Breast feeding books videos etc

[zinher]

Hi everyone, I am currently expecting baby no 1. Because of health issues and work I haven't been able to go to antenatal classes and most of them are fully booked now. Baby is due late feb and I am going on mat leave soon. I really want to breast feed but know that it can be difficult. Everyone I know around me gave up after the first few weeks as it was too difficult and I don't want that to happen to me.
Basically I am looking for any advice that can help me. My mum and sister have successfully breast fed but unfortunately they live continents away so can only offer advice over the phone.

What do I need to know? Any books, websites or videos recommendations? Are there any lactation consultants available in the UK? How do I search for them?
Also what do I need to buy for breatfeeding? Should I buy bottle feeding equipment just in case bf dsnt work?
Thanks for any help.

Hi and congratulations zinher. With dc1 I was in a similar position, was simply too ill to ever make it to a class but everything worked out fine

For books try the Food of Love or the Womanly art of Bfing. kellymom is an excellent, evidence based website and there are some great videos here.

Yes you can get lactation consultants and you can also get BFCs. There is a list of bfing support here. It's probably a good idea to put the helpline numbers in your phone, just in case you need them.

You don't need to buy anything for bfing but there are things that some mothers have found useful. Have a read of this.

Unless you live somewhere very remote I wouldn't buy bottles or formula. You probably won't need research shows that you are more likely to give up bfing if you do buy them. Instead find out where your local bfing groups are and start going to them before you have Lo.

HTH

Thanks jinglejohns :) My local hospital has a breast feeding group. I didn't know I could go before baby was here. Will get in touch with them soon. The Kelly mom website is not working for some reason. Thanks for the links

I would reccomend baby led breastfeeding by gill rapley. It goes through what happens and how your baby behaves (which is good some women believe that they have no milk when a baby is feeding at lot etc)

Yes go to your booby group. It's nice to see women do it. And will be good to see a friendly face afterwards. Also you can go there if you are having any issues

hello! antenatal classes are notoriously crap at teaching bf anyway (which to be fair is hard without an actual baby to practise with) so don't worry about missing those.

the advice I got was - don't leave hospital without a midwife checking your latch is ok. and keep asking till you're confident it's right.

loads of lactation consultants in uk. many are private and charge fees but some will visit local BFing cafés/groups and help for free. and there are also telephone helplines which are more helpful than you'd think. health visitors and midwives will also check your latch, but some are much better than others, so ask several if you need to. GPs tend not to be much help with bf technique (they're more for medical issues like reflux)

kellymom is good for info about difficulties but for the basic "how to latch" you're best off with someone actually showing you once little one is here.

My advice: if you run into any difficulties, get seen by a bf counsellor or lactation consultant (whether free or private) as soon as you can. sitting on problems can lead to supply problems which then makes it doubly hard to fix. I can recommend a great private lactation consultant if you're in SW London/surrey area by any chance. Or ask on mn for recommendations in your area.

Thanks mini pie. I am in West Midlands. Will note the numbers to the helplines and the consultants so I have them handy when I need them. My midwife gave me a booklet about bf didn't speak much about it. How soon can you start bf once baby is here? And how much help can I expect from the mw/ other staff at hospital?

I think seeing people breastfeed is really helpful. So head to any drop in groups you can.

You asked for videos and I have to say this is my favorite

In terms of when you start breast feeding minutes after birth is good. You ask for skin to skin contact and the baby is placed on your chest you can either help baby to latch on then or let the baby crawl

the Midwives should support you to breastfeed. One even helped me unlatch DS as I had no idea how to get him to stop feeding :) Most if not all hospitals in the UK are Baby Friendly so should have good support for you. Sometimes you might have to ask for help so don't be shy.

Lovely video on baby crawl haz, my DS did that and before he did I hadn't realised newborns could. Brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it

Here's the kellymom link again.

You can find more bfing support groups here, and you can go to all of them while you are still pg

Thanks for all the links and answers. My midwife was quite supportive of bf but she did say to have the bottle feeding stuff ready just in cases which made me feel like she sort of expected it to fail. Will come back for more questions soon :)

Thanks once again for all your help.

Tricky one about having a bottle ready as back up or not.

I think most BFing mothers go through at least one evening/night when the baby seems to want to feed constantly and is getting cross and it seems like there is just not enough milk (and your nipples are probably sore too). It could be very tempting to whip out the bottle at this point, but then your supply won't increase to match the baby's increased demand, so in reality it's better to just keep BFing. Only you know how tempted you would be to get the bottle out if you had it in the cupboard!

Food of Love by Kate Evans is good

The nhs Best Start leaflet has photos of good latch

The Association of Breastfeeding Mothers has a magazine that's really supportive and informative

There are fb pages called The Leaky Boob and Breastfeeding and Medication that I've found helpful, along with Kellymom, LLL, NCt websites etc

The NHS DVD 'Bump to Breastfeeding' was helpful, may be available on YouTube.

Going to baby cafe/support group is v helpful in pregnancy and early days.

Good luck

jingle It's nice I think as it gives the reasons behind it as well as what is happening and why they are important.

Zinher You might, one day, need a bottle but unless you are very very remote you could probably pop to the shops to get it. I needed a bottle when DS was 8 months old I just borrowed one from a friend. It would have been such a waste of money and space in our tiny kitchen to store all that equipment.

I'd say the midwife actually was really unsupportive of breastfeeding to suggest you need to buy things just in case. Supportive would be saying "millions of babies are breastfeed everyday, it is skill that both mother and baby need to learn if you need help to learn the skills to breastfeed the midwives are here to do that". Supportive is reminding you that you can do things and you are likely to succeed with ease. Opps that wasa bit longer then I meant but I think the just in case buy bottles is really undermining to women.