first time bf

[emma20132611]

im due in march, i bottle fed my oldest whose now 4 but would really like to breastfeed my boy when he arrives. Any tips? my oh will have 2 weeks off work so i will have help. only thing which is bothering me at the minute is when my oh goes back to work and i do school runs again what happens if he needs feeding haha ???? its ten minute walk there and ten minute back shouldn't be too bad but hoping he sleeps then : / wishful thinking that within 2 weeks he might have a little routine?????
i will want to express at some point after two weeks will this be possible ?
oh and my last birth was a section ive been given the go ahead for a vbac : / any success stories?

I breastfed both of mine. No soreness and loved every minute of it.

It's instant and you can do it anywhere! Well I did!

I have to say I'm not large chested so when I was feeding it was always discreet and just looked like I was cuddling them. I had a friend who was very large chested and she couldn't get to grips with feeding as she felt her breasts were so prominent it was difficult to disguise.

The best advice I had was not to be namby Pamby and be firm in positioning your baby. If in the correct position it should not hurt or be uncomfortable.

With my firstborn, my son, after I had given birth I placed him to my breast and he wouldn't suckle. The nurses called him lazy and said some babies expect the milk to spurt out and you have to be firm in getting them to latch on!

I was outraged that my precious little boy was treated roughly as they shoved him on my breast and made sure his nose was pressed firmly onto my breast, but after a few days of my being namby Pamby with him, I realised that if he was on firmly he would feed and I would feel comfortable too!

The trick is to position them so that the nose is almost squashed against you but you can see that their nostrils are not obstructed, well one nostril as you look down on them! that means they are in the correct position and you won't feel any discomfort.

My son is now an adult and I miss breastfeeding, I enjoyed it so much, that closeness and feeling of nourishing my child.

I hope you enjoy it, for however long you do so. Just remember that position is key.

OP maybe consider getting a fabric sling so you can still feed on the school run if required. In the early weeks I fed in the queue for a cinema, walking through a shopping centre, at a busy garden party, etc., all in a moby wrap. Just loosen the wrap and move baby lower. Much easier than listening to the sound of a hungry baby and in those early weeks they feed A LOT!

To start off with, it can be difficult - no one to share the load with, even with a great latch your nipples can get sore (and sometimes you need help with getting the right latch - if I were you I'd look up local breast feeding support places, like drop ins run by midwives or the NCT, and see if you can find out if there are eg toys for your oldest to play with whilst you're there.

But - and this is a positive but - the hard work (for some, but I was one if those) in the early days really pays off as once you and your baby have it sussed it is SO much easier/more straightforward/easier to not plan time out etc.

I expressed from the first week, but that was partly related to over supply/sore nipples/mastitis issues, and my baby had formula in the early weeks too. So my experience is that was possible and there wasn't much nipple confusion, but I know this isn't the same for everyone and too many bottles can make the baby unable to latch. DH ordered an electric pump when I was in hospital, though it was £100 it was worth the investment for me and cheaper than formula would have been for a year (I expressed twice a day during his second six months as I was back at work).

Everyone is different but thought i'd share what worked for me. Good luck!

I did the preschool run with my dc2 from 4 weeks. Its about the same distance. Made sure I sat down about an hour before and gave her a big feed, if she would take it. She then slept quite happily in the pram or sling on the way there and back.

Are there any local bfing support groups near to you? You don't have to wait until Lo arrives, you can go whole still pg.

I'm sure you'll be fine

Hi OP, I'm bf my DC2 who's now a month old, after ff DC1 from 3 weeks.

Things that have helped me:-

Lots of committed family help - DH, in laws....looking after DC1 so I can focus on feeding DC2...keeping me supplied with endless meals/drinks... picking DC2 up and carrying him away if he was getting frantic at the boob, so I could express and work out a new position to try.

Going back into the postnatal ward to get expert help from the midwives & nurses when we struggled to latch as my milk came in. Boobs were rock hard and very sore! I used a hospital pump and fed some milk using a syringe/bottle to buy us time to fix the latch. It helped that the hospital was non judgemental about bottles - an emotive issue for me, as I ff my firstborn. I've avoided LLL & NCT help this time, as they made me feel so emotionally low about 'failing' last time.

Also realising that there are no 'rules' or wven a templated experience for bf. We are all different. Some of the general tips (eg, feed on demand) are unhelpful in the early days when baby might be sleepy, is pretty vulnerable and you need to build up a proper supply.

Knowing that ff is available as an alternative has liberated me to try bf again and I'm glad I did! We haven't needed to top up in these early weeks but I have mum friends who did to get through challenging days, and who were able to establish full bf again.

Hope it all works out well for you and your LO. Giving DC1 plenty of cuddles in between feeds will help you feel upbeat too! x

Oh - on expressing - so far I've only done this when I needed to relieve engorgement. Apart from hospital, it has all been hand expressing. I'm going to try using a breast pump this week so DH can give an evening bottlefeed to DC2 - and allow me a chance to put DC1 to bed.

Quite honestly, you have to be a bit selfish to get bf established. My DH was keen for us to bf (it was so sore last time, that I'd considered going straight to bottles.) I've taken the opportunity to boss him around to make it as easy/comfortable as possible for me. I couldn't have gone this far without his support, although I've had to listen to some grumbles too. :-)