Breastfeeding Advice

[HaNNaHC92]

I'm 39w with my 3rd baby. I intend on attempting breastfeeding again. With my first two children I lasted 2 weeks on both on them. I went into it not having a clue and was trying so hard to get it right I ended up getting it so wrong. This time I do have a breastfeeding support workers number but I just had a question or two beforehand hoping someone can answer for me. During one session do I feed off both breasts or do I just use, for example, the left side and on the next feed go with the right side? And how long do I keep baby attached to me to feed (I never know what sort of time frame is "right". I remember in the time I was breastfeeding (my daughter) she would sometimes be feeding, or appear to be for 50 mins or thereabouts and that was one side. I'd really appreciate any help or pointers and hoping I don't sound to dull in asking my questions. Tia.

I used to feed off one side, and then offer the other as well. So both sides for one feed.

Lengths of feeds really varied, my youngest was a
Real fast efficient feeder and would feed in 5-10
Min.
My eldest would happily feed for 40-80 min for one session.

The both got faster as they got older.

Facebook page breastfeeding yummy mummies is fab for this and the website Kellymom as well.
Sadly, despite BFing for years and year I actually can’t even think of the right answer to your question. It’s been too many years since I BF a tiny. I think you offer one side at a time when they are teeny but I may be wrong.
One thing that’s reassuring is that a baby’s tummy is literally as small as a thimble in the early days so please don’t worry about them not “getting enough” before your milk comes in. All the sucking they do is like putting in their order for milk and not because they’re starving. So try not to worry. And good luck

Offer both. To be honest my second son had left then right then left then right - it went on and on and on. But try to remember which was first and offer the other first next time - so you drain each one fully across two feeds.

Hold them to you as long as they're still feeding. I think officials guidance is 15 mins in each side but they will start to fuss when flow is reduced and that's when you move them over.

It is normal for them to do a minute then be done or an hour and then done. Most things are normal.

One side, burp and then the other side. This might go on for some time, especially in the evening. And, for me it lasted anywhere between 20mins and 1.5hours at a time. My son was latched on about 8 hours a day in total (I used to track it on an app). Try researching cluster feeding and the 4th trimester. I found the breastfeeding support group UK on Facebook to be very helpful, even just to lurk on and pick up tips.

I don’t think there’s necessarily any hard and fast rules because there’s a huge variation in what is actually normal. If in doubt, go with what the baby seems to want at the time.

The midwives said to me it was best to offer both sides each feed, but I found that usually mine were full/asleep after one side so I just did one side per feed.

Re timing, I was told that a feed was anywhere between 5 and 45 minutes. I found it varied a lot between my two children and also as they got older/the milk supply established.

Hi OP, trainee breastfeeding counsellor here. Congratulations on your pregnancy and it’s lovely to hear you plan to give breastfeeding another go.

To answer your questions:

• offer both sides at every feed. This is important for establishing supply. Baby might not want both sides at every feed and that’s fine but it is important to offer. Start the next feed on the boob you finished on so they both get equally stimulated. The more milk removed and the more often milk removed the more milk your breasts will produce.

• there is no “right” amount of time to have a baby latched. Be guided by your baby (unless very sleepy or weight not gaining as expected when you may need to wake them to feed / encourage them to feed a little longer in the early days). Generally though babies and breasts are all totally different so you might have one baby whose mum has a fast let down and generous milk storage capacity who can get a full feed in 10 mins and another baby who will get the same amount of milk but it might take 20 mins. Both would be totally normal. This article is a good explanation of why it’s good to be guided by your baby rather than the clock:

www.emmapickettbreastfeedingsupport.com/twitter-and-blog/the-dangerous-game-of-the-feeding-interval-obsession

In terms of preparation I would recommend the ABM free online mini course:
courses.abm.support/courses/team-baby-getting-ready-to-breastfeed/

The National Breastfeeding Helpline is very good and they have a chat function too where you can ask questions and get support: www.nationalbreastfeedinghelpline.org.uk/

Breastfeeding Support and Information UK is a great Facebook support group and it may also be worth finding one local to you.

As a PP said, Kellymom.com is great for evidence based info as is breastfeeding.support/

You are absolutely doing the right thing asking questions and getting prepared! Good luck op!