What BF obstacles did you encounter in the first few weeks?

Sunflower777 · January 2009

And how did you overcome them? I'd like to use your answers as my own personal troubleshooting guide when DS#2 gets here in 2 weeks. : )?

buggles · January 2009

The pain.... oh the pain. After some time, my daughter finally got milk but the pain of the skin having been sucked around the nipple was excruciating! It was like a burning, dry heat. I wanted to give up right then, but after encouragement from others who breastfed before and lactation consultants, I kept on and it went away with six weeks from the start.

eris1995 · January 2009

The LC at the hospital gave me really bad advice and told me to take DS off the breast for 5 days and to only pump. When I brought him back to the breast my supply was low and I had to bf on both sides for 20 min, then supplement, the pump for 20 minutes. I was so overwhelmed and sleep deprived that I began just pumping for a few weeks. With the help of a very supportive husband and paying to go to an independant LC, DS is now back to the breast and things are going better. If MH hadn't been so encouraging and supportative I probably would have given up.

Good2BdaMommy · January 2009

Pain - overcame it just with time and patience.

DD wouldn't latch - used nipple shield.

The exhaustion of nursing 'round the clock - again, patience.

TheButlers:) · January 2009

Exhaustion being #1..stay with it even though it is tiring and sometimes frustrating being the only one who can feed the little one. Also, mastis was a problem for me. I got it about a week after I left the hospital, and it has come back twice since. Call the doc right away if you start getting symptoms and don't be afraid to keep going in if it keeps coming back...the sooner you are on antibiotics, the better it gets. Mine started with horrible breast pain and chills, then a very high fever and redness on the breasts. Good luck!!

Fishstyx · January 2009

My only real issue was sleepy baby syndrome Smile

I was one of the lucky ones, never really had any pain. But for the first full day in the hospital, she just could not stay awake to nurse and didn't quite get what she was supposed to do. If you run into any latch issues, call the hospital LC right away! Don't wait until you get frustrated. Once I learned how to "feed" her my boob (ala nipple sandwich) and keep her awake (tickling feet, stroking hair, etc), we had a pretty quick learning curve. Good luck!

Sunflower22 · January 2009

DD wouldn't latch. It took 3 weeks, including the use of a nipple shield and then all of a sudden one day she started and did just perfect.

ab&jim · January 2009

The pain. It was like my nipples were being rubbed over a cheese grater everytime she sucked. I was a crying hormonal mess. A nipple shield helped me and my cracked nips are starting to heal. After some less than helpful advice from our hospitals LC- I contacted my local LLL leaders and sought out their help. It has kept me feeding at the breast as the pain was so bad I was seriously considering EPing.

MH thinks they undersell how much pain it's going to be. I think if something isn't working keep trying different things and get different opinions until you feel you've reached a decision you are comfortable w/.

Wally3 · January 2009

My baby was premie and my breast were so big (not normally) that we strated out with nipple shield by recommendation of LC. Then mastis, ditto pp as soon as you get symtoms go see the doc. I had a fever and the chills, it cleared up right away with antiboitics. I never had any pain just tenderness.

linzpinz14 · January 2009

My DD didn't suck correctly (she was a lazy nurser). She would start off great and I'd see swallowing and then she would just resort to comfort sucking. We had very poor weight gain. I tried using nipple shields and supplemental nursing systems. I finally resorted to EPing. But the result of our almost 7 weeks of trying to bf was a very poor supply. At the most, I can provide her with 2 bottles of bm per day. I'm very disappointed with my bfing experience.

Luckystar2 · January 2009

1. DD just wouldn't eat when we were in the hospital. We had to see the LC numerous times. I had to express colostrum and we tried to feed it to her by syringe but she wouldn't take it. Finally the LC figured out that because I had such a quick delivery with very little pushing, she didn't have enough of the fluid pushed out of her. She thought that she had too much fluid and mucous in her stomach making her feel full and not wanting to eat. We had to have it pumped out of her stomach, and then she finally started eating.

2. Just figuring out the positions and how to latch her on. I had researched a lot but its so different when you're actually trying to do it. Its like you don't have enough hands to do everything! I was really uncomfortable BFing is a lot of positions. DH was helpful in assisting with positioning and he'd help latch DD on for me.

3. Pain from engorgement

4. Pain from delivery because you are sitting up to BF. I couldn't get side lying to work so I'd have to sit to BF and it hurt so bad! I ended up buying a second boppy so I could sit on one while using the other one for positioning.

5. Around 2.5 weeks I had problems with overactive letdown and DD would choke and gag. It was very frustrating! Had to work with LC and LLL leader about how to overcome it.

christinab19@yahoo.com · January 2009

1. DD would not latch on correctly. My mother had to show me how to get her to latch on correctly. After I learned how to get her to latch on correctly,it got eaiser.

2. I agree about the pain. The pain around your nipples will be horrible. I recommend getting Lanolin to help with the sore nipples.

3. Engorgement is very painful also, I found that I had to suppress some of the milk before every feeding, while I was engorged.

4. The pain of your uterus contracting. Nobody told me that I would have this bad cramping pain everytime I nursed. But just remember that it is a could thing.

5 This was not painful, but I found that all I had to do was think about my daughter and I would leak milk. I would definitly recommend stocking up on breast pads.

Good luck with breast feeding

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