To anyone who finds bf is not straightforward

[smk84]

Hi! I may have a warped opinion of what bf is like, but I imagine lots of mums with their babies enjoying lovely snuggle feeds where lo goes on like a dream , swallows a tonne of milk and comes off fast asleep or smiling. There's no pain or fussing and the baby is gaining weight like a dream. Then I think of the reality of it...for us... Problem after problem, feeling no one else can really help, except on mn of course, and actually we have had a lot of support, but it feels like we are on our own most of the time. So I don't want to go into all the problems here again, but .... Is anyone else in the same boat? Carrying on even though it's really hard? Questioning whether to carry on . Not stopping because it's best for lo and bound to get easier at some point. I just thought it might be nice to support each other on this thread. My lo is 13 weeks, and I really do hope I will be sat there giving him his first solids at 6 months knowing he has only had bm, but my goodness it is hard...

Thanks show, it is true, but. I must say that if feeds were happy experiences for us both I would be a lot less anxious! I had been writing down all feeds but had stopped to try to chill out a bit about it, but i think you are right to write down to spot the good ones, thank hou. Ecgwynn thank you for the encouragement .

rubberducky if breastfeeding was something you felt was important for you then you can try again if you want to....it's not a lost cause :) With pressure off you a bit now you can snuggle in with your baby skin to skin and just see what happens....or have a bath with her, and again, just see what happens :)

Ducky I am so sorry to hear about your situation, it sounds like you have had crap support. Thank you for posting, it's good to get things off your chest. I do understand as I had to ff early on with ds1. I agree you are the only one who knows your situation and need to do what's right for your family. I will post more later when I get time, but really appreciate your post, thank you.

Rubberducky how are you?

Hi SMK - I'm good thanks, much happier now as is my DD! Still getting up every 2 hours in the night but am so glad I have switched to formula as her dad is helping ease the burden! I feel like a weight has been lifted and now i can enjoy the time with my daughter instead of dreading dinnertime!

I hope things are good with you - you will make the right decision for your family when the time is right.

Wishing you all the best with whatever you decide x

mine is 10wks and we still have some issues, bad latches, fussiness over which breast to go on,jerking, etc. he also flatly refused breasts for 4 days as he got used to the easiness of the bottle , expressed and formula. i persevered and got him back on. have had to give formula the odd time, on advice of hv and infant worker - it was bad advice. Wont do it again. left ds full, unsettled, puking, and still looking for another feed 2hrs later...

Thank you , things are a little better this week I think overall, he is seeming more content after feeds the last couple of days too.

I loved bfing dd1 - was so easy to pop her on I could even make a cup of tea while feeding (not advised by hv!). However, dtds were a different story entirely. Yes, twins and feeding 2 babies has it's own problems but both were tube fed and dtd1 was not given to me for skin to skin so I didn't see her for 6 hours. I really believe this affected her feeding (although necessary as she'd stopped breathing). dtd1 struggled to latch on and would go on and off and dtd2 wasn't a huge amount better.

dd1 was a joy to feed, dtds were an endurance challenge. I ended up giving one bottle a day to give me a break (after thrush and mastitis) and I set a target of reaching 3 months no matter what pain I was in, by then it was better (not brilliant but better) so I amazed myself and got to 6.5months.

I'm glad I kept going but I wouldn't have critisised anyone in my position for giving up.

I found it hard to feed in public as they kept coming off all the time (dd1 would latch on and that was that, I fed her everywhere). I found a feeding cover really helped my confidence as I felt my boobs were out all the time, it helped me to relax which is really important.

I don't think many people find it easy - dd1 was definitely unusually good at it among my friends.