Due Sept '08: We're halfway there part 2....

[LittleConnie]

Come on over!

ok, so it's possible to store colstrum before the baby comes so i can feed him that if my breasts decide to have performance anxiety.

Also what about Breast pump if i decided i cannot breastfeed at all?

ok then here are the things that put me off breastfeeding with ds

i did research it watched discovery health and all that i knew what it should looklike when they were latched on etc, right i had a pretty long awful birth as i had been induced and it had taken 48 hours,i had a nasty tear and stitches

in the hospital i was not allowed to leave until he had eaten but all he wanted to do was sleep,i was not offered any pain releif for my ladie parts as i was bf, could hear them handing them round to every one else though
anyway eventually i managed to feed him but they wanted him to have another feed before i left but he wasn't latching on etc or nothing was coming out,they put a breastpump on me for 2 hours and only managed to get 1cm of milk out which the midwife then fed him from a little cup

when i got home i persevered but he was really colicky and just screamed all day and all night i can just remember crying all the time, i was living with my parents then and obv they couldn;t help with the feeding, he was desperate to suck on something even if he wasn't hungry but the hv said he could not have a dummy or he would reject the breast, i could not express as if i used bottles he would reject the breast so when dh came home he couldn;t help out either, it was just awful. then my breasts got engorged and they were agony hv said i couldn;t take any pain releif

after a week i decided i couldn't do it thought that it was because there was no milk iykwim, so started bottle feeding him and things were much better but he was still colicky, he could have a dummy though which made things easier

but even when i was ff i got conflicting advice from hv - it was a different one that came every time
one said that because he was constipated to add an extra ounze of water to his feed, the day after another toldme off for doing this

i would be interested in giving it another gojust don;t know if i brave enough

i know!!

when i had dd though i had the same hv all the way through and she fine must just have been unlucky

mustsleep. you had awful support in hospital and awful care in teh community. there is no other way of saying it.

please read the links I have made. some of them will partly explain why some of these things occured as your experience doesn't sound too far off what happened to me. And watch the videos i linked to and the video links. Follow the links on the Jack Newman handouts and they will lead to other helpful videos on latch.

also, go along to a www.thebabycafe.co.uk/babycafe or other breastfeeding support group while still pg. as i mentioned earlier. This way you will find the right people who can support you should you need their support the next time round. And even if everything goes swimmingly the next time round, attending a support group bouys up other new mothers who will be giving birth before and after you.

you don't have to be a member of the NCT to attend their groups either.

biglips: it sounds like your latch was wrong. Your baby was sucking on your nipple rather than latched onto the surrounding tissue. Your nipple should actually be at the start of the soft palate. Touch your own to see how far back it is supposed to go into your baby's mouth.

nipple shields should only be used under the close supervision of a trained bf counsellor. there are a few hv and midwives who have sufficient training to be able to advise on using them but I would put my next month's wage to say that it would be no more than one in a hundred.

once again, start going to a support group before you give birth. lots of useful info gets batted around. women learn to breastfeed by watching other women breastfeed and then having the more experienced ones share knowledge, practical and theoretical, with each the less experienced. This is the sort of knowledge that has been lost by previous generations and why it has become so hard for us to relearn.

babycafe trying again

again

thanks i'm going to think on it for the next couple of months

Melt76 Thank you for the information. I was thinking of buying them to wear around the house till the baby is born. I read the warning about developing highblood pressure if you walk a lot using them while pregnant.

Pitufina Welcome. Are you British? It is just that the nickname sounds Spanish. I am.

imoscarsmum that comment about epidurals and high bp surprised me. My bp was very high before my last labour and the labour was so fast that there was no I could have had an epidural even if I wanted one. I was told the reason it was so fast was because of my high bp. Funny how different people get told different things. Or I suppose it could have been to do with my bp only having been high for a couple of weeks, it isn't normally high.

and imoscarsmum I'm with you on the car thing too. My dh had a hire car this week for work that was an enormous 7 seater landrover (a new one, not a proper old one). He had it at home last night and it made our Nissan Tino (a 5 seater people carrier type thing) look tiny. I wanted to stick a label on it saying "I don't own this car, it's not mine, I don't agree with cars like this on normal roads, it was being used off-road, honest"

biglips I remember when ds was 3 or 4 weeks old bf him on one side while expresing on the other while my sil was in the room. She doesn't have children so thinking about it now it might have been a bit weird for her but tough. Ds needed fed and I wasn't moving off the sofa!
I was also happy to bf in front of my dad within a few days of having ds but it was nice having a few days without any visitors to get the hang of it without having to worry about what I was expossing to the world!

Starlight please don't feel bad for scaring me - your advice is great, just probably all a little bit 'too much, too soon'. Only just got my head around being pregnant and having scans - the big day and life afterwards are a bit too big to think about yet, IYKWIM.
I think for me, I'd love to bf and go to a babycafe while pregnant but I'm a bit shy and never really felt bonded with women. I was a bit of a tomboy in my youth and even now i find it easier to talk to men. I always think (incorrectly, I'm sure) that other women will find me boring and unattractive (???!!) - can't explain it really. i do know how bonkers I sound .

DebitheScot wow - different info or what?! I was talking to a mw at my antenatal appointment who had spent 15 years on the labour ward and had just transferred to antenatal. I was discussing water births and she said that option would be unlikely due to high bp. Then she said ' just go for an epidural - much easier and anyway, it lowers your bp'. Would consistency be too much to ask for us all?!

Thanks to whoever said methydopa are betablockers - no idea about this and unaware it may affect flumpet and bf. Will put it on my list to ask about.

Finally - anyone getting a Strep B test around 36 weeks? My mw said I could pay privately if I was worried as NHS don't offer it.

not sure what 'expossing' means but it doesn't sound pleasant!

ok, so if i went to one of these breast feeding cafes, would i just sit around an observe? cuz i honestly do feel a little bit uneasy about walking up to someone whose breast feeding and just introduce myself and ask then ask to 'watch' ...

imoscarsmum I didn't think an epidural neccessarily makes things easier does it?
It could be a different thing if your bp is always high than mine going high at the end. i think the logic was that my body wasn't used to the high bp and so pushed the baby out as quick as it could to try and get back to 'normal'

It seems though that different people are told different things and given different advice for so many things.

I don't feel as passionate as some of you about bf but it does bug me when women feel they can't do it and it's the fault of the midwives/hv etc who haven't been giving the right help or any help at all.

OK I think I may have a problem, please don't laugh cos it is a bit embarising, but I don't have any nipples as such, I have the brwn bit whaever you call it but no nipply bit that sticks up, unless I'm cold or its stimulated which I cant do because they are so senstive should I be worried that i wont be able to bf?

wombfor1more I loved your story in the mag, such a nice happy ending. And you looked great in the pictures. You would never have known you had 2 children and were heavily pregnant if you just saw the top half of the photo.

barnpot, have you ever had any latationinsh discharge around that area before?