ALL THE HELP I CAN GET PLEASE!! :-)

[busyalexsmummy]

Well now on baby no 2!! and am starting to think about b/f, as some of you know, failed misrably(sp) with ds so want all the advice possible to make this time a success.......

Make sure your midwife knows you want to bf and that it didn't work out for you last time. Ask for help and you'll naturally get loads of support here. The breastfeeding network is good for advice etc and phone numbers if you encounter problems (will try to do a link in a minute). You'll need heaps of encouragement, and if it works out this time, that's great. But also, try not to worry too much about it - if it doesn't work for you then that's absolutely fine and your baby will be fine too. You sound determined to give it a good go though, so good luck to you. When is No2 due?

What happened last time, BAM?

Have a look at this site for information, advive, etc

This ones due in nov, so a little while yet!
Last time i had crsap support and have inverted nipples so ds found it really hard to latch on and he would scream and scream, so m/w's ended up telling me hed have to have a bottle of formula (even though he was only just 24 hrs old and he was a healthy 8lb 130z and blood sugars were fine)feel determined this time to not allow formula to be given to him at all, im not sure what rights i have concerning this, or wether they can make me put him on bottles if he hasnt fed for a certain amount of time??

Gosh - that is awful - my community midwives were so supportive of bf - I'd not have had a clue without them. I'm also not sure of rights but I'm sure mears or tiktok will be able to advise here. I'm pretty sure though that if you are determined to bf your baby, then there must be a way to get him/her to latch on well, regardless of inverted nipples. Can you make some calls now, just to put feelers out for advice? I have a very good friend who is a bf expert (is a midwife too), though I don't see her often, but if it would help, I could ask her for you about who to contact for advice etc

brill that would be great xx

BAM, no one can force you to give formula if you do not want to. Of course they can put you under enormous pressure to do so, but a term baby who is fit and well certainly does not normally need formula in the first 24 hours and you can always ask for second and third opinions if your own judgement needs backing up. I suppose there could be a situation where a baby was clearly desperately in need of formula and the mother refused, and I dunno.....maybe they would have to get in a social worker or something.

Inverted nipples can present a real challenge - in your case you should have been helped to express colostrum for your baby while you both got your acts together, with gentle, kind support : (

tiktok, have I heard that nipple shields/breast shells ( not sure which!) can help with inveted nipples?

nipple shields didnt help whatsoever, prob more of a hinderance, as for expressing I was pumping every hr for 20mins as told by the m/w's, i expressed no colostrum, not even a trickle, nor could the m/w's get any out, my milk came in on day 6 after the birth

What I read, busyalexsmummy was that you should wear the shields for the duration of the pregnancy to bring the nipple out, so its easier after the baby is born, but again, I'm not sure whether it was just the ordinary Avent nipple shields or something else. Sorry, not v. helpful!

Alexsmummy, found it on the medela website, its the shells you're supposed to use not the shields.

o i see well i bought some avent nipplettes to wear that bring the nipple out, but you cant wear during pregnancy as they create nipple stimulation so therefor increase the risk of premature birth

oh dear, that wouldn't be good! The only thing i will say is that my ds3 was premature and was tube-fed to begin with, then bottle-fed with ebm but still latched on at 34 weeks, I was pumping all the time. so even if baby doesn't bf initially I would still persevere. Is there a lactation consultant near you?

There is only one paper on this that I am aware of - you might find it on the web. It was called the MAIN trial and endeavoured to find if any antenatal prep helped with flat or inverted nipples. Nothing helped any more than doing nothing, if you get me.

I think in individual cases, though, individual women might feel something has helped....but they may have been equally helped by not doing anything! What is crucial is skilled help after the birth.

BAM, I have heard of one thing that may help. That is to either express by pump or hand (just a little) immediately prior to a feed to help the nipple protrude.
(eg. Though mine aren't inverted, they are a lot larger post express!)

I found these but would still check whether or not they are suitable for pregnancy - IIRC they are ok for the later months, but please confirm that, if you do consider them!

Another thing to bear in mind is that babies feed from the breast rather than the nipple. I mean some specific advice and help regarding latching on may make all the difference. It could be worth starting now to research all of the breastfeeding support available in your area such as a La Leche group or NCT and there might be a breastfeeding counsellor at a local hospital? Just in case there is no-one who can attend at the time you have your baby, they may still be able to show you with dolls/dummy breasts how to best go about latching correctly.

You aren't in Manchester are you? I know of a really good support group there .

Best wishes for breastfeeding this time around. xx

When my milk came in and my boobs were as hard as a rock and starting to get blockages I got great advice from a midwife. Warm the breast - wheat cushion or warm water then I massaged rather vigourously while expressing and expressed till empty and then splashed with cold water.

With DS what helped me to get over the initial painful nipples were breast shells - you can leave your nipples in the air all the time instead of crammed into a moist bra - they heal up and harden up much better.

For nipple confusion which my DS had due to being premmie jaundiced and bottle fed for the first 2 weeks I used nipple shields - he weaned himself off them when he was ready. I know the breast feeding counsellors don't fancy them but 'whatever it takes' right? I ended up feeding DS till he was 16mo.

I followed Gina Ford with DS except for the expressing which I was quite sick of after expressing for the first 4 or so weeks, but with this one (currently 26weeks) I will do the expressing as well I think, at least in the beginning.

Good Luck! HTH.

hmmm, will try the suggestions, this time round so much is going to be different, for a start im going to stay in my pj's for at least 3 weeks, my sis came to visit for a week last time round when ds was 3 weeks old and ended up dragging me round all the tourist attractions!
i just felt it was wrong when i bottle fed as everyone assumed they could take ds off me all the time and give him a bottle and to be honest i dont think i bonded with him properly till he was about 4 weeks old

What was your sis thinking? does she have children? Def agree with staying in PJs, it sends the right signal to others too that you've just had a baby and need looking after!

God knows, she hasnt got children if she had gone thru it she prob would be incapacitated(sp) for 6 months!!!lol
when ds was 6 weeks old she brought her dp down and they dragged me up jacobs ladder in cheddar(a huge step climb) with a hefty 12lb ds strapped to my front in a sling on a boiling hot day!!!!!
the entire time she was down i didnt get to feed my son, push the pram etc etc, she tried to be there for the birth but luckily i was 16 days overdue and so she couldnt book time off work(not that i would have let her in the delivery room!!!)

I so want to make b/f work this time round, i dont want the hassle of sterilising and making up feeds and the cost etc and I want to bond with my baby before everyone else gets theyre ore in!

Hi BAM. Was talking to my friend who is also a midwife and delivered ds2 last year (not the lactation consultant one who I will hopefully catch up with soon). Anyway, I mentioned your problem to her and she said that now is a good time to start preparing and you can buy something in Boots called breast shells (not nipple shields) which you can wear inside your bra - at night would be a good time. They are dome shaped and apparently over time, should start to draw the nipple out. Also, nearer the time, there is something called a 'niplette' which is something which I believe may look a little odd, but works by creating a vacuum to bring the nipple out. Friend who delivered ds2 says other friend (lactation consultant)may even have some spare as she is often sent samples of this type of thing, so I will see what I can do. I will call her soon - just don't want her to think that's the only reason - more of a prompt for me to call my friend!! You've probably done me a favour - yes I'll call her and maybe even arrange to see her in the hols if she has some time off. hth anyway.

hi busyalexsmummy
I have one inverted nipple and have breastfad both of my dd. Both were at least nine months when we changed to formula so I know a wee bit. With DD1 it never occured to me that there would be a problem until I gor to hospital! DD1 would not feed and i had a host of people sentmy the midwives to help me, eventually the breastfeeding co-ordinator herself took over. The hopital were reluctant to let me use the nipple shield but finally i used them and never looked back my dd1 bf fine. Cat if i can help. lots of luck.

I had really inverted nipples & had a lot of problems with latching on BUT successfully breastfed all four babies to 15 months old (one at a time, obviously!). The biggest help I got was from an NCT breastfeeding counsellor who came to my house to watch me feed & made sure the baby was in the right position. You need to make sure they are under the nipple & not face onto it IYSWIM.