Breastfeeding - what I wish I had known!

[noitsachicken]

Hi,

I am after a bit of help please.
I am a peer supporter at my local breastfeeding support group, I am writing a short flyer/leaflet listing all the normal things about breastfeeding that no one tells you about!

Such as cluster feeding, growth spurts, frequent feeding, milk not coming in for a few days.
We have so many mums coming in who are worried because they do not know these things are normal!

Can you help me please?

What do you wish you had know before you started, what would have made you worry less?

Thanks

I know! I don't know what I thought would magically happen at six months, but they are supposed to be on three meals a day and sleeping for 12 hours. It was a bit of a let down!

The whole 'milk coming in' thing is a bit confusing, most mums think they will have pints of milk from day one.

The 3 month "supply drop" where you stop being engorged between feeds and fear that you've lost all of your milk. Helpfully often coincides with the baby becoming more alert and nosey!

Day 5 you may be exhausted, hormonal and waiting for your milk to come in as a hungry baby screams at your nipples - but it will be better and you don't need formula.

HV's and many other hcp's may tell you your latch is good but if it hurts - it's not good!!!

Not to be too upset if it doesn't work out. Seriously, I was devastated and made to feel very guilty by one midwife. You also need to support those women for whom breastfeeding doesn't work. Many will have tried very hard

If things are hard seek qualified help.

I was incredibly naive. I didn't know anything about colostrum or what the baby ate in the first few days. I also didn't know how often to feed the baby after she was born.

I didn't realise that babies can't have cows milk until 12 months. I guess I never knew it would be such a commitment, I thought I did it for 6 months and then weaned

I also would have liked to know more about expressing and getting a breastfed baby to take a bottle, different teats for bf babies etc

That feeding in public is legal and you cannot be told not to, I would have been more confident had I known that from the beginning.

That with wonderful midwife and scbu nurse supper you can breast feed a premmie/express enough to give to said premmie if it can't sick even when you were terribly terribly I'll post delivery. And that keeping going even at your lowest point can bring success. But also, truly don't bear yourself up if you can't do it. You will feel guilty about a million other things as a mummy and ff a baby is not one of them!

best information i was given was that newborn babys tummy is size of a marble, made it seem ok that my milk hadn't come in and that the drops of colostrum i was producing were actually quite filling.
think its already been said, but you do.not need formula until your milk comes in!
that no one else needs to feed your baby, dads can bond with babies over nappy changes and other cuddles.
you don't have to express, feeding straight from the source is the simplest way to do it!

That when baby is first born they may not be hungry enough to be interested in breast feeding. Nobody told me this (including the midwives in the hospital) so I panicked ds was starving and put him on the bottle...for him to barely have any.

That its not the end of the world if you can't do it

Can I add- boobs are amazing! They know when your baby is poorly, when it's hot and all sorts of other amazing stuff.

I was warned that the first 6 weeks would be hard but there are other difficult bits too eg 4 months when they're distracted.

Cabbage leaves really do help with engorgement and blocked ducts!

I hadn't realised how much variation there is in how much the same baby can need to feed for at different ages. For example, when DD was cluster feeding she would feed for an hour on, 20 mins off all day; then later on, she would feed for a few minutes every few hours.

Every time her feeding pattern changed, I would panic that she wasn't getting enough milk and go and see a bf counsellor. Every time, I was told DD's behaviour was normal for that age and it was fine!

So my advice is: (i) chill out; and (ii) consult a bf counsellor!

This is quite specific to me perhaps, but that it is perfectly possible to feed a child from one boob only, if you need to (1 inverted nipple). Strangely, all my hpcs continually questioned whether this was viable, despite my baby thriving!
also nursing strikes at around 4 months, and how to handle that (skin to skin etc - great advice for this on kellymom.)

neon: I suppose mothers with twins manage on only one breast per baby!

That it's worth it - really really tough to start with, but it does get better & pain free & it's totally worth hanging in there. Drink tonnes & your body will produce as much as your baby needs. I feel motivated by a magnet on my fridge that reminds me that every day of breast feeding makes a difference to my baby.

This sounds a bit daft now I'm 22 months down the line but knowing that if your newborn stops feeding and falls asleep then wakes 20 minutes later crying then they're probably just still hungry. I thought that he must have been satisfied to have fallen asleep in the first place so it must be wind! This wasn't helped by the fact that my HV told me that feeding more than every 2 hours was bad for the baby so we had a lot of crying at first until someone pointed out is was all rubbish:-(

atthestrokeoftwelve
It won't cover anything that we haven't been trained to advise, and will be run past our infant feeding specialist who advises and trains us.
It won't be technical at all, just meant as a bit of fun and letting mums know what is normal.

Thankyou so much everyone. Some great ideas here.
Hopefully this thread will be useful to mnetters as well.

A BIG bowl of porridge in the morning (and at other times) helps keep your strength up (and possibly supply).

If you're set on ebf don't panic if your baby has to have a little formula in hospital - DS1 was in NICU with a chest infection and jaundice and I was pumping for Britain but they still insisted on a little formula - I was very upset about it and feel a bit silly now.

Public bf-ing is really worth getting relaxed about - so get whatever gear you need to make you confident although a muslin was all I needed. Once you've mastered it you can go anywhere, it's brilliant.

If you think you're struggling get professional or peer help as soon as possible - like in the first few days after your milk is in, it can make a massive difference.

I found the Jack Newman breast feeding videos really helpful when I couldn't get to a group.

And finally breast feeding twins is possible (although not as easy).

nitsachicken - have you decided what to include? Letting Mums know what is "normal" is even a tricky one- what is "normal" for some women is not for others breastfeeding is a large and varied landscape.
Sorry if I sound that I am raining on your parade- but even telling Mums what is "normal" may exclude some mothers for whom breastfeeding is going well but don't fit into your "normal" criteria.

I think a really useful bit of info is that they cluster feed in order to increase your supply. It's really easy to assume they aren't getting enough milk and top up with formula, but if you do it means you interrupt the supply and demand and won't make that extra milk.

That it's "normal" for every day and night to be different. DD's early growth spurts involved a day of almost non stop feeding followed by a day where she seemed to sleep most of the day.

Not to stress that they only fed an hour ago so they can't possibly be hungry again - yes they can! I found I became more relaxed when I stopped counting feeds and looking at the clock.

Things like this aren't just needed for mums though, the doctors and health visitors need to know what's normal too - or mums end up getting conflicting advice and can make issues worse.