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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

A word of encouragement for those contemplating breastfeeding, but a bit worried about it...

33 replies

sushistar · 27/03/2008 19:43

...because that was my situation 4 months ago. I'd read so much about mastitis and thrush, about bleeding nipples and agony, incorrect latch etc etc etc...

I know some people have a hard time, but i thought it would be good for once to have a thread about it going right! Ds latched on literally less than a minute after he was born, and we both took to feeding like ducks to water. he's been exclusively breastfed since then and he's 4 months on sunday. We have had NO physical problems at all. Not even any pain. I found the first 2 weeks tough cos he fed all the time, but that was more about me than the feeding itself. Overall it's been really really wonderful, and i'm a bit sad i'll be weaning him in 2 months!

I don't want to discount any of the struggles people do go through but i wanted to encourage any prospective bfeeders lurking on this board - it's not necessarily difficult, sometimes ... it just works!

OP posts:
beansprout · 27/03/2008 19:45

Well done! But why do you have to wean him in 2 months? You can introduce solids and still b/feed. They are reliant on milk for quite a while to come...

Original poster
sushistar · 27/03/2008 19:47

Yeah, by 'wean' i meant introduce solids - is that the wrong word?

OP posts:
beansprout · 27/03/2008 20:07

No, not at all, sorry I misunderstood!

weeonion · 27/03/2008 20:18

sushi - i know what you mean about hearign the difficulties but if there is the right support to get started and deal with any of the difficulties you list above- then it can be a really really lovely thing. dd is 11mths and we are still going strong. it is now teh times in the day when she settles and we get cuddling close again. i am so so so glad i kept going with it and have some fond memories of special feeds that i never imagined would happen.

Original poster
sushistar · 27/03/2008 20:59

I know, weeonion, that the difficulties can be overcome. I guess when i was pregnant and reading about bfeeding on mumsnet, there was so many people asking for help that it seemed like most people had problems with bfeeding most of the time, and it scared me! But i thought it would be good if the lucky people like me who have had not a single one of the problems talked about it too - just so the board is a bit more representative for prospective/new breastfeeders? Not to dismiss the difficulties of course, but maybe to show not everyone is unlucky enough to have to deal with them!

OP posts:
pruners · 27/03/2008 21:07

Message withdrawn

mooki · 27/03/2008 21:22

Me and my daughter and my boobs have got on well . She started life on the 2nd centile and cruised up to the 25th after a few weeks.

I asked for lots of help and advice in the first month as wasn't sure I was doing things right and had some great support online and from local breastfeeding clinic.

It hasn't ever been painful (except when DD gets distracted and turns her head without letting go!) and we're only just introducing solids now at 6 months.

I do feel like we've been very lucky though.

Martha200 · 27/03/2008 21:47

Well, I have had some problems (which I have bored the site with no doubt at times) but it must be going right somewhere because I am now in a situation I am waiting to hear from a hospital if they can collect my milk to be a donor.. now that is something I never in a million years imagined doing, yet somehow I am so amazed I can BF this time I feel it only right I pass on some milk around to the parents of premature babies who would like it

Tea71 · 27/03/2008 21:51

Yes, what a lovely thread!
I was determined to mix feed when I was pregnant (scared off by stories of mastitis, painful nipples and not being sure if my baby would be getting enough milk).
When the midwife brought dd over to me for a feed after the birth I didn't want to put her on breast but the midwife made me. dd took to it like a duck to water and I was surprised by how 'natural' it felt and how easy it was. 10 months on, and we're still going strong. Never had any problems (apart from the first time I breastfed in public) and the nipple cream I bought remains unopened. Both myself and dd owe a lot to the midwife.

To anyone contemplating but worried: give it a try and like me, you may be surprised.

LyraSilvertongue · 27/03/2008 21:56

Great idea for a thread.
I found it easy too. I had some pain in the first week or so but other than one bout of mastitis, I fed Ds1 and DS2 hassle free for 14 months and 20 months respectively.
There aren't enough positive BF stories on MN imo.

ChocolateHobnob · 28/03/2008 09:50

Hi,

Sushi, I read the scary stories too and was scared. I think it's useful to know what can go wrong, ie it can hurt, you can get mastitis, etc, to counter what I was told at NCT classes (it's easy, natural and the only way, which is not necessarily true) but it's also good to hear reallife positive stories. I was terrified of bf DD and yet I've had no pain and it hasn't been at all inconvenient - she's 4 months now and feeds 5 times a day. I know I'm lucky. But I agree - we do need to say the good things too!

Porpoise · 28/03/2008 10:01

This is REALLY interesting.

I often have to write about breastfeeding. For the first articles I wrote (way back in the mists of time), I was very firmly told that I had to present bfing in a 'gosh it's all so easy and natural' light - so we wouldn't put people off trying.

More recently, the line has changed to 'you must acknowledge that a signficant number of women do find it difficult at first' - so we wouldn't put people off persevering if it got tough.

I wonder which approach is really more helpful?

Sabire · 28/03/2008 10:02

"When the midwife brought dd over to me for a feed after the birth I didn't want to put her on breast but the midwife made me"

I have heard of midwives simply putting newborn baby skin to skin near mums boobs without asking her how she's feeding her baby - very often instinct takes over for mum and she goes on to breastfeed, even if she hadn't intended to initially.

I think mums do need to be told that 'dysfunctional' breastfeeding is not the norm if women are properly supported to get breastfeeding off to a good start.

ImPinkThereforeImSpam · 28/03/2008 10:07

Loving the positive thread!

moondog · 28/03/2008 10:10

Great to hear.
Porpoise,I think the most helpful thing is to point people in the right direction for expert advice which sadly does not usually come from those we expect to deliver it (ie HVs and MWs)

VictorianSqualor · 28/03/2008 10:14

What a good idea for a thread.

I was really lucky with DS, had the really tiring growth spurt at about 6 weeks and mastitis at about 4/5 months but apart from that everything was a breeze.

Can't wait to do it again, I love the thoguht of my new baby snuffling against me like a truffle pig looking for my milk

sarahloumadam · 28/03/2008 10:14

My HV told me that it made her nipples bleed and kept harping on about how difficult it was but that it was best for baby. My mum had a very rose-tinted view of it "you just latched on and away we went" - no mention of growth spurts etc! There has to be a middle ground! You need to know that cluster-feeding, growth spurts etc are normal but that once you and the baby have found your way bfeeding can be fab. Mumsnet and Kellymom kept me on the straight and narrow .

Porpoise · 28/03/2008 10:15

Couldn't agree more, moondog!

But is tricky.

Most publications have 'expert advisors' who are, by definition, almost always midwives or health visitors. (And who are mostly darn good). They will not brook the idea of colleagues who won't/don't know how to be supportive of bf.

I always recommend other helplines/websites but have no control about what is subbed out.

ExtraFancy · 28/03/2008 10:18

My 8mo DS is also exclusively BF (apart from solids, obv ) and, apart from a bit of pain on latching for the first 10 days or so, it'a been easy and lovely and I am SO glad I can do it. If he wakes in the night, I can 'boob' him back to sleep in minutes!

I have large breasts (36J) and flat nipples, but a bit of experimenting with positions and latch meant that neither were a problem

moondog · 28/03/2008 10:37

Porpoise,yes ,there are fab MWs and HVs out there ( I had notihng but 100% expert guidance from mine) but how can your colleagues deny the fact that so many of 6their^ colleagues know fuck all??

A great story would be to collate some of the appalling advice meted out as documented on MN and present it as the state of the nation so to speak.

A sort of shock expose.

Porpoise · 28/03/2008 10:38

God, would I love to do that, moondog!

I would never work again, though...

moondog · 28/03/2008 10:39

But what is the issue?
It would make a terrific story and it would all be anonymous.

I suspect you work for one of the fluffy publications then???

Porpoise · 28/03/2008 10:43

I'll work for whoever'll have me

No, you see, fluffy parenting mags wouldn't run a story like that in a month of Sundays - they'd never 'attack' midwives/HVs (as they would see it) because they depend on them so much for material/advice.

And IME newspapers wouldn't run it either because it's too niche - only of interest to (in their view) the tiny number of their readers who are bfing.

moondog · 28/03/2008 10:44

It';s not niche though is it,breastfeeding?

Guardian???

Porpoise · 28/03/2008 10:48

Can see it working as a general 'look how much crappy advice new mothers get' article - incorporating weaning, too.

Hmmm...