Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Infant feeding

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

will i be able to feed #2?

27 replies

jessicasmummy · 21/02/2005 17:39

Just found out im pg with #2 but after failing miserabley to feed jess, is it likely ill have the same trouble with #2? jess just couldnt get enough from me and had to go on to bottles on day 5.... i really want to feed the new one for longer! HELP PLEASE!

OP posts:
lockets · 21/02/2005 17:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

jessicasmummy · 21/02/2005 17:44

had nothing in the way of support with jess.... probabyl why i feel it isnt gonna happen 2nd time round!

OP posts:
NotQuiteCockney · 21/02/2005 17:45

How did you know she wasn't getting enough? Did you mixed feed after that? Or just bottles?

It's worth working out what went wrong last time, to the extent you can, to avoid what happened.

It's also worth taking a bf course (generally just an evening) or getting to know your local bf support (bfcs etc, not midwives and health visitors) so that if/when you have problems the second time around, you can get the best support possible.

I'm sure more specialised advice will appear soon.

jessicasmummy · 21/02/2005 17:47

she was permenantly screaming, and even after feeding for 30 minutes from me was still hungry. MW told me to switch and she downed 4oz of formula in one hit. She was solely on bottles from there on in.

OP posts:
NotQuiteCockney · 21/02/2005 17:48

I had moderate problems with DS1 (bad latch, nipple shields, poor gain, feeding for hours, generally somewhat cranky baby), while DS2 is very easy (good latch, good gain, 10-minute feeds, very happy baby), and while some of this is down to classic second-baby stuff, DS2 also had a better arrival, and got to latch on in recovery, rather than waiting 30 hours for his first attempt like DS1.

If I'd had no support, DS1 would have certainly ended up bottle-fed. Thanks to an independent midwife, he was breastfed, but we still had a hard time.

vict17 · 21/02/2005 17:48

It might have been that your milk hadn't come in by day five, and your supply wouldn't have been established by then. My ds fed for hours at a time initially. I only made it to 5 weeks though because of cracked nipples - ouch!

NotQuiteCockney · 21/02/2005 17:49

How was her latch? Was breastfeeding comfortable? Was she swallowing?

Was she wetting nappies before the switch?

Did your breasts get engorged? Did you leak?

jessicasmummy · 21/02/2005 17:50

everything seemed fine, latching fine, swallowing fine, plenty wet nappies and slightly leaky boobs - not massive amounts. maybe i just didnt have enough support?

OP posts:
lockets · 21/02/2005 17:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

NotQuiteCockney · 21/02/2005 17:52

Was there poo?

It sounds like she was fine, you just needed more support. And your milk might not have come in fully yet. How did she arrive, what sort of delivery, if any?

I'd look into local BF support, in the months before your new arrival comes. That way you have people to go see or talk to, if you run into trouble again.

jessicasmummy · 21/02/2005 17:54

yeah, no worries re nappies.

she was a normal vaginal delivery, but wasnt breathing when born so whisked away.... fed her myself in the hospital with no help whatsoever for 45 minutes about an hour and a half after she was born.... maybe contact should have been made sooner?

OP posts:
NotQuiteCockney · 21/02/2005 17:55

DS1 would happily feed for hours in the early days. Half an hour breastfeeding in the very early days isn't that long at all! I would settle in with telly or computer and leave him to it. If you get a sling of some sort, you can feed and still do things with DD.

Good luck, it sounds like you could certainly do it.

lockets · 21/02/2005 17:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

NotQuiteCockney · 21/02/2005 17:57

Her arrival could have made some difference, but it sounds like support and confidence were the big problems. As long as next time your advice comes from a BFC (or here!) rather than a midwife (not that many midwives aren't good on bf, but it can be a bit random), you should be able to do it!

jessicasmummy · 21/02/2005 17:58

yeah - different hospital and different area completely. hoping it will be sooooo much better!!! well i can but try!

OP posts:
tortoiseshell · 21/02/2005 18:01

jessicasmummy - I was concerned about this as well, as ds was on mixed feeding from about 10 days, because of excessive weight loss, not putting it back on and getting really sleepy. I think part of it was just his nature - he didn't take enough milk to stimulate a good supply, so there wasn't very much milk for him, so he got sleepier. He still isn't overly interested in food.

BUT...with dd I was DETERMINED to make it work, if only to prove I could. I felt a real failure with ds, even though I ended up feeding him till 13 months, I didn't manage to exclusively breast feed him at all. Dd is a different character - very motivated by food! But I had a few rules I set myself - feed every 3 hours minimum, day and night for the first few days to really get the supply going - this sounds militant, but it really worked. I also resisted going onto bottles, even though she lost lots of weight as well - having had ds who did that, they were more relaxed about it (they were both huge babies , but smallish children, so I think they were finding their own level). Keep an eye on the nappies as they are the best guideline as to how they're doing - don't worry if they don't poo very often, but in the first few days it should start to go yellow. Wet nappies are very important. Don't assume that if the baby cries and won't settle that it is hungry!

Good luck - I managed to exclusively breast feed dd for 6 months, before introducing solids, and fed up to 14 months. She didn't have ANY formula at all, so it can be done. I don't think I had a huge amount of milk with her either, but was more confident in what I was doing.

tortoiseshell · 21/02/2005 18:03

also, you can get lots of support here on MN. Tiktok is great on breastfeeding, as is mears. The NCT have counsellors you can phone up, and they can come and check your latch etc. Your community midwife should also check as well.

jessicasmummy · 21/02/2005 18:05

thats just it - my midwife here was appaling - neither of them checked my feeding, hospital staff walked out as soon as i started feeding (being first time mum i was scared stiff) and they left me to it and didnt help when i was on the ward either.... discharged me witrh no questions asked.... i think the medical staff failed me more than i was actually a failure... god im angry about it now!

OP posts:
tortoiseshell · 21/02/2005 18:26

What was your community midwife like? Will you have her again? Or could you ask for one who specialises in breastfeeding?

HappyMumof2 · 21/02/2005 18:35

Message withdrawn

tortoiseshell · 21/02/2005 18:36

Something else worth remembering is that I believe all babies will take formula after a breast feed, no matter how much breastmilk they've had. So just because they will drink a bottle of formula, doesn't mean they are not getting enough breastmilk. It's like pudding!

collision · 21/02/2005 18:40

I didnt do well feedind ds1 as I had too much 'advice' from mw in hosp.

However it is going swimmingly well with ds2 as I got all the help I needed here!!

Get yourself a breastpump, I have the electric Medela one as this can increase your supply. Although everyone says it, learn to listen to your body as your baby will get what it needs and your breasts are never empty of milk.

TBH, the main reason I wanted to do well with BFing this time round is because formula is so expensive here in Italy!!

Tiktok and Mears are both brilliant so dont give up.

Congrats BTW

jessicasmummy · 21/02/2005 18:42

ty everyone, i will try and persevere this time and hopefully my new midwife will be really nice and support me - is it worth discussing with her my experiences 1st time round?

OP posts:
Yorkiegirl · 21/02/2005 18:49

Message withdrawn

ChocolateGirl · 21/02/2005 20:27

Same here! I gave up feeding DS1 when he was two weeks old because it was all a nightmare and I just couldn't cope. But I fed ds2 for 9 months and dd1 is still having one breastfeed in the morning and she's 11 months now. So it can work out with subsequent babies.

People have given some really good advice here. I would agree that you should find out your local bfcounsellors - maybe even ring one while you are still pregnant to see if she can give you some tips about how often to feed, what to expect etc. Also, you might feel like you "know" her then if you have to ring her postnatally.

I was recommended to read "Bestfeeding" by Chloe Fisher and Mary Renfrew which is very good. All good advice in there, take it from my bfc! I remember how hard it was to separate the good advice from the bad.

Some midwives and HVs are really good on breastfeeding, others sadly aren't. I was told they don't get that much training, certainly not as much as a bfc, and again it can be hard to separate the good advice from the bad.

Best of luck, sounds to me like you did really well to get to 5 days last time considering how little help and support you had.