Breastfeeding Poll - easy, harder than expected, really difficult?
101Mims
member
Hey ladies, have been reading a good few posts by those with outside babies on the topic of breastfeeding, so thought I?d find out what the general consensus is. I think it may be helpful for those who have just had, or are about to have their first baby, and also for those of us who are still finding it difficult with subseqent children.
As a FTM I think I must have missed the part in all the baby books I read on how difficult BF can be. I just assumed it would happen naturally - which it didn?t. Now with my second, it hasnt been easy, but we are getting there.
So, here are the questions and feel free to expand where you fell the need:-
Is this your first, second, third.... baby?
How much did your baby weigh on delivery, and what gestational age were they?
Were baby and mommy happy and healthy after delivery, or were there/are there issues that affect/ed BF?
In general how are you finding BF?
- easy it came naturally. Both latch and supply have been excellent from the start.
- it has been a challange, if so why? Will you keep trying, for how long? Have you had help, from an LC etc..?
- it has been much harder than I ever thought. Please explain.
Re: Breastfeeding Poll - easy, harder than expected, really difficult?
This is my third child. He was born at 35+4 weeks and was 7 lb 2.5 oz. He had some problems and had to spend 10 days in the NICU. If this was my first, I might say it has been difficult but since I've successfully worked through issues with my first two, I think it has been fairly easy with this one. That doesn't mean there haven't been problems, it just means I'm not stressing about it like I did with the others.
He is three weeks old now and still has a preference for one side but we are slowly making improvements in that area. I didn't get to BF right away with him, in fact he was 4 days old before they would let me do more than just let him have a nibble. I was pumping the whole time though and new I would be able to provide milk for him that way if needed. Once they let me try BF more, we had our ups and downs but I had access to the lactation consultants if there was ever an issue. In fact, at our hospital, they have a LC just for NICU and she stays with us for the first year. We can contact her at any time and she checks in on us. I contacted her a few days after getting home and she was able to give me some tips to make things a bit easier.
Eli 6.18.09 35.5w
Silas 1.25.13 35.4w 10 days NICU, allergies/asthma, gluten intolerant
Is this your first, second, third.... baby? First
How much did your baby weigh on delivery, and what gestational age were they? 8lbs. 10 oz. and I was 39 weeks at delivery
Were baby and mommy happy and healthy after delivery, or were there/are there issues that affect/ed BF? I had a c-section that was very painful, involving a lot of tugging and pulling to get him delivered. The recovery has been painful and a little slower than probably most.
In general how are you finding BF? A lot more difficult than I expected. Latch problems from the start due to flat nipples. Using Nipple Shield since first latch. Was somewhat successful in the hospital but not enough, he had to have formula to supplement. We've been home a week and I've been having one to two successful breastfeeding sessions per day which were about 10-20 minutes each. Mostly I pump and we have to do about 1-3 formula bottles per day to supplement still. He gets very frustrated when he's really hungry and won't latch at all. I have worked with an LC from the hospital. She's given me some suggestions, different positions and locations to try, dimming the lights, skin to skin, letting him move towards the breast, etc. I've tried it all. He doesn't seem to be very interested. I'm not giving up, I still want to get in as many feedings as possible. It's just definitely more of a challenge than I imagined it would be.
In general, I'm finding breastfeeding easier than I'd expected, at least so far. DD is only 6 days old so I'm sure we'll have challenges in the future.
There are two main challenges we've encountered so far. The first was figuring out the best holds to allow for a good latch each time my breasts changed. We had issues when my milk first came in because they were SO much fuller and again when they settled into a more moderate size.
Also, DD has a tendency to fall asleep while nursing, apparently my boobies contain baby Ambien or something. But that's gotten better recently too.
Now I just need to learn to get out of my own head and stop worrying. DD has been having plenty of wet and dirty diapers an seems very content, but I can't stop worrying that she won't gain weight quickly enough and I'll be forced too supplement with formula. I'm thinking about making an appointment with he hospital's lactation consultant just to set my mid at ease.
How much did your baby weigh on delivery, and what gestational age were they? He was born 7lbs 2oz left the hospital at 6lbs 11oz and is already up one ounce (yay!). I delivered at 38w 1d.
Were baby and mommy happy and healthy after delivery, or were there/are there issues that affect/ed BF? Thank God everyone is/was great.
In general how are you finding BF?
Its been more challenging than i thought but not impossible. Since my milk has come in (yesterday/today) it takes my son 10-15 minutes just to latch. I have been trying to read up on this, and I guess the milk is coming out so fast its too hard for him to keep up. I try to recline in my glider which helps, but it adds an extra 15 min at least to the process and he gets so frustrated. I am determined to conquer this though!! I want to EBF for 3 mos until I go back to work and then just play it by ear (see how much I can store up with pumping/how i do pumping at work etc). Its definitely challenging, and no one tells you that!Is this your first, second, third.... baby? This is #2.
How much did your baby weigh on delivery, and what gestational age were they? 39w2d, 7lb 4oz
Were baby and mommy happy and healthy after delivery, or were there/are there issues that affect/ed BF? We were both relatively healthy. DD did have a little trouble regulating her body temperature, so we were separated for quite a while after her bath. Fortunately she did really well with her first feeding in the delivery room before they took her away.
In general how are you finding BF? It is so much easier the second time around. I know what a good latch looks like and I knew how to get her to do it right away. I have an oversupply and strong letdown reflex, so I've had to burp her a lot to prevent gas.
FWIW, I had a hard time the first few weeks with my son. My milk didn't come in for 5 days and I had the awful bleeding nipple problem. It got better though and I nursed him for over 14 months. If you are struggling, seek advice and know that it can get better!
FTM, LO was 7 lbs and born 1 week early. No issues affecting BF.
In general how are you finding BF?
I was quite worried there would be issues but everything has gone smoothly. What I did find surprising was how much my nipples hurt! LO has some crazy suction but my nipples are recovering slowly. The tricky thing I'm finding now is figuring out when she is actually hungry as her feeding patterns keep changing. She acts hungry, so I feed and she falls asleep.
1st baby.
41 weeks, exactly. 7 lbs 8 oz.
Happy but baby had jaundice and had to spend a bottle-fed night alone at the hospital. (I blame this for reasons why we got out of sync in our breastfeeding.)
My advice is to get help with latching and how to do it proper IMMEDIATELY. If you have bloody boobs by the time the lactation consultant shows up, it's going to hurt no matter what.
What's strange is that it didn't hurt at first, during the colostrum days. He'd latch, and if it wasn't correct it'd hurt but it wasn't like this. When he first latches it KILLS ME! It's 100 times worse than any part of the birth experience! It hurts for a good couple of seconds or half a minute. Apparently this is normal for the first few weeks, and at 2 weeks 1 day, it's starting to get a little better.
I'm all kinds of cracked and bleeding, but they say to keep going so I am, and that does seem to be helping. I'm often engorged, so my boobs generally hurt ALL THE TIME. And they're hard as rocks, so I avoid hugging people.
After I saw the lactation consultant in the hospital my son was latching really well, but ever since I had to leave him at the hospital his latch has had serious problems, (hence the bleeding.) We're only just now getting that sorted out. We avoid pacifiers and bottles at all costs since that can ruin baby's latch. Apparently when they're about 4-6 weeks they can handle switching back and forth between plastic and flesh, but right now... no, no, no.
Anyway, BFing is one million times worse than I expected and I'm furious that nobody ever told me about how hard it would be. Everyone goes off about how painful contractions are, but compared to this... that was nothing. (Similarly, people worry about the pain of an epidural being placed, but the IV was 1,000 times worse.)
Is this your first, second, third.... baby? 2nd
How much did your baby weigh on delivery, and what gestational age were they? He was 6 lbs 14oz. born at 38 weeks
Were baby and mommy happy and healthy after delivery, or were there/are there issues that affect/ed BF? We were both happy and healthy
In general how are you finding BF? Much easier this time. It went so bad with DD, I wasn't going to bother. But I decided to at least get him the colostrum, but things went so well, I decided to keep doing it. The first attempt, he latched within about 5 seconds. With dd, we had so much against us. I had a csection with general, which made her a bit sleepy, so I couldn't get an initial latch, plus, before I woke up, they were concerned abut her sugar levels, so she was given formula. Then my nurse kept freaking me out about her jaundice, and had me supplement. On top of this, my one breast has scar tissue for a tumor, so it doesn't make milk properly.... Dd only liked that side for some reason. I could not keep her awake during feedings, so I pumped. Then at 6 weeks pp, my period came and my milk started drying up. LC thinks I have a thyroid issue, that I am now getting looked at. My LC told me I still could suddenly lose my milk like I did with dd though.
Is this your first, second, third.... baby?
first baby
How much did your baby weigh on delivery, and what gestational age were they?
38 weeks 5 days, 6lbs 14oz
Were baby and mommy happy and healthy after delivery, or were there/are there issues that affect/ed BF?
Mag for days before delivery affected us both, he came home with jaundice and they asked for me to supplement with a formula bottle or two to get him going more, then I had a major hemorrhaging scare and was hospitalized without him for a night following a d&e and a transfusion at which point he had a day of just formula that constipated him and made wed & thurs this week tough trying to reregulate.
In general how are you finding BF?
He started out with a strong latch but a lazy follow through and it's continued. Nipple shield helps to get him to actually nurse, but feeding him is frustrating because we spend almost 45 minutes on each side, most of it just trying to get him to stay awake. I had a meltdown about it today, it's really gotten to me today how tough it is to feel bound to the couch/recliner/bed because he takes so long to feed and then is hungry again in half an hour to hour long clusters during the day.
I want to keep trying, but because we already introduced the bottle and he takes it better than the breast (less effort, lazy squish!) I keep thinking about just pumping. I'm not ready to throw in the proverbial towel on it yet though. As is I want to pump to freeze, but I'm so lost on what exactly I should be doing when it comes to nursing and trying to pump at the same time and the LC from the hospital has not been helpful at all, she talks down to me like I'm doing everything wrong and has made a few snide comments that I won't last the month at the rate I'm going, referring to the formula given by my mother during my secondary hospital stay...in fact, one of the nursing students who was in during our stay after his birth was worlds more helpful and was the one that suggested a shield to get Colton to actually nurse, and brought me storage bags paid for out of her own pocket so I could pump and save after my d&e.Is this your first, second, third.... baby? second baby
How much did your baby weigh on delivery, and what gestational age were they? 8 lbs, 40 wks
Were baby and mommy happy and healthy after delivery, or were there/are there issues that affect/ed BF? happy and healthy
In general how are you finding BF? Baby has a great latch and so far it's easy peasy! Still colostrum. With DS, I had a csection and it took 10 days for my milk and lots of supplementing/nipple shields/meds! I think it helps this baby was a vbac and I just recently weaned DS1!
She was 7 lbs 7 oz at birth and dropped to 6 lbs 15 oz when we left hospital. 10 days after birth she is still 6 lbs 15 oz
We did not have any problems with delivery besides it was an emergency csection.
Breast feeding was/ is SUPER hard!
She would not latch and I ended up pumping. We have worked with a LC and I go to a support group. Ive been using a nipple sheild painful! but yesterday we had a HUGE break through!! She is nursing on her own...so my words of advice, just keep at it! FTMs have to learn how to bf, but so does baby.....
Is this your first, second, third.... baby? First
How much did your baby weigh on delivery, and what gestational age were they? 40 weeks, 2 days. He weighed 7 lbs, 5 oz.
Were baby and mommy happy and healthy after delivery, or were there/are there issues that affect/ed BF? Everything went well.
In general how are you finding BF?
- easy it came naturally. Both latch and supply have been excellent from the start.
- it has been a challange, if so why? Will you keep trying, for how long? Have you had help, from an LC etc..?
In Between these two^^. My supply is great, but his latch varies. Usually he figures it out, but sometimes it sucks. He also eats almost every hour. We are trying to figure out how to get him to eat for longer at each feed and go more time in between feeds. Yesterday he ate 18 times in 24 hours. The hardest part for me is lack of sleep. We've tried giving him bottles with my milk for the past two nights, and so far, he doesn't like them. He takes them eventually, but it's exhausting. Hopefully he regulates his schedule a bit more soon!
I will absolutely keep BFing. If it gets to hard to actually feed from my breast, we will give him pumped milk. I have a crazy huge supply, so that shouldn't be a problem. I have access to a few different LCs at any time, but so far the problem isn't related to my breast, it's related to his crazy bananas schedule.
this is my first baby. She was born at 39 weeks 3 days via C-section and was 8lb 2 oz at birth.
After delivery, all was great. She got 9's on both APGARs and the C-section was not as horrible as I thought it would be. In the recovery room, her blood sugar was 41, which is lower than the 45 they like to see. I breast fed for a while and when they re-checked an hour later it was only 46. I had them supplement with formula (which I was DEAD set against doing going into all of this). The formula brought her up into the 70s, which was great.
I continued to breast feed throughout the first night as the nurses checked her blood sugar every three hours. It would keep dropping and the breast milk would bump it up a bit, usually into the 50s or low 60s, which is not great, but was acceptable.
In the morning her blood sugar fell the lowest at a 38. I opted to breastfeed to bring it up, which did not work this time. Baby was a little too sleepy to latch and feed properly. By the time I got the formula to supplement her again, she was even too sleepy to bottle feed.
They ended up bringing her to the NICU for some IV sugar water (dextrose 10%). This, in addition to BFing and adding 10-15cc of formula supplement every 3 hours.
I initially had some scabs on my nipples from poor latch in the beginning. They have since healed and I am much less sore now. The biggest problems I have currently are cluster feedings and being able to pump. I find the time to pump about 2-3 times a day and only get about 2 oz in total, enough for one feeding for DH to do overnight.I saw a lot of LCs in the hospital, which helped a ton. There is also a BFing support group on Wednesdays that I want to go to as well. Overall, I have wanted to give up a few times. BFing is a serious commitment and I am worried about how it will work out when I go back to work, especially if I keep having trouble with pumping.