing starts off on the right foot is to set your expectations that it may not be totally "natural" for you or easy--and it sounds like you already have this expectation. In my observations, the women who think it will be totally natural and they'll just "click" with the baby and nursing are the ones who aren't successful for very long. Don't worry yourself too much about it though. All the nurses will likely be a big help, even if they're not LC's, because they're exposed to new moms and new babies so much.

Ditto to taking a BF'ing class. And be sure DH goes with you. My DH has been instrumental in our BF'ing success. He was constantly bringing me a glass of water at every nursing session, he made dinner (even if it was just a Lean Cuisine sometimes), and was generally my mini-slave. He would go fetch me a blanket or burp cloth or the remote control anytime I was tied to my glider and nursing, all without complaint.

And keep in mind that it gets easier every week. If you get engorged pretty bad like I did, and it lasts for 5 days like it did for me, you might wonder how much longer you can go on. But every week you and baby both get better at it, and the major feelings of accomplishment and pride you get are fantastic! Definitely use the internet and this board for moral support and troubleshooting. I found this board to be more help than calling my mom or an LC, because I could post a question, run off to care for my baby, and then return a few hours later to find mounds of helpful replies.

Also, I read "So That's What They're There For!" by Janet Tamaro and was very pleased. And indeed take a book with you to the hospital. I ended up delivering early, so my mom helped me look up "preemie" in the index to look for tips on nursing a preemie throughout the book. The hospital's LC was also a huge help, but she only worked nights.

Two things my LC taught me that I can pass on: There is no BF'ing problem which cannot be solved. And later, after your milk has come in, know that your breasts are never empty, ever, as long as you're still nursing. Even if you just nursed the baby, if he's hungry all over again, you can continue nursing because you always can make milk for him.

Good luck! We wish you the best!

Cassandra
mom to Jenna, born 02/03/04

[Jen in Chicago]

I never read a book on breastfeeding, but here are somethings that helped me:
Meeting with a LC at the hospital
Going to a BR class right before DS was born
Practice
Help from friends was nice too- you get to the point you can sit with your boob exposed with everyone!

Maybe LLL meeting would be good too.

Some babies take to it, and some do not. Don't kill yourself if your's does not. I have friends who's children could not BF. They met with multiple LC's,.. and now they are very anti-breastfeeding. They beat themselves up about it and I think they missed some QT they could have had with their children with a bottle in hand.