What did you wish someone had told you about breastfeeding?

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that at least you get to sit down and good for getting out of the washing up!

That seeing two big brown eyes smiling up at you as you feed your baby is the closest thing to heaven you'll experience while alive [mushy]

the beautiful smell of a breastfed baby's breath

Message withdrawn

to get a sling

and certain other things I can't say on here

That you can get pg while bf

even if you stick your head in the sand

oh and sometimes, it hurts like feck cos it does, that is life, and its ok after a week or two. (and sometimes, lurkers, it is Bad Positining and so you must always go to your GP or HV if it hurts, to be on the safe side-but sometimes it does just vanish)

Oh crap loads of things. That actually, chances are no one will give you a hard time for feeding a baby in public. That its quite possible to make a sandwich and play trains while bf. That actually, odds are you will miss bf once you stop

lots of things

Filly, you got pregnant while simultaneously breastfeeding and sticking your head in the sand?

Respect.

That it might not come naturally.
That if it's not going well you can get help, but you must ask for it.
That your GP might not know much about it and you should ask other mums where to turn to.
That it is SO worth sticking with - can take a very little to make it come right.

well, I don't want to boast about dh but...

I was thinking more of what must be your yoga style bendiness

ok, must go and die now

cheerio MN!

pardon?

That you're not a freak if you can't get your baby latched on correctly at first. That if you don't it will hurt like hell for a while.

That it may not necessarily feel absolutely wonderful to start with (for me it took several months and a kick up the backside), you may not necessarily get a huge rush of hormones and feel euphoric. BUt that doesn't mean you're a freak either.

Its ok to feed anywhere and everywhere you want and most people won't be able to figure out what you're doing anyway (took me several months to figure this out)

that I would still be doing it when she was 21mths old and my niples would STILL hurt.

That the first six weeks or so is basically just breastfeeding.

That you shouldn't expect any medical professionals to know anything whatsoever about it, on the contrary, they are very dangerous as they think they know about it, so if you have problems, steer well clear and just head straight for a properly trained bf counsellor.

Just how HUGE your norks get when the milk comes in. I complained to my sis that I looked like Dolly Parton, but she said Pammy Anderson which made me feel a bit better.

Also, there is no advice in books on how to stop BF and switch to bottle (once DS1 was 9 months ... DS2 is 14 months & still no sign of stopping)

1. That it is bloody difficult for the first few days, and you will sit in hospital with no milk and a hungry baby looking at the bottle feeding mums whose babies are sleeping happily and feel ridiculously jealous
2. That your milk can spray all over the place
3. That a letdown reflex is really uncomfortable and can happen anytime anyplace
4. That it soon becomes easy for you and the baby and it is worth the work in the first few days

That if you're finding it hard, you shouldn't just suffer and worry but ask for expert help - however many times (I saw two breastfeeding counsellors and have asked a zillion questions on MN - without which I would have given up long ago).

Agree with Scaryecaligula, that professionals don't know it all, often haven't even BF themselves!!!!

That you can (usually) supplement a formula bottle to get some peace/healing/5 hours sleep, My DS2 was just too big and too hungry for me to feed myself, but we got along fine with BF plus 3 formula bottles a day.though this doesn't work for everyone and, consequently-

That baby may never take a bottle if he doesn't have one before twelve weeks. My BF feels that mums should all be told this the minute they have given birth, as she had to BF her DD for 18 months, and had wanted to stop at 9!

And finally, that there's no point feeding if it makes you miserable! Formula is designed for babies, whatever midwives say!

That it can sometimes make you go all sleepy and you will be good for nothing afterwards.

That you don't have to do it
That it may not feel like the most wonderful bonding experience ever and you shouldn't feel like a failure if you hate it.

That it doesn't actually harm your child if you don't do it, that it hurts, that it isn't something that happens instantly and more something you have to work to achieve

(sorry franny. flu jab. all calpol'd up now )

That it is not a good idea to go back for your first shift at work and forget to put breastpads in and realise that you have a huge wet stain around your left breast area whilst speaking to several consultants,registrars and patients....oh the mortification....

Oh and that formula feeding is not near as dammit.

that once you get used to bf it's the easiest thing in the world. That took me 3 months, but when my son went onto bottles at 7 months I was never prepared and often had him screaming whilst I waited for 1 to sterilise. Never had that problem with bf!