ok I need a plan!

[chocoraisin]

Calling all breast feeding gurus... I just need a little pep talk! I'd really, really like to breast feed this time, DS2 is due in 7 weeks. I'm not a militant lactivist (far from it) and I'm not averse to mix feeding when it's helpful, but I had a rough time with DS1 that I'm hoping I won't repeat because I wound up unable to continue feeding him at all myself, in so much pain etc that my HV and GP advised me to stop.

In brief, the probs with DS1 were:

• his tongue tie, cut on day 5, even though it was caught relatively early I was shocked at how cut and rubbed raw in those first few days I got!
• weak suck as he was a bit early and small, he kept dropping off and giving up, then midwives kept popping him on leading to marathon sessions of hours at a time that didn't help my soreness at all.
• forceps delivery so DS had a sore head and hated being latched (not to be repeated as I have c-sec booked, but I'm not sure what other probs this might throw up? if any?)
• milk didn't come in until day 7 so he lost a fair bit of weight and had early top ups in hospital, which were necessary but knocked my confidence a lot
• cracked, bleeding nipples due to tongue tie/bad latch/flat nipples (ow, ow, OW)
• mastitis that finished me off.

All in all I was out by week 6.

SO - my big question is, how to I start things off on a better foot this time? Any tips gratefully received!

lansinoh for your nips, expect a bit of pain until they get back used to it again.

relax.
while still in hospital with babs, keep asking for help to latch on every time so by the time you leave hospital you are confident with latch.

wash your boobs after every feed and change pads regular to prevent thrush.

dont beat yourself up if you decide you cant do it and want to ff.

expect babs to be sucking on you what feels like ALL THE TIME in the beginning -thats how your milk gets extablished -takes 6 weeks.

RELAX.

IF you have got flat nips, use a lectric breast pump for a few seconds first and that will pull your nip out to a good shape.

the first 8 weeks are the hardest, once your up and running, it gets so easy and will be thankful no bottles to carry round/sterlize (and all those lovely anti bodies protecting babs im convinced my friends ff babies are all alot more ill than my ebf dd)

good luck with everything xxx

thanks :) I've got lansinoh in the hospital bag packed already, as well as some nipple shields (avent) which helped no end with the whole flat nipple thing (got another 10days of feeding out of them, when I was ready to stop the first time). Wondering if I should give pads a miss and use shells instead when I'm sore to keep air circulating? I know it's a bit TMI but when I was bleeding before and cracked, the pads sort of stuck to me and opened the cuts every time I had to take my bra/pad off to feed. Is that usual or was I just v unlucky? Can I avoid that, and if so how?

If you get the medela shells they can also be worn to help draw out flat nipples or you can get these ones which basically are exactly the same just with a smaller hole but their specific purpose is to draw the nipples out and can be worn towards the end of pregnancy to help in advance.

ooh thanks for the link!

i recommend reusable pads instead of disposable, but mainly i wanted to say remember every baby is different. DD1 was a nightmare to feed and i gave up at 6 weeks cracked nipples underweight baby ect... DD2 is a dream, growing well and actually has periods where she is awake and not feeding (i honestly didn't realise that could happen).

good luck with DC2

One thing to bear in mind if you are having a c section is that you'll be on sonme fairly heavy duty painkillers at first and these may mask some initial pain if your latch isn't up to scratch and this could lea to you getting sore and cracked.

So make sure you get latch and Tongue tie checked and use lansinoh proactively.

Use the time you are recovering from c section to feed, feed, feed. This will make sure you get plenty of rest and build up a good milk supply.

ok, so far in my hospital bag I have packed nipple shields and lansinoh, I have ordered Silverettes to use if I do get sore, I have washable pads for my bra and a positive attitude to hang it all together with! thanks for all the help and advice x