Enormous Norks and breastfeeding

[CricketSoph]

I have absolutely enormous norks (was 36G pre-preg, now, at 41 +4, 40L is looking too tight ).
I have been trying to look for books/websites that have pictures/suggestions for breastfeeding positions for the overly amply endowed but all I can find are the usual "tummy to tummy" pictures of women no bigger than a DD cup - and perky with it . I have spoken to a NCT BF counsellor and she suggested that tummy to tummy probaby won't work so well for me... though that might be more to do with sagginess rather than size . I'm booked in to be induced on Friday and I'm concerned that I will end up being trapped in hosp with no access to specialist advice and I wanted to do a bit of homework/research in advance.
Can anyone suggest any websites/books that might have some suggestions or even just pictures of the rugby ball hold? Also any ideas on where to source bigger nursing bras than an L cup...

[purplemonkeydishwasher]

qhat great links! i wish i knew about those sites when i had just started BF.

[ZamMummy]

Just wanted to add about nursing bras for those of us who are blessed(?) with huge boobs - I was a 38G/H when DS was wee, he's now 5.5months and I've gone down to a 36F (thank God). As I live in Zambia where there are no nursing bras at all and no other bras bigger than a C/D cup (why?), internet shopping is my best friend. So I heartily recommend this US site which is run by a LLL consultant and they sell wonderful underwired nursing bras!! by Anita which I have found the best of all.
Clotheswise this site is excellent - actually some tops I am happy to be seen wearing in public!
Best of luck Cricket, bring on the Ashes! (and you'll be able to watch them while bf - cricket is the perfect accompaniment)

[Lio]

Best of luck CricketSoph, look forward to seeing your birth announcement

[belgianmama]

All the best with the bf'ing once your lo is there cricket. Do hang in there if it doesn't go easily in the beginning, as you can see from all the other posters: it is possible & it will all get easy with time.
All the best

[belgianmama]

Millie, that winter coat thing sounds v familiar. I went from a 34b to a 34f whent bf'ing & had to wear a coat 2 sizes bigger just to accomodate my ample chest. Although 34f is nothing compared to all you ladies' chests! I can imagine that nursing bras aren't very supportive for larger breasts.

[Lio]

Hi CricketSoph, have had a quick squiz and don't think I have much to add except that it CAN be done! I use a thin (rather than plump) feather-filled pillow and support the breast as JackieNo says BUT get a b/f counsellor to watch you do it as you need to be v careful about avoiding mastitis. As an aside, are you OK with being induced? Don't want to poke my nose in if it is fine by you, but if not let me know (I will check this thread tomorrow) - it is your right not to be induced if you choose.

By the way, can you find out NOW who your b'f counsellor is? Get head of the game, as it were.

[Milliee]

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[Swizzler]

Also have large norks (34H) and large nipples - DS can't get all the aureloa in his muth but doesn;t seem to be a problem.

If you find a properly supportive nursing bra, let me know! Best I've found so far are the Royce ones, but they're not great.

[maewest]

Just to add - I was feeding in a busy M&S cafe today with DS tucked neatly under my top, when an older lady (late 60s?) came over and said to me... "That's a very lucky baby, well done" . The rest of the world was just not bothered.

[cornflakegirl]

I think maybe the difficulty with feeding when laying down is that you're less mobile - so when the baby is v small and also less mobile, it can be harder to get your breast exactly where the baby needs it. Obviously this just gets worse if the breast is bigger and somewhat less than perky... My son had trouble latching to start with, and had to be positioned pretty exactly - more of a two-handed job

Once the baby is big enough to move themselves to the breast (around 3/4 months? I don't really remember), this stops being an issue...

[MrsSpoon]

Looks like size isn't a problem when feeding lying down. I remember my midwife explaining to me that was the reason I was finding b/feeding lying down difficult (not that I was that big, practically 'twinkle norks' in comparison to some of the sizes mentioned here ).

[Pitchounette]

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[cornflakegirl]

I'm a 36 Jish and haven't really had a problem at all with feeding. Pretty much always have to support my breast (except when lying down). But apart from that, I didn't encounter any problems that were just to do with the size of my breasts.

There are major advantages though! When feeding in bed, I don't have to swap DS to the other side of me to feed from the other breast - just roll myself a little and it flops into his reach! Now that he's older (17m) and has latching sussed, if I'm feeding him in a sitting position, I don't always turn him round when he wants to switch sides (about every 30 seconds) - because he can pretty much reach either side. And his favourite position (standing on the floor while I'm sat on the sofa) is also greatly facilitated by my having norks already so close to the floor! Oh - and I can feed him in his car seat with greater ease than those with smaller breasts

Nursing bras are poo though. Hard to get, no choice, and your breasts end up under your armpits...

[WigWamBam]

I was 48K when I was breastfeeding ... which qualifies as pretty enormous!

I used pillows a lot - to start with I found a V-shaped pillow with another pillow underneath the end dd's head was at worked well, and I got on very well with the rugby ball hold and feeding lying down. Eventually I got the hang of putting my knee up, sometimes on my other leg, sometimes on a stool, and resting dd on it. She would lie quite flat on her back - I realise this goes against everything that the midwives will tell you, but dd hated being "tummy to mummy", and it actually worked much better for both of us to feed her lying flat. We still had plenty of cuddles and eye contact, just in a way that suited us far better.

It can be difficult to do discreetly when you're out, and I have to say that I didn't routinely feed in public, but I could and did do it when I had to. I remember going out for the day once and needing to feed dd sat at a picnic table - I put a rucksack on the table, made it soft with a fleece, and dd lay on that to feed her. It must have looked really odd but it worked!

There's a nursing bra goes up to 40L here - looks like quite a nice one, and a bit more supportive than some of the larger-cupped nursing bras can be.

[MrsApron]

udderly yours boob support pillows are supposedly the dogs for big boobers. Mine don't quite qualify but have heard great things about them from the well endowed lot

here

[Lio]

Californifrau has alerted me to this! I am similarly well off in the bra dept and will reply properly when dc are asleep...

[Pitchounette]

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[Pitchounette]

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[cece]

'did using nipple shields not affect your supply and was it difficult to get rid of them once babies mouths were big enough?'

well yes and no.

DD wouldn't give them up and I used them for whole 8 months.

DS was fine and took to the nipple fine when he was 4 months old.

They never seemed to effect my supply though... Maybe I was just lucky. The mw were all full of dire warnings because I was using them.

[mrsmalumbas]

Try this one by la leche league

and \link {http://www.plus-size-pregnancy.org/NursingWhenWellEndowedFAQ.html\nursing for the well endowed}

The second link also has some great info on SPD if anyone is interested

FWIW my norks are huge too and the biggest problem I had was very fast and furious letdown and copious milk supply, as well as not-very-big nipples which made it hard for DD to latch on. In fact I never did very well with DD1 but did great with DD2 - still nursing at 27 months!

I never found the football hold very good for me but I did find the soft "boppy" nursing pillow excellent, that and nursing sitting up in bed with both of us propped up by masses of pillows.

As she got bigger and the head-to-nork ratio evened out it all got easier! Softer and less engorged boobs are also easier to cope with - I found it was just a case of hanging on in there during those early weeks really. I just kept saying to myself "if we can just get to 2 weeks ...if we can just get to 4 weeks ...if we can just get to 8 weeks ...and so on until it all sort of worked itself out.

Now she is bigger I only ever nurse when we are both lying down i.e snuggling up just before bed - sitting up just doesn't work anymore. But in the early days I just found her head too small and her neck not strong enough to enable her to feed succesfully in this position - I think she was about 6 months old before we worked this one out.

Good luck!!!!!

[crimplene]

Cricket - I sit with my legs apart and then rest the ankle of one leg on the knee of the other. I then put ds on the folded up leg with his head at the knee end with a blanket under his head and then use the hand on the side I'm feeding from to support the boob and the other to hold the ankle from slipping off the knee. Does that make more sense?

[Cazwa]

Im 36J and BF with a 3 months DD and did find it hard at first, but easy now. The pictures of postures dont quite relate to having massive norks. I struggled for the first 2 weeks just using pillows then got a V shaped cushion the cushion which was a godsend.

Rugby ball worked great for me on one side that I had lots of difficulty with because of soft boobs (AKA saggy) and a small nipple, the other side was no probs. Took me a while to get the hang of not suffocating my DD with my boobs, I was really paranoid at first that she couldtn breathe but you dont have to watch them the whole time, you can hear it when their nostrils are blocked.

Out and about was more problematic for me than my friends with smaller ones I found. They were able to cradle their babies in the arm they were feeding with and have one hand free. I found that I didnt have enough space between that arm and my breast for DD's head to fit without the whole boob covering her head like a jellyfish! I now use a sling that sits under the pram, fold it over till it makes a little pillow under her head on my lap and lean over her, with one hand holding my BFboob and the other on her back leaning her in to me.

Sounds complicated but you find ways of making it work.

This site is brilliant by the way with lots more tips:
www.plus-size-pregnancy.org/NursingWhenWellEndowedFAQ.html

[hoxtonchick]

i used the rugby hold a lot when both mine were tiny. or another adaptation that worked well was to have the baby sitting on a cushion next to me on a sofa, very upright. not sure how i invented that one....

[CricketSoph]

thank you all so much - to be honest i was feeling a bit like a freak and its great to find that there's a crowd of us. Not only that but to find out that it might be possible bf in public (I had given up all hope that discretion would be possible as well!).
Sorry if i'm being thick but question for maewest and crimpline; when you say you hold the ankle, do you mean YOUR ankle (as opposed to DC) - so sort of like cross legged but with only one leg?

[crimplene]

maewest - I'm glad I'm not the only one! DS wants to sit up to feed, but I find it less comfortable, perhaps I should persist? it would be handy not to need to find cushions all the time.

I understood the tummy-to-tummy thing to as much of a principal then a position. The idea being that it's much harder for a baby to feed with a twist in their neck, so they really need their whole body to face you. It's more a matter of getting LO lined up so they are at a reasonable angle in relation to your boob and not twisted round.

Cricket - I bet the midwives will have plenty of experience as there are lots of women with smaller cup sizes who are fat and the problems are much the same according to a couple of friends of mine who are midwives. Just keep pestering them as much as you need to.