Breast feeding tips and help please!

[ShinyWorthKeeping]

As of tomorrow I'm in my third trimester with my 3rd baby.

I've attempted to feed my other two but it was two very different experiences but ultimately neither were very successful.

My oldest is now almost 14, I produced a ridiculous amount of milk with her but she would turn away and refuse completely. I would pour with milk every time she cried, another baby cried, the cat meowed. Everything set them off and I was young and had no idea I could express (which I'm kicking myself about still as all that waste!) It finally dried up almost 9 months down the line.

2nd baby is almost 1, I had very few drops before her birth which i failed to catch, I managed to feed her myself for around 2 days but it was excruciatingly painful. It felt like she was sucking it from my whole body out through my nipple, like I felt pain in my feet even! And only the left side produced anything.
I've since found out that the pain was due to a bad latch caused by a lip tie and a dairy allergy. Dried up completely within the week.

Now it's fast approaching my 3rd babys due date and I desperately want to feed her better but obviously I'm not a natural!

The 2 older were big babies and this one is meassuring smaller (not concerningly so, just a lot compared to her older sisters!).

This is also likely my last baby and I just want to do my best.

Is there anything I need to be thinking about the help produce more milk? Anything I can do to help my right boob produce anything at all?
Any tips on getting a good latch? (I have a bad tongue tie so it's possibly genetic)
Anything to help the pain?
Anything I haven't thought of?

Sorry this was so long and dull!
Please help! Thank you!

My guess would be that your body produces exactly the right amount of milk (in the early days, it will be only colostrum anyway so a very teeny amount), but your anxiety about producing too much the 2nd time around may have worked against you. It sounds really wanky, but hypnotherapy. I had a really traumatic experience with breastfeeding my first. I listened to some breastfeeding hypnotherapy tracks (by natal hypnotherapy) in the final weeks. Game changing. I felt so much differently about it the second time around. My mindset completely shifted and everything came together. I know it sounds woo woo, but it made such a difference.

Secondly, harvest colostrum now. Learn how to hand express (also very useful in the early days). I bought some 2ml plastic sample tubes with lids. Expressed twice a day in the last few weeks of pregnancy. Freeze the tubes. You can freeze them half full and express more into it later to freeze. So I had about 15 2ml tubes. Teeny 1ml syringe to feed to baby. I did a feed, both sides, then topped up with the extra tube of colostrum after. Every feed for the first couple days. It made a huge difference in weight gain and my baby was more wake, better blood sugar, etc so could feed better, which meant better supply, better latch, even more weight gain.

Also wanted to add, don’t worry about one boob producing more than the other. It really doesn’t matter. I have a friend who has a boob that has never produced milk 🤷🏻‍♀️ and she’s breastfed 5 babies to toddler age on just one. Once you get going, if you’re eating and drinking enough, your body will make the right amount of milk whether it’s from one tap or two.

@mindutopia thank you for your response.

I was expecting my milk supply to be like the first time and what with knowing about expressing I just assumed I would be fine.

I have some of the little tubes ready but last time I just couldn't figure out how to save anything. With my first I'd just leak milk everywhere and didn't know I was suppose to collect it.

I'm also nervous of the pain. I didn't have pain with the first (although I did have an incredibly difficult birth resulting in ptsd so if it did hurt I'm probably misremembering it) but loads of pain with the second (much easier calmer c section birth)