breastfeeding advice please :)

[ghostspirit]

hi i was just wondering. i have read that it can take 2-4 days for breast milk to come in. so does that mean you have to feed baby formula whilst you wait for breast milk to come in?

also how do you make sure you start of on the right foot. i breast fed my daughter but she did nto gain very well and had to go on to bottle feeding. i cried when that happend because i felt so bad. so i want to get as much info and advice as i can before i have this baby. so any tips would be great thank you :)

No before your milk comes in you produce colostrum. Get a copy of baby led breast feeding it'll make everything clear.

Have a look at Kellymom.com, it's good on breastfeeding
kellymom.com/bf/normal/newborn-nursing/

Firstly - the fact that you are keen to try bf again is a great start! Keep up the positive attitude. Bf is hugely helped by 'believing' it is possible. The milk takes a couple of days to come in, but it does start off as soon as baby is born - in a tiny amount. This amount is usually enough for the baby for day 1,2. The baby will constantly suckle at all waking times in the first 2 days. This may seem pointless as there isn't much milk but actually it gets the milk started & the supply is thus adjusted. Hence you just got to keep baby at the breast whenever he/she demands. Even a few good sips will be enough for them at this point. After this you just keep feeding relentlessly. Don't allow for alternatives, just believe its all going to work out - and it will! It does take patience - as babies feed very slowly in early weeks, but it's worth it! Also you may benefit from reading up what diet can help milk production - and try using all those ideas. Being relaxed & confident is very useful too.

Personally, I avoided going our much for the first 6 weeks so that I could bf on demand - and easily (rather than worrying about covering up & timing etc), now I am exclusively feeding at 4.5 months. After the initial few weeks of hard work it really becomes easy & is so much more quicker than the bottle!

Good luck!

i cant stay in would go insane haha. im not worried about feeding whilst out and about i did before think i was just doing it wrong. i done if for 3 months but baby was not gaining weight very well and i was told to give her one bottle a day and see how it gos. and thats what made me think whats the point so i gave up. did not seem much support really

thankyou i the link looks handy to use thanks :)

and oh i thought it was nothing and then suddenly came dont know why i thought that because i breast fed my daughter for 3 months from day one :/ probably forgot things. thanks :)

This article explains really nicely newborn stomach sizes and how they changes in the first few weeks.

I think the best way to get breastfeeding off to a good start is by putting the baby to the breast as much as possible in the beginning. As their tummies are so tiny they need lots of feeding, which also gets your milk supply going. This leaflet is useful for understanding feeding cues in newborns.

Personally, I found the more I understood about how breastfeeding works for both of you, the more confident I was with trusting my body to do it