Things I wish I knew before I started breast feeding

[LAF77]

I had my first DS nearly 8 weeks ago. Things have gone well, but there are some practical things I wish I had known right away to have made it even easier from the start.

1. You may have been told to feed every 3 hours, but your baby will probably want to be fed even more frequently than that. DS did get jaundice and I wonder if it wouldn't have happened if I had fed him more frequently.
2. As per point number 1, when you have a newborn baby for the first time, you have no idea what is going on with them, but if they try to suck their hands, they are telling you they are hungry. I figured this out on day 3, which leads me back to point 1. You will probably need to feed more often than every 3 hours!
3. In the first week, you will probably have your first cluster feed that goes on all night. There isn't anything wrong with your baby.
4. Try feeding lying down side by side, I do it as often as I can, and it is great to relax, which is good for mother and baby!

I absolutely wish that I had been told cosleeping was safe
Or more to the point that I hadn't been told co sleeping risked my baby's life!

I used to get out of bed, feed my dd on a chair then get back in bed, to ensure ididn't drop off to sleep whilst feeding her

Cosleeping all the way for dc2 and dc3

YYY tiktok. I have a theory that babies actually need to sleep lightly and wake frequently. My DS slowly but surely developed his own sleep patterns and slept longer and longer at night (slept through for first time at 12m) and now I realise this happens with loads of babies, especially (but not exclusively) if they're bf. I am now fairly sure in my own mind that babies don't develop these strong sleep associations. With next DC I'll bf to sleep without ever worrying about breaking the 'habit'.

Youlllaughaboutitoneday-that is so true. I have tried to eliminate the night feeds and he still wakes frequently, he is just harder (impossible) to settle. I do think he wakes more as a result of feeding to sleep as he wakes himself with wind. I just feel if he hadn't have become dependent on bfing to sleep he would be able to self soothe at least some of the night wakings. I don't know, I'm just a bit fed up of it.

Aw, yes, I totally remember that feeling. Is this DC1? I found that it was much easier to roll with it this time, and DD1 was living proof that I wasn't a useless parent and it would end. She is now one of the best little sleepers I know - and I'd take a year of nightmare baby over my friend whose toddler has woken up every single night numerous times since he moved to a bed (but was a champion baby sleeper!).

You know what I realised with my two? They didn't/don't self soothe if they aren't ready, whether you take away the milk or not. I go all gooey just thinking about the way DD2's tense little body relaxes into my arms when I heave her out of the cot in the night. She wants to know I'm there. At bedtime, I can shut the door and she'll go off fine on her own (well, she gives it a good yell for literally 15 seconds). Parenting books and friends make you feel like a baby is a problem you can fix, if you can think of them as a little person (and therefore not like anyone else in the world), it makes it easier. This too shall pass .

Oh, and I'm at the coal face with you BTW. DD2 was up about six times last night .

I wish I hadn't followed my midwife's advice that 'breast fed babies don't need winding'. My poor little man had horrible wind for the first day or so until my mum set me straight!

Agree. Fed to sleep with both. The only way to shut the little darlings up! They'll stop waking in the night when they want to. And NOT before.

Interesting about babies sleeping lightly. Apparently the reason why FSID recommends dummies is that babies who are sucking sleep lighter than babies who aren't, thus decreasing likelihood of cotdeath. Neither of mine would take a dummy till weaned from the breast (15 mths and 13mths). This was according to the midwife at my breastfeeding classes while pregnant with DC1.

(I'm sure they refused dummies just to give me something else to worry about!)

alfie I've heard the same rubbish about bf babies not needing winding and its not true! Sometimes DS can push it out on his own, but a lot of times he can't. I've just spent an hour and a half helping him. A MW friend pointed out to me that her baby raises her arms when she needs burping and I noticed that DS will wave his arms in the air too when he is struggling. I know that I can understand him and help him.

Also, when your milk comes in, the worst bit is the breast tissue in your armpits. Flannels in the bath did nothing for me, but holding a hot water bottle under my arms softened it up to help cope.

That bfing Mums actually get more sleep.