regail me with happy Breast Feeding stories - you know the ones...

[Neeerly3]

baby goes 4 hours between feeds, sleeps through from 8 weeks, latch is perfect and motherhood is a breeze.....

I am 20 weeks with DC3, didn't managed to BF my prem DT's but did express for the 8 weeks they were in hosp. I WANT to breast feed this one, but am starting to wobble regards the whole:

"breast fed babies need feeding more often"

"breast fed babies not as settled at night"

"not knowing how much your breast fed baby is taking thus not knowing if they are full or still hungry"

"DH not being able to 'help' (i.e. do ALL night feeds while I sleep!)"

"DT's getting jealous of all the one on one time new baby is getting (DT's will be 4)"

Whenever I read Breast feeding threads is about weaning one year olds off co-sleeping, or off the breast, breast fed babies still waking in the night at 2....and I'm not sure i want to go through all that - yes very selfish reasons, but i HATED the first year with my DTs....PND didn't help, and i sooooooo want this to be lovely lovely and yes i KNOW breast is best, but is it best for me?

help?

[RedFraggle]

You are doing really well from the sounds of it. I breastfed both my children and it was fine.

My DD slept through the night from 3 months of age. DS was a bit more of a battle as we co-slept, but even that was ok until he started trying to crawl around the bed in the middle of the night!

You can tell they are full as they stop drinking.

You can always express and get DH to give baby the last bottle in the evening so you can go to bed early and get a good bit of sleep under your belt before the first night waking. I used to do this (but with formula as I'm crap at expressing).

DT's will cope, just have lots of special toys, books and dvds for them to have when you are breastfeeding. My DD liked me to read her a story while I fed her brother. Then I gave her lots of attention while he napped.

Think that is most of your questions. But I'm sure someone with more experience will have posted already by time I post!

[teasleepfood]

You will be absolutely fine!
Just think, you managed to express for 8 weeks for your DT's big admiration. I BF my twins (and still am at 10 months) and I found the times I did express much harder than feeding itself. Yes you wake up in the night, and you won't be joining the smug conversation of how 'johnny slept through since he was 2 days old' yadda yadda yadda. However what you will have is something much more special. The oxytocin rush of pure happiness and contentment as your little feed is fantastic. You can wake as grumpy as you like to feed them but as soon as they are on you calm down and all is contentment. I also used to drop off if really tired.
Another way to look at it is that those night feeds are a special time between you and your baby: you are the only ones around apart from hundreds of other wonderful mums doing the same thing we have always been doing. Because we can.
I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes well

[ChirpyGirl]

I BF DD1 after a CS until she weaned herself when I got pregnant when she was 1.
When DD2 was born I was the first person to touch her (was born onto bed) and unconsciously held her in BFing position, she latched on instantly and stayed there for an hour. I had no pain, no soreness with her, she refuses to be fed to sleep and instead pushes me away with a little drunken face and then grins at me.

When DD1 stopped BFing it was a frigging nightmare with rocking, warming bottles of cows milk, singing, screaming, etc etc
DD2 does wake (at 1 yr) sometimes twice a ngiht but I blearily stagger into her room, collapse onto comfy chair, feed her and am back in my bed in 10 minutes.

I carried her arnoud in a pouch or ringsling for the first 12 ish weeks, latching her on and off as required, a couple fo times I forgot she was there feeding and went to put my seatbelt on
Yes she fed a lot but as it was so portable I could grab teh sling, chuck our coats on and take DD1 to the park without worrying about feed times and all that malarky.
MIL asked me the other day what her feeding routine was, I had no idea, she fed when she fed and that was that, I didn't have to think about when her next bottle was due and would I be near somewhere to heat it.

DD1 sits by DD2's head while she is feeding and always has, she strokes her hair and leans on my arm while I read them a story. Somtimes we have her doll with us being BF by her....sometimes it is makka pakka

[Josiepink]

You are doing so well - I wanted all those Q's answering too! I express and DH gives DS a full bottle before bed which gives you a lovely break. If baby is settled after a feed however long or short then they have taken all they need. The are so efficient it is amazing. The jealousy thing is always difficult - have you tried feeding lying down? My friend does this and then reads to her other child on the bed. It works for some but not all. Re night feeds, I don't think formula makes them sleep any better - I tried giving DS a full bottle of formula before bed and it made no difference! I know lots of mums who solely formula feed and they have night wakers. Don't forget, if you are BF at night it is much easier than faffing about with bottles and warming etc. We co-sleep which means DS feeds in the night but it is peaceful, I just stay in my bed and relax and then after the sleep hormones kick in after a BF I am fast asleep again. Keep going, it is worth it if you can.

[fairylights]

Just wanted to say that i was nervous about bf after lots of friends had a really hard time with it, but i LOVED breatfeeding my ds and it was a totally positive experience..we stopped at 10 mo and never co-slept although i think i would try that next time.
we are ttc no 2 and i am already looking forward to bf again (although not to having another awful pregnancy!). All the best

[Neeerly3]

should clarify, only 20weeks preg, not with a 20 week old! These thoughts are about how life will be come next feb, when our happily balanced homelife will be 'interrupted' by a new mouth to feed!

Thanks for all thoughts though....

[TheUNITUBER]

Ok, here you go.

I got no help at all in the hospital (beyond that annoying thing they do where they squish baby's head into your breast) so I slept with her in my top and she found my breast and latched all by herself (clever baby).

She never fed for more than 10 mins at a time, she fed every 2 hours after the first 3 weeks (when I admit it was rather constant) in the day. At night I never had to get up more than twice and by about 10 weeks she could go from 10:30 - 7am or sometimes even longer. She slept better than my nephew who was a formula fed baby.

By the time she was 6 weeks my daughter took a nightly bottle of EBM - thus allowing me to go to bed before 10:30.

My nipples never cracked and breastfeeding was never sore. I had a blocked duct once but it cleared within a couple of days and did not get infected.

So it can be absolutely plain sailing. Please don't assume it will be awful because of the things you see posted on MN. People post on here when things are hard, you just don't hear the stories about how straightforward it can be.

Oh, and I don't think I could have expressed for 8 weeks - really well done you for managing that.