Breastfeeding isn't easy for all mothers...?

[faithfulbird20]

What do you think? I honestly find it the most hardest thing in the world...finding the right tops, cloths, you're feeding one side the other side decides to leak a waterfall, baby doesn't want to latch properly, mild tongue tie, sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's hard and annoying, breast milk has leaked on baby's clothes, baby needs changing. Breastfeeding in front of other people, family etc...

No one ever said it was. What you tend to hear is that it’s nearly impossible which puts new mums off.

Are you from a formula company’s marketing department? MN loves a breastfeeding bashing thread so this is by no means the first. As I’m sure you know etc...

I think it’s rare that breastfeeding is easy. To be honest overall with DD2 it was easier than bottle feeding DD1.

I found it fine after the first few days of getting used to it with my firstborn.

I wore a vest that was low cut enough to pull under my breasts with a t-shirt over the top. T-shirt pulled up on one side & vest pulled down.

Breast pads dealt with any leaking.

None of my babies were prone to wind or being sick after feeding.

I know some people struggle but I found it a piece of cake! Felt like the most natural thing in the world & an extension of pregnancy.

My 3 all stopped breastfeeding around 9 - 10 months with very little issue.

maybe you just need a maternity nurse who shows you how to do it properly at the start. i was lucky. found it much easier than all the work involved in bottles

I bf dd2 for 15 months after being unable to with dd1 and feeling very guilty about that.

I can honestly say i hated every last feed - it HURT for 15 months (got mildly better about 10 months when i reduced to just wake-up and bed-time feeds) for no reason that all the experts i consulted could work out. I leaked milk constantly. I couldn’t take unnecessary but useful otc medication. I couldn’t shift any weight. I just felt my body wasn’t my own and was constantly in pain. Awful. To add insult to injury, dd1 is healthy as a horse, but dd2 got bronchiolitis, every cold going, and became allergic to dairy meaning i had to give it up too.

I am so glad i never have to do it again!

Totally agree.
With both my kids I tried and tried, followed all the advice, even took medication to help stimulate milk production. Both times ended up back in hospital after they lost tons of weight, and both were fully formula fed by one month.

It was a while ago now, so I'm fine, but at the time I felt like the biggest failure. The pressure to breastfeed was overwhelming. Being told that you're letting your baby down, they'll be obese, less smart, that it's easy, and natural, and so important for bonding. It was horrific.

I think we need to be really careful about the messages we are giving to new Mums. It's such a precarious time for mental health, they need all the support they can get, however they feed their babies.

Took me and my first a couple weeks to get the hang of it.
I don't think you are saying anything that many many women haven't experienced.

It can be easy I guess especially at night when baby is crying and you can just get your breast out and feed.

It's just been so hard trying to look after a toddler who wants my attention constantly and breastfeeding a newborn. Also trying to do the rest of the chores too. I'm not bashing breastfeeding. Just wish it could come easy to me and had people to help around.

Easy when we got the hang of it. Started out with a bad tongue tie and an oversupply though, so it took us a good two months to 'get it' though. I have no doubt bottle feeding would have been easier prior to that, but then it swung the other way i think.

Of course it isn’t. It’s not even easy for mother’s that've breastfed multiple children.

I think the majority find it hard.
My eldest wouldn't bf.
My youngest had read all the books and it was easy.

Meh, depends on the situation and the child. Easy for some, hard for others, just a learning curve for most

Similarly, if you’re struggling with breastfeeding there’s no shame whatsoever combine feeding or switching to bottles. Don’t let breastfeeding at the exclusion of all else ruin your time with your baby if you are struggling

I don't think hardly anyone finds it easy, although some find it harder than others...
It is convenient once/if you get the hang of it. I think I would have found worrying about bottles, sterilising etc much much harder- so I think for me it is the easier (but not easy) way to feed a baby.
I didn't change baby clothes or my clothes if there was a little bit of milk leakage - only if a lot...

Sorry just realised my previous post nonsense- I meant to write- 'I think hardly anyone finds it easy.'

In the UK about two thirds of mothers have difficulty breastfeeding. About half of these (so one third each excluding the third who find it easy) have so much difficulty they stop before they wanted to. The other third /half continue until they wanted to stop but of course that doesn't mean that they didn't also struggle.

I think our culture is particularly unsupportive! In some you wouldn't be expected to be doing all the household chores while establishing bf, and that's even including a lot of cultures which have strict gendered roles so this is women's work. It tends to be other women who take over!

Felt almost impossible for the first 6 weeks - with my first baby I would have to promise myself that if I could get through today I could give up tomorrow if I wanted (because I was really determined that I wanted to breastfeed). After that though it was easiest most natural thing in the world and seemed much easier than having to make up bottles all the time.

I think it’s important to acknowledge that it’s hard but that it’s not a given that it has to remain hard. With the right support it went from hard to very easy for me. (Obviously that’s only worth pursuing if you particularly want to continue, which of course you might not and that’s absolutely understandable!)

I think mothers who do find it easy don’t say so as they are sensitive to the ones who don’t find it easy.

I wanted to breastfeed my baby, but he couldn’t latch properly. I was recovering from a failed induction, emergency c-section and sepsis. He lost too much weight and we were stuck in hospital with no support on the dreaded feeding programme. Once I finally got home I desperately tried to find a lactation consultant, but none would do face-to-face. Then I got covid.

It all got too much for me then and we swapped to formula. My husband is a doctor and he was seriously concerned about my mental health particularly as he was returning to work and I’d be alone 10-12 hours a day. He made it clear he would be supportive of me stopping, but that it was my choice.

For me switching to formula was a good decision and I was finally able to bond with my baby. Maybe things would have been different if I hadn’t been ill, or if I’d been able to get some face to face support, or if I’d persevered longer... but maybe I would have just been extending the misery I was experiencing.

I totally agree. Also not easy with some babies- my first was tricky, a bit refluxy, fed every 10 mins (often literally) with no possibility of making him wait a bit. I had to cosleep (safely) to stay sane. Also had the losing weight initially - is he getting enough?, sore nipples etc to deal with.

My second has been much easier - feeds 3 hourly but still lost weight at first, nipples ended up sore despite a good and careful latch etc. There are some benefits (in terms of ease) over bottle feeding but I don’t think it’s anywhere near easy for the vast majority.

I found it bloomin hard going initially. My milk didn’t come in for a week, tongue-tie (snipped at 2 weeks), mastitis a couple of times, and thrush. Everyone kept telling me to go fully on to formula (I was supplementing because of the issues) but after six weeks, it all fell into place and it was fine. I kept getting told that supplementing would adversely affect my supply, but it actually helped me to establish breastfeeding and we went on to feed until she was two years and nine months.

Definitely not, it's extremely difficult. My mum always told me that the first few weeks are hell but once you and baby get the hang of it, it's soo much easier. However I never really enjoyed it like some women do. It often made me uncomfortable, gave me a sore back and I always hated getting my boobs out in public !
It was a lot easier with my second but more in the sense I was more confident, I knew when he was latched correctly and when to take him off when he wasn't. I didn't worry about my milk supply, knew to feed on demand and was prepared for the cluster feeding.

It's hard slog but there we're definitely moments that I will absolutely cherish forever. Especially because I had to have ivf and needed the scientific help to conceive, it was really important to me to be able to breastfeed and im really proud of myself for pushing through the hard weeks at the beginning. I also topped up with a bit of formula every now and again, which took some off the pressure and gave me a bit of a break from time to time.

I found it hard. I had SO much milk and my baby fed constantly. He was 10lb 1oz born and by 4 months old he was only 11lb because he couldn't gain weight on my milk.

I was observed in hospital, I expressed and topped up with bottle feeds. He didn't have a dairy allergy, had wet and soiled nappies.

Doctor literally told me my milk wasn't calorific enough, they even monitored my food intake and nothing helped.

It just wasn't easy for me. Apparently my Nan had the same problem, though I didn't know.

He failed to thrive and I felt like the worst mum in the world, I had help from professionals. Nothing worked.

For me, it wasn't easy and I won't be doing it again this time around.

I will give my baby colostrum, following that I will
Move onto formula. I felt guilty, but then I remembered how guilty I felt over the 3 weeks in hospital seeing my baby look starved and tiny.

I then remember how amazing he looked on formula and that fed is best.

I think breastfeeding is amazing and if I could successfully do it, I would for as long as possible. But the hate mothers receive on this site for being open and honest that in actual fact it doesn't always work and it's not always best is shocking.

I can only speak for myself but I found it easy with all my children. One plus of the past year is that no one has had to worry about what they wear, finding a suitable spot if out and about, what family think etc. That must have taken a lot of stress away from those problems