Successful bf second time round

[Blueberry234]

I had a bit of a disaster bf the first time round. Long labour, emcs, tongue tie, very poor post natal care, handed bottle of formula and barked at to give to him at 3am. Subsequently very poor supply. I managed to mix feed for the grand sum if 2 weeks.
Was told it was because I had minimal breast changes during pregnancy and that my breasts were too far apart. Not convinced as I believe it was the cumulation of post natal care and tongue tie. Am going to discuss this with mw next visit.

I really want to give it a better shot this time, will be having a ELCS. Is there anything I can do to increase milk production.

Has anyone successfully fed second time round after not the first time round? Any hope!?

Well, what you were told about minimal breast changes in pregnancy and your breasts being too far apart (wtaf???) is absolute nonsense, so don't worry about that.

Yes, it's possible to feed successfully this time. I 'failed' to successfully bf my first three children but have/am successfully feeding the last two. DD until past 2 years when's he self weaned in my last pregnancy and ds is 3 months old now and it's going great. The difference was arming myself with as much information as possible.

You can attend la Leche League meetings while you're still pregnant if you want to get info. Toddlers are welcome there too. This would obviously not only give you plenty of info but also give you a place/person/people to go to for help and support after the birth if you need it.

It's true that formula very early on can mess up supply/cause problems with bf, but if for some reason formula is needed after the birth this time but you are able to breast feed at the next feed, just go back too ebf right away without formula and it won't have made too much difference.

Thank you, am going to go to local breast feeding group once I get on mat leave so I can have a proper chat with someone. And will arm myself with lots of phone numbers

Midori it's not nonsense about breasts being far apart and minimal breast changes. Both these are possible signs of a lack of breast tissue, which can impact on the breastfeeding experience. It's called hypoplastic breasts, or mammary hypoplasia. You could check google images and see if your breasts match any of the pics.

However, mothers with this condition can and do breastfeed happily, but they do need help and support, and sometimes hypoplastic breasts are wrongly diagnosed anyway.

Blueberry, you check a number of boxes for difficult breastfeeding, no doubt about it.....but you can ensure you get much better help next time round. Perhaps speak to the infant feeding coordinator at the maternity unit while you are still pg and get a plan in place for the first days?

Obv, I mean for the OP to see if her breasts match the google images, not you, Midori, sorry :)

I googled, I don't think they do! Thank you for the info

Yes, it's possible.

I never managed to get breastfeeding established with DS1 for a number of reasons.

It's been a whole different story with DS2. We had a bit of a rocky start - he had to receive treatment for jaundice within 36 hrs of birth. The jaundice made him too sleepy to feed at first, so the midwives had to give him cup feeds until he started to respond to the phototherapy and show a bit of interest in feeding.

But once he started getting over the jaundice, and with lots of support from the midwives and breastfeeding support workers on the post-natal ward, we managed to get DS2 breastfeeding, and we're still going strong 4 months later

I see what you're saying Tiktok I didn't associate those things with Hypoplastic breasts, I had assumed the midwife was speaking in general terms. I thought minimal breast changes in pregnancy is normal and common? Certainly my breasts have never changed at all during pregnancy.

Neither symptom is especially predictive Midori.

yes I did.

dc1 couldn't latch on properly and I wasn't given good advice and I didn't have a clue what I was doing, just thought it should happen "naturally" so didn't bother to read up on bfing before birth. ended up exclusively expressing for 10 months.

dc2 - read up on bfing beforehand, especially "the womanly art of breastfeeding" and knew what to expect. dc2 knew exactly what to do without any helo. champion breastfeeder and still is at nearly 3.5yrs!!

I also had an elcs with dc2 ( emcs with dc1), no supply issues either time.

It worked out second time for me too. DS1 couldn't latch on, had reflux and I received some bad advice as well.Consequently, I stopped bf after 3 weeks as he seemed to hate it as much as I did!

DS2, on the other hand, took to it like a duck to water, could latch on easily from birth, stayed on the 91st centile for weight despite being ebf and now at one year I'm struggling to get him to stop!

So it's definitely possible to have two totally different experiences.