Can I have your thoughts on breast feeding?

[Crazycowlady2]

I'm pregnant with my second child and I'm just thinking about breast feeding this time round. I'd just like to get everyone's views on it. What did you like about it? What didn't you like? If anyone tried it and stopped and why?

Thankyou in advance girlys xx

I bf my first and mixed fed my second (tongue tie). I persevered with bf my second although we problems because tbh I am pretty lazy and the thought of having to prepare bottles every morning and get up in the night was too much for me.

For me the big benefits of bf (apart from cost, health etc.. which you can read about and make up your own mind on) is I am not a routine person or naturally organised and I don't like to get out of bed in the night.

So I coslept and fed in bed and I only needed to keep a small bag with a spare nappy and change of clothes and we were good to go during the day as I always had milk on tap so to speak

If you bf imho you put in the work at the beginning (first 6 weeks give or take) but then it's pretty easy.

I also found it pretty easy to express once bf was established (feed from one side and express from the other) so was able to go out without dc and carry on bf when I went back to work too.

At the end of the day it's a completely personal choice, we are all different and so are our babies.

Echo what @chillimum said, be prepared that it may be difficult/painful in the beginning. BUT I am sooo much less tired this time around, as I don’t have to get up in the night. I’m also not an organised person, so having milk on tap means that I don’t have to make sure I have washed/sterilised/packed/cooled milk and all the extra prep bottle feeding takes. It is a godsend, and I feel robbed that I couldn’t do it last time! Being able to leave the house without all of the bottlefeeding paraphernalia is quite liberating! 😅

Do you think it would be beneficial to feed baby off bottle sometimes with my breast milk so that they don't have to be so reliant on me?

It depends, I am happy to have baby with me all the time and find the reliance on me lovely. However, lots of people do a mixture of pumping and feeding and it seems to work well. I would say just try it, and take it one day at a time. I wanted to give up so much for the first few weeks, but it honestly makes life so much easier.

I liked how instant it is. Baby cries and there drinking milk in seconds. No need to be prepared with bottles etc when leaving the house
Great in the night!
Less washing up / sterilising
Never worried about running out of milk
Selfishly loved the cuddles all the time
Easy to comfort them

Hated the pain at first and how you just feed non stop for eight weeks.
Hated the dependency and how I would have to pump ahead for a few hours off and then pump during.
It's not as filling so you wake more in the night
They use you as a dummy!

On balance I would BF again, but I would possibly introduce a bottle of formula in the evenings so I could go to bed!

I bf dc1 for 9 months and I’m currently feeding (literally!) dc2 who is 6 months.

I’ve been lucky in that it’s been relatively easy for me, no major issues apart from very sore cracked nipples at the beginning (nearly stopped me but persevere is worth it)

Pros:
So convenient- no worrying about taking bottles out etc, no trudging downstairs in the middle of the night.
Super quick and easy way of settling upset baby
Free!! (Genuinely don’t know why more people don’t do it for this reason alone)
Easy way to get baby back to sleep at night, even easier if you co sleep and feed lying down

Cons:
The initial pain
Partner can’t do it (although get them to take a bottle from early on and you can still have your rest/freedom)
IME breastfed babies wake more frequently and take longer to sleep through so expect to be tired
Can’t wear all the lovely summer dresses in my wardrobe as they aren’t bf friendly

IMO the pros outweigh the cons, but I know some people find it harder than I have so this is purely my experience.

Good luck x

Oh and some advice which I gave myself after stressing with dc1 - if you want to give baby a bottle but struggle to express (I did) then the odd bottle of formula isn’t going to hurt!

I bf my son for 14 months and I loved how easy and convenient it was. No bottle washing up, and I didn't have to take anything extra with me when we went out.

It was really rough for the first six weeks just as we were both working out what to do, thankfully our HV was great and I had a breastfeeding specialist come and visit which helped a lot! So if you do decide to try it, don't be afraid to ask for lots of professional help!

I enjoyed having my baby reliant on me, although my husband did want to feed him occasionally and he wasn't that keen on a bottle. Next time I think I'd just go straight to a beaker with expressed milk or formula and not even try the bottle!

The only real con for me was that I had a bit of anxiety about what he'd have when I went back to work when he was 9/10 months. In the end he had pre made formula from a sippy cup and breastfed when I got home.

I loved breastfeeding- it's just so convenient!