Establishing breastfeeding

[AngeK]

Can anyone explain to me what 'establishing breastfeeding' actually means? Does it mean the end of leaking boobs and your milk supply dwindling at the slightest hint of exertion or stress? I've been breastfeeding for 4 weeks; how will I know when it's been established???

DS is 1yo and had his last BF night before his birthday .
Establishing breastfeeding in my book, is getting it going, building up your supply and feeding your baby succesfully. If this isn't it, then not sure what I thought I was doing for a whole year, but hopefully something right .

Sounds like you are both doing a fab job IMHO and would say you've def established it at 4 weeks if you have a happy healthy baby, putting on weight, feeding well and wet nappies.

I suppose for me it was when my boobs weren't getting engorged, no leaking, stopped wearing breast pads and the whole supply & demand thing seemed more sorted. Probably happened around 8 weeks or so.

I think it's when you settle down & start thinking about other stuff & generally living rather than just surviving & doing nothing but bfing...can vary from person to person.

For me it vaguely started around 6 weeks when DS finally started feeding direct from me...but I know I didn't really feel like everything was brill & properly 'established' until I stopped expressing just in case he rejected me again & he finally fed on both sides without a nipple shield between us - at 4 months

i'd like to know the answer to this too!

i wouldn't say it's established by 4wks though cos if you were to drop some feeds for any reason i think you'd prob find you would affect your supply, but if you dropped some feeds at say 7mths, your supply would just adjust but not run out?

I reckon it is when you are having no pain/discomfort, no hassle breastfeeding. You can go out with friends and pop bubba on with no drama, as required ... Bubba knows what they are doing and so do you. I remember going for a walk with my family along the beach when DS2 was just a week or so old and trying to pop him on while sitting on a bench. He was so small - relatively, and inexperienced and I had to do quite a bit of fiddling around to get things going and my DH disappeared with DS1 and I felt v exposed - I guess BFing wasn't quite established - even though I was an experienced BFer from DS1 who I fed until 16mths old.

I'm wondering too if it means that your milk supply is more stable. At the moment if I forget to drink enough water or rest between feeds or don't eat enough I really notice that I don't have as much milk. It won't always be like this will it?

I'd say it was when you are both very comfortable with breastfeeding and feeding times dont become a "gulp! let's do it" kind of thing, IYKWIM.

AngeK - what are your noticing that makes you think you don't have enough milk? Honestly, how much you drink or rest doesn't affect your milk supply - only how you will feel in yourself. BM supply is guided by how much your baby feeds. If milk is removed from the breast then it gets a signal telling it that more is needed & so it makes more milk.

I would agree with Liath. supply and demand is sorted, your body has got used to producing what your baby needs and you're no longer in the engorgement, over production stage that you get while your body is figuring it all out and baby is getting supply established.

also agree with this by caz:
i wouldn't say it's established by 4wks though cos if you were to drop some feeds for any reason i think you'd prob find you would affect your supply, but if you dropped some feeds at say 7mths, your supply would just adjust but not run out?

it is one of those things that you just can't "know" when it has happened. it isn't an exact science, just one of those things that happens greadually and is li,kely to vary from woman to woman

terramum - almost every book I've read says that a good diet and plenty of water help with milk supply - but then I also know mums who produce masses of milk no matter what. Actually, I don't think that it's a low milk supply that I have, I think LO is going through a bit of a growth spurt and that's why I'm feeling a bit 'empty'. I seem to have more milk again today!

Can you remember which books AngeK? You'd be surprised how many don't have very accurate/just plain wrong information about bfing or are written by people with minimal or even no bfing training

See here for info on how milk supply works:
www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/index.html

& this article from LLL about nutrition for bfing mums is interesting/useful:
www.llli.org/NB/NBMarApr04p44.html

The books are almost too numerous to mention - the Baby Whisperer is one and also Optimum Nutrition before, during and after pregnancy by Patrick Holford. Also, I'm living in Switzerland at the moment and the midwives tell you to make sure you rest and drink plenty of water (2-3 litres) in the early days. Fennel tea is frequently prescribed for increasing milk and you can buy a special breastfeeding tea from any chemist, and homeopathic remedies are also popular.

I know not everyone agrees that rest and fluid intake affect BF, but I have definitely noticed that I make more milk on days when I'm well rested and 'watered'.

I hate to speak ill of the dead, but Tracey Hogg's books are not well received (& that's putting it mildly!) by most BFCs I know & apparently her books contain a lot of misleading and sometimes totally wrong information about bfing. I attended an LLL workshop a few years ago that had a talk specifically on countering information from certain books including hers....
Kellymom has a review of the book you might find interesting:
www.kellymom.com/store/reviews/review_babywhisperer.html

What kinds of things change on days when you are rested & watered?

I just feel that I have more milk for my baby, and when I express the evening bottle, I'm able to get more off. It's not just me though... all my BF friends say the same thing.