Breastfeeding DC2 - is it as difficult in the early days?

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Just idle curiosity! DD is EBF and the first 6-7 days were quite hard, her latch was shallow, my nipples got quite sore and had some blisters, then suddenly it all got better and now she is a champion feeder and I'm so so glad I persevered! Breastfeeding is brilliant for lazy mums
However my question is: if I ever persuade DP decide to have a second baby, would I expect the same initial difficulty for a few days, or now that my nipples know what they're doing would there be a chance that it would be plain sailing from day 1, assuming no tongue tie etc?
And does it make a difference if I get pregnant while still bf DC1, or if my boobs have a couple of years off?
Really is an idle curiosity question, I'm not asking for 'advice' on when to conceive/bf until!

I'm currently BF DC2, I fed DC1 for 14 months and he is now 3. I found the first week pretty much the same difficulty and pain-wise. I forgot how to latch a small baby and it took about a week to crack it. Their mouths are so teeny it can be hard to get a deep enough latch.

I have found it a lot easier from a latching on and nipple toughness aspect. However I seem to have a lot more milk this time so stronger and more painful let down in first few weeks which was painful, kept choking ds2 and still soaking through the breast pads.
Also had a bout of mastitis and a couple of sore ducts - again due I think to having more milk ( boobs better at producing?)

Ds1 had just turned3 when ds2 arrived so 2 years"off" hadn't meant they'd forgotten IFYKWIM

I am just feeding dc2, who is coming up to 48 hours old and yes its fecking painful again! I am switching positions more and know (hope) it will get better soon. I had 2 years "off" and although I am experienced at bf, its still all new to dd so I am not overly surprised its painful again!

I stopped feeding DS1 in June when he was about 21 months and now feeding 1 week old DS2. I have found it much easier so far second time round - after suffering from very sore nipples last time I am much fussier about getting the latch right this time, and have already fed out and about in public which took a while with DS1.

I was worried about being able to feed a newborn again after it was so easy with a toddler but seems to be going well so far.

Wow, a real split between just as hard and much easier, interesting! I will probably be fussier about latch with DC2, but the main thing I'll do differently is introduce a bottle much earlier so I can have some time off and get DP to do night feeds with EBM- DD refuses all bottles and I could really do with a break.
Anyone else know what they'd do differently next time?

Wow, a real split between just as hard and much easier, interesting! I will probably be fussier about latch with DC2, but the main thing I'll do differently is introduce a bottle much earlier so I can have some time off and get DP to do night feeds with EBM- DD refuses all bottles and I could really do with a break.
Anyone else know what they'd do differently next time?

I found bf ds2 a lot easier than ds1. Whether it was just because he was the second I doubt as with ds1 I was physically exhausted after 3 nights in hospital, full labour, forceps then crash section under GA that my body really wasn't in a good state to start. With ds2 I had a planned section so physically the start for both of us was very different.

I experienced the same shortness of supply for the first few days with hardly any colostrum but was fine when milk actually came in. With ds2 I seemed to have enough, with ds1 it was a battle to have enough for the whole 7 months I fed him. When milk came in with ds2 I had enough to feed him and he only ever had 30ml of formula in his life, and that was in hospital before my milk came in. As he was over 10lbs I was very pleased to have enough supply. With da1 I had mixed fed from 4 months.

So in short a lot easier second time round but I think a good part of that was the difference in birth for both baby and me.

I had more problems second time round (mostly to do with tongue tie and then bad midwife advice) and found it physically harder for those reasons. I think mentally it was easier because second time around I knew it wasn't going to be painful and difficult forever and that after the first it I'd love doing it and it would be so easy.

I fed DD for 15 months and fell pg whilst still feeding, so only had an eight month gap. I wish I'd re-read up on bf the second time because feeding a toddler and a newborn is very different and I'd forgotten a lot of stuff even though it wasn't that long since I'd been feeding. Also. The babies are different - this might sound really obvious but it took me a while to get - what "worked" for DD hasn't necessarily for DS because he's had to learn how to bf and has his own preferences.

This is really interesting! I will have a 13 month gap between finishing feeding dd at 18 months and dc2 arriving.

We struggled in the first week too - those little sharp nails on tender boobies - oooouuuuch!! But it was so worth persevering with.

Dd was also a bottle refuser until about 4.5months which was only a problem when I had to be away from her - which in reality was a few afternoons/evenings. I didn't mind night feeds as I just fed laying down and barely woke up.

Breast feeding and subsequently BLW were about he only things I had 100% confidence I did right. Naps however were a different story!!!

I had a 3.9yr age gap between mine, DD 2, now 6 months has been an absolute dream to feed and that was with her taking a 16 day break for emergency open heart surgery too. She's amazing and a real pro!

I had problems both times, with dc2 the mw in hospital ignored me as they were busy and 'I had fed before so should know what I was doing'

I ended up getting the specialist breastfeeding mw out to the house as ds would not latch or stay awake and lost 10% of body weight. All was ok in the end but I think that could have been avoided by more assistance early on.

As for pain, that wasn't so bad but I think that's because of the above help. First time round I had cracked nipples for weeks.

I had a lot of discomfort both times, but both my boys were different feeders and I had different problems.

First time I had a really fast/powerful (could take your eye out if you were within 2 meters of nipple!) letdown which I found really sore. DS1 had a great vicious latch but was a bit of a milkfiend and fed ridiculously frequently and would go mental if I didn't get him latched on within seconds. I used a lot of lansinoh by but week 3, was over the worst (minor cracked nipple but no blood)

DS2 had a lazy latch (barely seemed to open his mouth) and my let down/milk flow was nothing like first time, never squirted at all. However, DS2 would alter his milk feeding times quite a lot so I had a lot of engorgement on and off over the first 4 months (only the first month with DS1). I found it was probably week 5 before the discomfort faded (but the discomfort was less than first time round) but again, a lot of it was down to DS2s reluctance to open his mouth (so felt like he was just gumming my nipple a lot of the time).

So, in my experience I'd say each baby feeds differently, your boobs might therefore behave differently, but that discomfort for me was a common feature (but nothing that would have made me give up :-)

DS2 fed beautifully. I think I had a sore nipple once in his entire 3.5yrs of breastfeeding!

But DS1 was a nightmare. Undiagnosed tongue tie. I was lucky that it didn't hurt, but I had no idea that what we were experiencing was not normal.