A conversations with a friend about their new baby made me want to reiterate this. If you want to nurse - the more you do it, the easier it get s and the better your supply will be. It can be painful and tough those first few weeks, but you and baby will get better and it gets easier!
@lelkcot for some yes, but not for everyone and those who it doesn’t work out for shouldn’t be made to feel bad about it or made to feel they didn’t try hard enough. (Not saying you are doing that, just reiterating what most know)
Depending how some births go or how big of an eater your baby will be also plays a part in the success of breastfeeding.
For example: My son had a traumatic birth and spent a week in the NICU. We didn’t get to breastfeed right away and that impacted our ability to be successful at it. I don’t feel an ounce bad that he ended needing formula. I was just thankful he was alive.
If breastfeeding is stopping you from truly bonding with your baby because it is causing you so much stress, then formula might be the answer and that’s not a bad thing. I’d rather see babies fed and their momma loving on them rather than breastfeeding contributing to a momma’s baby blues or postpartum depression.
We have two sleeping beauties in heaven. Jack gained his wings on 09/02/2016. Kali gained her wings on 07/28/2015. They will be forever missed.
@bdesterhouse fed is of course always best. As is whatever works best for you and your kiddo. Not trying to suggest anyone who struggles or can’t didn’t try hard enough.
@maggiemadeit okay. I'm legitimately concerned. Did your butt come back? A butt's probably the only thing I've got and I've never considered that it could just disappear on me!
@bug_hunter@mayoduck Yes, it came back! But I breastfed for over a year, so it didn’t happen right away. And maybe it doesn’t happen for everyone, but like I said, mine wasn’t great to start with. I had to put in some work to get mine back. Squats for days
I had a great butt when I had my first baby. Didn’t gain a lot of weight during pregnancy and when she was born the weight fell off thanks to breastfeeding. My booty was suddenly flat as a pancake!! Took until she stopped nursing all the time to come back (after about 12-18 months, I think).
I gained much more weight with the second pregnancy & it didn’t come off easily so the butt stayed around lol!
I’ve always had a big butt for my size and because of my tiny waist when I was in school I never understood why my jeans were huge in my waist (over my butt) and fit everywhere else! Of course When a small waist/big butt became all the “rage” I’m “in” if I want to be or not haha either way! I breastfed DS 12 months and my butt didn’t change even a little bit. I suppose it’s how I’m made haha!
I think it partly depends on where you tend to gain weight. Some people, they will gain weight distributed pretty evenly all over the body (I'm talking putting on pounds through eating, as opposed to weight training, outside of pregnancy.) For others, they gain in the boobs or the butt or the belly. Not exclusively, of course, but they tend to get bigger there. It corresponds a bit with your body shape. So if you tend to gain the most there, you'll lose the most there when you lose weight.
I was overweight buy about 40-50 pounds when I got pregnant last time, and I lost a substantial amount of that breastfeeding. It was distributed all over pretty well. I measure myself pretty regularly, and I didn't lose substantially more inches in my butt than I did anywhere else, proportionally speaking.
@ashley14598 Jealous! I always wish I was small waist big butt, or just curvier in general, but I am more or less a ruler. And super jealous that your butt didn’t fall off breastfeeding!
@lovesclimbing I think you must be right, it depends on what your starting body type is and where you put on weight.
@maggiemadeit ha! I guess we always want what we don’t have. I hated it when I was younger I would cry in middle/high school because I got made fun of for it. Of course now I don’t care really and I’ve just learn to accept my body for what it is and of course now I understand better how to dress myself lol!
@lovesclimbing I definitely agree that it has more to do with body type than anything else!
I thought of one! I wish I’d known that after birth the first time I would have “shar pei tummy” skin for awhile. The rest of me was instantly skinny after birth but I had this tire of flabby stomach skin left over for a few months. I also wish I’d known that it would go away and my stomach would eventually be flat again. The silky soft wrinkly skin freaked me out at first!! Also, I fully expected to have “shar pei tummy” the second time around but I guess since I still had so much baby weight & fat left over the second time that my tummy never really had the chance to be an empty wrinkly sack of skin.
@keikilove Haha, that's hilarious! Alas, after my first pregnancy I never managed to lose all the baby weight and have diastasis recti so for me I was shocked and dismayed to realize that my pregnant looking belly was going nowhere, fast. For the last two years I've been stuck with a "is she 4 months pregnant, or not?" type look. Hoping to do better / gain less weight this time around
Re: Things I wish I had known...
Depending how some births go or how big of an eater your baby will be also plays a part in the success of breastfeeding.
For example: My son had a traumatic birth and spent a week in the NICU. We didn’t get to breastfeed right away and that impacted our ability to be successful at it. I don’t feel an ounce bad that he ended needing formula. I was just thankful he was alive.
If breastfeeding is stopping you from truly bonding with your baby because it is causing you so much stress, then formula might be the answer and that’s not a bad thing. I’d rather see babies fed and their momma loving on them rather than breastfeeding contributing to a momma’s baby blues or postpartum depression.
Jack gained his wings on 09/02/2016.
Kali gained her wings on 07/28/2015.
They will be forever missed.
Yes, it came back! But I breastfed for over a year, so it didn’t happen right away. And maybe it doesn’t happen for everyone, but like I said, mine wasn’t great to start with. I had to put in some work to get mine back. Squats for days
I gained much more weight with the second pregnancy & it didn’t come off easily so the butt stayed around lol!
I was overweight buy about 40-50 pounds when I got pregnant last time, and I lost a substantial amount of that breastfeeding. It was distributed all over pretty well. I measure myself pretty regularly, and I didn't lose substantially more inches in my butt than I did anywhere else, proportionally speaking.
@lovesclimbing I think you must be right, it depends on what your starting body type is and where you put on weight.
@lovesclimbing I definitely agree that it has more to do with body type than anything else!