Barriers to breast feeding - Your thoughts wanted please!

[MedicMoo]

Hello

I am a Medical Student doing a presentation next week on the "Barriers to Breast Feeding" and I was wondering if you'd mind sharing some of your thoughts?!

What makes you think twice about breast feeding or puts you off?

Any and all thoughts much appreciated! :)

Kara/MedicMoo -is that the number of women initiating BFing?

I recall in my NCT classes that the north east ingeneral is pretty poor, but still!

Iwould say yet again that post-natalsupport is rubbish. I had a home birth and got shown the wrong way to initiate a latch; the peadiatricians and later the HVs pressed formula the minute she didn't gain the weight they wanted (while all giving completely different opinions otherwise) and Ididn't get a specialist watching me feed until Iwent toa LLL meeting after 3 months.

I also wasn't made aware in advance just how important the staying-in-bed was; I was getting up and dressed just to feel in control in my very hormonal state, but I won't be making that mistake again.

I did manage to continue despite giving top-ups, partly by being careful about whenand how much she got and not following advice to the letter. My suspicion is that I was producing low-fat mlik, so to speak, or that her latch meant that's all she took out, but it's entirely possible that I could have solved that with different feeding patterns. I'll only know next time...

Hi OP! I'm a medical student too, I'm taking a year out to have my dd and freakily I was thinking of writing some kind of piece along similar lines, either on barriers to breast feeding or infant colic! Probably won't get time now though if I'm honest as I now have a 12 week dd...

Here's my thoughts...

My dd has been REALLY unsettled since birth. She used to scream during and just after feeds, arch her back, have green diarrhoea, wind, vomit, not sleep for more than an hour at a time, cluster feed etc etc. She has been diagnosed with reflux and lactose intolerance eventually. She also had a tongue tie which she had corrected. I exclusivley breast fed til a couple of weeks ago but nearly gave up so many times before. She now has 1-2 bottles of lactose free formula a day, 1-2 bottles ebm and 2-3 bfs. My main barriers were:

-Maternal exhaustion/sleep deprivation - I was exhausted and I think at one point was close to having PND. I thought she hated me as she reacted so badly to my milk.

• Having to give medication - To bf her I have to hand express some milk, add lactase drops and give it to her and give gaviscon at the end, and it is easier just to put these in the bottle rather than trying to get her to take it with a syringe - in fact I posted a thread about the problems I had, so probably easier to read that if it will be of help:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/breast_and_bottle_feeding/1164894-Thinking-about-giving-up

I was always set on BFing fully, but I wasn't prepared for how hard it would be. I can see why people give up.

Now, as I have the option of giving her the odd bottle of formula and she is on the right medication I finally am starting to enjoy bfing her. Hopefully if she has the transient lactose intooerance that babies grow out of I may be able to go back to fully bfing - though I am back to med school in September!

PM me if I can help any more - plus might be nice to chat about medic things! What year are you in and where are you studying? Do you have DCs?

My own experience is that BFing is the exception rather than the rule and people are far too quick to suggest putting babies on bottles whenever there's any hint of a problem. I think pressure from husbands, partners and family members who want to help with feeds might also be partly responsible. But more than anything i just think that because it's 'natural' people assume it will be easy and their expectations are too high. It takes practice, it's uncomfortable for a while while your nipples harden up and it takes patience, trial and error and commitment. The only reason i have done it successfully is because i've had fantasic support from a family member, went to a breastfeeding workshop before birth and read as much as possible about the realities of BFing and potential problems and how they can be overcome. New mothers simply don't get enough support to continue BFing, or encouragement to do it in the first place.

My experience seems different from most the post so far. Before birth I was giving loads of support from healthcare processionals. I had one-to-one breast feeding classes BEFORE birth. I was talked through getting an effective latch, what might go wrong and why. I was also taken to local breast feeding support group BEFORE birth where each mother went through how they felt about BF, the difficulty's they had come across and how it worked out for them. I watched each mother latch their baby Individually.
The result was by the time I gave birth I felt confident and had a lot knowledge about what I was doing, I had made valuable contacts and friends I could ring for advice. As soon as I felt the first sign of mastitis setting in I knew what it was and was aware I had to feed through it and did. I continued to Breastfeed my first until she was 9 months at which stage I was 3 months pregnant with the next and felt it was time for me personally to wean. I have feed my next 2 DC without problem and with confidence and intend to do the same with number 4.
I think the initial support I received was invaluable, however speaking to many mothers this is not the norm, I feel I have been very lucky to experience this.