Breastfeeding second time around.

[lovecloud]

I am only 6 weeks pregnant with second child but already thinking about everything

I breastfed my dd for 8 months and love every minute of it, gave up as I was working 2 full days and it just made it harder.

This time I would like to go longer and just hope that this baby will latch on as well as my dd.

Am I about to face all the same problems again? I remember those first two weeks were agonising, part of my nipple came off and there was blood etc... yuck! But after that, it was fine and I enjoyed that time so much.

Is it true some babies just dont latch on or want the breast or is it just a poor excuse for someone who does not want to b/f?

I really look forward to b/f and I hope the pressure and work of having 2 children wont make it harder.

Be grateful to hear your stories

x

bump

some babies are not very good at latching on to begin with, but most get the hang of it with practice. usually though if you didn't have any problems before as long as this baby is also fit and well (not a premmy etc) then breast feeding should be just as easy for you.

it can be harder making the time to breastfedd with 2 children, so make the most of nursery times (if your youngest will be at nursery) and when the oldest is around make the effort to talk to her or read her a story so that she doesn't feel jealous, you may find that after the initial curiosity teh older child will just ignore the breastfeeding and carry on playing, watching tv.

Feeding two different children are two very different experiences. IME you think you know it all but turn out to be just as much of a beginner! However you do know that you can do it because you have done it already, and that's a great boost. It may go so easily for you, or it may not!

I struggled to feed ds, who was an extremely gentle feeder - virtually no pain for me, certainly no blisters, and I hadn't a clue what other mums were going on about - but fed dd for nearly two years, even though she drew blood, pinched, scratched and bruised me (not for the whole two years though! ).

I don't know that there's anything that you can do to prepare yourself, other than review everything you learnt last time. In other words, approach it like a first time mum again.

I didn't find having another child to look after made breastfeeding the baby any harder. It was easy to cuddle up on the sofa and read to ds while bfing dd. I bought a very simple sling (can't remember its name, it's just a folded tube of microfleece) which allowed me to bf dd on the move or while feeding ds.

I found it a lot easier second time round. dd and ds were both good latchers, but ds def made me less sore. dt1 was also a good latcher, but tended to make me a bit sore, but kamisolan sorted that. dt2 was a poor latcher, too lazy really. But once you have practice, it is a lot easier even with a poor latcher to encourage them to get the position right. I didn't find havign two children and bfing a prob, except for school runs. when baby is bfed, it can be a pain when u have to get soemwhere at a particular time.

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Some babies don't latch on initially, but that doesn't mean they are choosing not to breastfeed. My third child is 6 months old and still exclusively breastfed. However, he did not feed for around 48 hours after he was born. Luckily, I knew enough to just give him time and plenty of skin to skin. Some people don't feel confident doing this in hospital, but in my hospital you are in your own room and I was able to shut the door and just concentrate on the baby. I was lucky though, only one midwife tried to pressure me to feed DS3, the others told me I was doing the right thing in just letting him snuggle into my breast. At first he was just happy nuzzling there, and then eventually he started opening his mouth, although he would not close it again (and I tried squirting milk into his mouth). Finally he had just 4 sucks before going to sleep.

Also, some drugs in labour can make the baby feel sleepy and disrupt the sucking reflex. This will come back if the baby is given time and plenty of opportunities to snuggle into the breast.

Good luck, Mandy.

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Lovecloud - IME second time bf mums have a much better time with the initial feeding. When I was a student MW I noticed that most mums who'd bf before latched the baby on without much help. I also noticed that the babies even seemed to have more idea too, even though they'd never done it before. From this I concluded that second time mums are more relaxed (as well as skilled) & this rubs off on to the baby. It's obvious that maternal anxiety will affect the baby & let-down reflex. So my advice would be to just relax. And skin to skin is a wonderful thing too. There's also this thing called kangaroo nursing which I did 8 yrs ago with my DS but it didn't have a name then. You basically let your baby lie on your chest, clothed or otherwise. I was told by the MW back then that I was making a "rod for my own back" but I'm glad I did what felt right.