what do you think is harder....establishing bf or giving birth!!

[robinredbreast]

personally i think getting bf established at least giving birth is only a day or so long not weeks/months

[DeathBySnooSnoo]

defo establishing bf...not that i ever managed to,i gave up afetr 6 weeks.i went on to give birth 4 more times but i never attempted to bf again!

[determination]

DEFINATELY, estblishing BFing. I would happily offer to give birth for anyone! but when it comes to BFing PPPHHHEEWWW The pain.. especially Mastitis is unbearable. I managed to feed dd1 for 25months and now dd2 is 8months and still bfing, but initially both times it was very hard work and takes a load of determination to stick with it. Also, i think you need to be rather stubborn too.

[StealthPolarBear]

giving birth! ouchhhhhh

[juuule]

Establishing bfing.

[FranSanDisco]

Giving birth.

[quickdrawmcgraw]

Establishing bfing.
No epidural to ease the pain.

[Haylstones]

Without a doubt giving birth, i found bf straightforward

[keepyourpuppydaviesindoors]

birth.

i wonder whether the ease we had in establishing bf (not total plain sailing but not quite as owie as labour) each time was rooted in the minutes straight after birth where we had skin to skin and babes were allowed to latch themselves (not quite breast crawl, but close). best part of the birth experience imo.

[Highlander]

I anticipated BF to potentially be hard work, and that is exactly why I opted for an elective CS.

BF wasn't hard at all (that's just luck, I know), but mentally I was always paranoid that I wasn't 'doing' it properly.

[naturelover]

I started a thread recently entitled "Childbirth was easy compared to this". Need I say more?

DD is 9 weeks old, bf still really difficult but sheer bloodymindedness is keeping me going.

I read so much about childbirth and felt really prepared, and had a fabulous homebirth, and I never really anticipated that bf would be a problem. Without the help of an excellent NCT bf counsellor I don't think I could have continued this long.

[StealthPolarBear]

Is it getting easier? Is it painful, or are you worried about supply?

[VictorianSqualor]

I have never actually given birth properly yet, am hoping to this time!

WRT breastfeeding, it can be incredibly hard at times, but it normally means it isn't being done right, once you get the knack I think it can be a breeze, although, I wish someone had warned me about how long I would be feeding for come DS's 6week growth spurt!

[bethoo]

birth!
never had problem with bf and still doing it now and he is 8 months though the teeth can be painful!

[expatinscotland]

establishing BF for me definitely!

[lemonaidtreasonandplot]

Giving birth.

The physical side of breastfeeding was easy for us (I know we were lucky), although it was emotinally draining.

[suiledonn]

For me, establishing breastfeeding was a lot worse than giving birth. I had a very quick labour - less than 4 hours from first contraction to delivery. Didn't have any pain relief at all and managed fine. Establishing breastfeeding took me nearly 7 weeks of agony. Luckily once we got going I loved it and bf dd til she was 10 months old.

[andiemisletoe]

bf bf bf

[throckenholt]

establishing breastfeeding can definitely be more longterm and very demoralising - and something you are able to give up on. - whereas childbirth is something you can't opt out of - you just have to get through it.

[nimnom]

Definitely giving birth, although bf was no walk in the park.

[hippopotamouse]

I know there is no third option here, but I had a 5 hour labour and established breastfeeding quite easily...

..the hardest thing for me was going to the toilet for the first time after the birth!

[bunnyhunny]

birth!!!! after 18 hour labour and em c/s, ANYTHING would be easier. and thankfully ds got bf easily.

[SweetFA]

my labour lasted weeks

deffo giving birth. Bf wasn't as easy the second time, seemed to hurt more though it's fine now.
Giving birth was horrible and frightening.

[fishie]

both pretty bloody dire.

60 hour induction followed by cs versus 3 months of agony. hmm not sure.

equally rewarding though!

[robinredbreast]

wow this is really interesting, such different views