Curious about breastfeeding for 1st timers

mrspink77 · April 2009

I know everyone is different but I was curious to hear how it went for new moms. How was your breastfeeding experience? Did you learn something that NO ONE ever told you? Was it worse/better then expected? I love getting insight from different perspectives so TIA!

JimsBride08 · April 2009

Honestly, the first 6 weeks were very frustrating. I was absolutely determined or I wouldn't have been able to continue. There were so many times I was ready to give up and pump exclusively, but I kept persisting. Now I treasure the time DS and I spend breastfeeding.

MissesRootbeer · April 2009

I thought it would be harder and more painful than it is. I was getting myself ready for the worst I guess. DD latched on fine right away and has no problems BF. It is a little painful the first 5 - 10 seconds but it's getting much better now.

FinallyMrsBMW · April 2009

The first two weeks were awful because you are so tired and can't get any sleep because you are nursing every 3 hours. I didn't expect how tired I'd be through it all. It was harder than I expected because of that but so is everything as a mom. It is soooooooo rewarding though and I suggest it to anyone. I LOVE breastfeeding now and I'm going to be sad when she weans herself one day.

lauren&matt · April 2009

BF was very easy and natural for me. We have had NO problems (knock on wood!!) We're very lucky, I know. The thing I kept telling myself over & over again was that BF has been done for 1000s of years... it's totally normal & natural.?

The only frustrating thing for me was that dd was (and still sorta is) a slow nurser... when she was a nb, she would often nurse for 45-60 minutes... and two hours later I would have to feed her again. I caught up on a lot of tv, lol.?

Quazel · April 2009

I am really glad I knew going into it that it was going to be very hard. It absolutely was. I am also glad DH and I had discussed it beforehand and he knew how important it was to me. I think if that had not happened he may have pushed formula.

I found it extremely painful for the first 5 weeks. I consulted doctors, pedis, lcs, etc. but got no help. Around 5-6 weeks it just stopped hurting. Everyone told me it shouldn't hurt but that wasn't my experience. I am now going on week 10 and so, so glad I stuck with it. I love doing it and feel that DS and I worked really hard for it, like we are a team.

Lucy_Plus_One! · April 2009

To be honest, it was WAY harder than I ever imagined. I wanted to cry about it half the time in those first few weeks, but I was also more determined than I thought I would be. I knew I didn't want to have to EP so I kept working at it and made it work for us. I am glad I stuck with it. It just gets so much easier after those first 6 weeks.

haylee19 · April 2009

I've only been breastfeeding for 2 weeks now and so far it's been going awesome. I initially didn't want to breastfeed but after doing all the research and seeing all it's benefits, I changed my mind and decided to give it a try. He was born on a Wednesday and my milk came in on Friday night, so he didn't have to wait long to get milk to make him satisfied. My son is also a very good latcher. I like to think that I prepared myself well too. I took a breastfeeding class with my husband, did a lot of research, and consulted with a co-worker who's been successfully breastfeeding for a year. I think the preparation helped with my expectations. I knew it could be difficult and we would both have a lot of learning to do. So far though I'm loving it and so is my son. Good luck to you...

bnljane1988 · April 2009

BFing was the one thing I was totally unprepared for. I've got it down to a science now, but I still hate it. I'm sticking with it for at least 6 mos. because I am a firm believer in the benefits.

Having my nipples touched or fondled always annoyed me, the actual breastfeeding is super annoying to me. It's really time consuming and because I'm not a public BFer takes lots of planning ahead for any outing (having to time it or make sure I've got pumped BM to take with me.) BFing is one of my least favorite things, I just try to think of it as an inconvenience that is worth the results (I'd love it if it was saving money on formula, but we have friends in the pharma who gives us all of the free samples we could want, so we're stocked until they either expire, or we switch DS.)

ncbelle · April 2009

I prepared myself for the worst because it was very important to me to stick with it - I figured if I expected it to be really tough, it could only be easier than I thought!

I think I had a relatively easy start to bfing. Even so, the first few weeks were exhusting. I really recommend mentally preparing to do nothing but bf and cuddle your newborn those first few weeks. That way you'll be ready for marathon nursing sessions that happen back to back. And make sure you have a comfortable place set up to nurse - it will be a great time to catch up on movies or TV that you've been meaning to watch.

AZ_Erica · April 2009

The biggest thing I found that no one told me is babies eat A LOT. DS nursed every 1.5-2 hrs for 30-45 minutes. He was constantly attached to me, and it was very draining at first. DD is better, she eats every 2-3 hrs for about 30 minutes.

haylee19 · April 2009

Something I would like to add, is make sure and meet with the Lactation consultant at your hospital if available! I would try and meet with them a couple times before you leave to make sure your baby is latching correctly. It really helped build my confidence. Our LC was amazing.

Also, you'll probably hear this, but try and breastfeed right after baby is born if possible and as often as possible for the baby. I think this is good to establish right away and I think it helped my milk supply come in fast.

ryeslady · April 2009

Right after he was born he latched on right away and stayed on my breast for a pretty long time. I thought, oh good, this is going to be easy. Not so much. I must have had so many "feel good" hormones running through me at the time that I didn't notice how incredibly painful it was. At the hospital the LC and nurses who tried to help me kept telling me if I was doing it right it wouldn't hurt - and it hurt. I kept telling them my nipples were just sore to the touch, even when he wasn't latched on, so how else could i tell we were doing it right? They kept telling me the same thing. I left the hospital still not sure if I was doing it right or not and a little scared that I might not be able to feed my baby when I got him home.

By the time we got home BFing brought tears to my eyes. i hate to say it but I dreaded every time he cried to be fed. I found out online though that lots of people have pain and that it will get better, which encouraged me a lot. It took about 6 weeks for my nipples to toughen up so that it didn't hurt anymore.

By then though I was getting a lot of clogged ducts. I BFed or pumped regularly, so I'm not really sure why it kept happening, but it did. Also around 6 weeks we found out G had a cow's milk protien sensitivity, which was making him very cranky all the time. So I had to cut all dairy from my diet and I'm just now adding things back in to see how sensitive he is.

I tell you all this not to scare you away from BFing, but because I didn't know about any of these things until they happened to me. BFing isn't all bad, it has it's advantages for sure or I wouldn't still be doing it and I know lots of people do it w/o any problems, but just keep in mind these are some of the problems you could come across.

KinleesMommy · April 2009

It was a lot harder in the beginning than I thought it would be. DD was 3 weeks early and because of that she had a hard time latching. It was a struggle for about the first 6 weeks until her and I could get a system worked out. Since I have gotten the hang of it though it has been great. I absolutely love bfing DD because the bond is amazing. Just be prepared for a lot of surprises and not much sleep at first.

DAuger · April 2009

I didn't know that it would be so hard. I didn't know that you could get breast infections.

pkate98 · April 2009

I learned that Lanolin is very important if you want to help w/ nipple soreness. The first couple weeks have been hard, but if you are determined, then you can keep it up.

Also, I read a lot about BFing before and talked w/ LC's after birth, but you have to find what methods work best for you and your baby.

jenella17 · April 2009

I have only been doing it for about 8 days but the first couple days home where a nightmare. I was so emotional because I absolutely dreaded the nighttime. I would cry cause it was getting dark out cause I knew I would not be able to sleep until 5am and I would cry thru the feedings cause it hurt so bad.

Not everyones experience will be as bad as mine (and I don't think mine was all that bad). I still have pain but we are working thru it. I'm also pumping in the morning so DH can take over a feeding at night which is saving me from a meltdown.

Make sure your H is 100% supportive just in case you were a wreck like me!

CaitlinJ22 · April 2009

for me the first 8-10 wks were hard. I had cracked sore nipples for a while. If it wasnt for my stubborness and stalking the LCs at the hsospital by phone I would have quit. After my nipples felt better, then my letdown was too fast and hewas so fussy and gassy. The bottle also screwed us bc of the flow, ds got impatient after a bottle thinking nursing would be a fast thing too, and he got fussy while waiting for it to letdown.

I love it now. I never wanted to BF and now I want to go as long as he wants. I wish I went to le leche meetings early on. I thought they were a bunch of BF nazis, but they are so not. They are swesome people and have lots of advice. They also do free house visits. If I had known that it would have been easier. GL

karenmarie20 · April 2009

I had no idea it would be so hard in the beginning! It was really such a learning experience for me and DD, I am so thankful we had an awesome LC at the hospital. Her 2nd week, DD wouldn't even take the boob, I was pumping bottles constantly. I used to take it every feeding, every week at a time because I wanted to quit so badly in the beginning.

Everyone tells you wait 6 weeks, it will get better and while you don't believe it those first few weeks, it's TRUE! I really love BF'ing more than I ever thought I would. And it gets easy, it's so much quicker to BF her than to make and feed her a bottle. I go back to work next month so I have started weaning and I'm actually really upset about it.

It's definitely worth a shot, but remember happy mommy=happy baby so when the time comes you do what's best for you! GL : )

superdeejayanna · April 2009

I prepared myself so well, I read and read, went to classes and meetings and did everything "right" but I never thought my son would be declared a DYSFUNCTIONAL SUCKER ( by two LC's and a pediatrician.)

So I am married to the pump, continuing to put the baby to breast and just hoping lil' dude will get the hang of it one day

mieuxmieux · April 2009

Breastfeeding started out so well for us. K latched awesome and we had no problems. Our downfall was giving her a paci when she was 3 days old, then she didn't work as hard to latch and suck, though after a few days it got much better and practically back to normal.

Fastforward a few weeks. When I went back to work, K started getting bottles. She started rejecting me breastfeeding her for usually at least one feeding at night. She would just cry and cry and refused to latch. I believe it was her way of dealing with me leaving her, and she was very upset. It slowly progressed, and now I almost always pump and give her bottles during the day. The only time she breastfeeds is at night and as soon as I notice she is starting to wake up, I feed her otherwise she starts rejecting me again if she is fully awake. Even though it is a lot harder pumping and giving her bottle, I will still keep on doing this until she is at least a year old and I will also breastfeed any future children I have.

whitehead15 · April 2009

ncbelle:
I prepared myself for the worst because it was very important to me to stick with it - I figured if I expected it to be really tough, it could only be easier than I thought!
I think I had a relatively easy start to bfing.? Even so, the first few weeks were exhusting.? I really recommend mentally preparing to do nothing but bf and cuddle your newborn those first few weeks.? That way you'll be ready for marathon nursing sessions that happen back to back.? And make sure you have a comfortable place set up to nurse - it will be a great time to catch up on movies or TV that you've been meaning to watch. ?

I totally agree. ?BF was super important to me, and in my mind it wasn't an option to quit. ?Like PP said, the toughest part was the marathon nursing and cuddling sessions....and the sore nipples

Sueball1 · April 2009

Honestly?

I had prepared myself for it to be difficult, but had also convinced myself due to everything I read and heard that it would be a "natural" and "wonderful" experience, that it would be the "best thing for baby", etc, etc. Well, my kid had latching issues from day one, I had a dysfunctional nipple with a nerve issue that made it unbearably painful to nurse from one side, which just happened to be the one side DS would even attempt to nurse on. We spent hundreds of dollars on books, LCs and equipment; resorted to EPing, and then it turned out that my son was horribly allergic to my milk no matter what I cut out of my diet. The whole thing was an epic FAIL.

Since I had scoffed at people who said BFing was "hard" and committed to doing it, I had a very hard time making the ultimately right decision to switch to formula. I tortured myself and my child b/c I wouldn't let go of this obsession with breastfeeding. He was in pain and so was I.

I tell you this not to scare you off- breastfeeding for all my friends, while challenging, has been a wonderful and rewarding experience. And formula feeding may open you up to a whole mess of judgement from the rest of the mommy universe if you live in a place where everyone breastfeeds like I do (I am seriously the only one of the 50 women in my mommy&me group who is formula feeding). But I wish someone had warned me beforehand that it might not work out and to not put expectations on myself- my child is thriving, completely healthy, and 100% happier since I switched to formula. It just comes down to doing what is best for you and the baby.

I hope that for you, breastfeeding is as wonderful as it was for most of the women I know. But please know that if it doesn't work out, you have options, and you will still be a wonderful mom!

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