Ok - tell me the truth - when did breast feeding get 'easier' for you?!

[mrsjuan]

DD is now nearly 5 weeks I stll don't know if she's hungry or tired when she cries so she ends up with a boob in her mouth for most of the day unless we go out & she falls asleep in the car. She is cluster feeding every evening which has been great the last couple of nights because she's slept for 5 or 6 hours afterwards .
But I still don't feel I know what I'm doing so I'm curious to hear when others actually found it clicked and got easier and how that happened!

I've got a sneaky suspicion that it doesn't get easier and it's all just a ploy to get us to BF for longer!

with my second baby it took 2 weeks to get better, with my first it took 13 weeks.

8 weeks
after that was a dream

With my first it took 12 weeks and my second about 6 weeks.

You are doing FINE.

First baby it took 6 weeks for it to stop being excruciating (bad latch).

After that it was easier (and I perfected the art of phoning/reading/drinking tea at the same time).

But there were growth spurts on and off til 3 mths.

I gritted my teeth to 3 mths, then decided to go for 6mths, extended it to 8 to cover a holiday (easier without bottles etc.) and ended up feeding for a year!

Am still feeding DS2 (2.5) and I am not a martyr, so I promise you it does get better.

I think babies just get generally easier after 3 mths anyway.

Hmm - havent slept for a year - your user name tells a different story!

first baby took about 6 weeks til it was no longer sore.
Second baby took about 4 weeks. Then it was easy as anything!

It's not that it hurts - thank goodness - just the frequency and length of feeds - can't imagine a time when I'll just be able to feed her for half an hour and then get on with something else for a while.

I just keep telling myself that at least i'm not having to make up a bottle each time she cries and I'm saving money on formula!

with DC1 pain went at 4 wks, other probs went completely by 3 mths (but I mix fed for mths 2-3, which prob didn't help)
with DC2 pain went by 2 wks, was really easy by mth 1.
You've done the hardest bit, imo!

About 3 months the first time round.
About a week subsequently.

Actually, I'm none of those people who finds it hard to understand why so many mothers stop bfing at 6 months or so. Isn't that when you know it's downhill from then on, and the really time-consuming part is out of the way?

DD1 no problems by about 4 weeks, she fed and then slept like a dream.

DD2 nightmare from start to (very early) finish. To my eternal shame, I switched to ff by 2 and a bit months. She fretted and fussed at the breast, she seemed to feed non-stop, whilst never seeming satisfied or settled. She also barely slept and left me a grey, washed-out dishrag.

DD3 is 2 weeks old today and is a little star. She does cluster feed during the day and can be feeding seemingly non-stop between 5ish and 9ish on an evening, but she latches on beautifully and sleeps like a top during the night, waking only once. I am determined to persevere this time if things go wrong.

Good luck!!!

Mrsjuan, I am in a very similar situation to you. My DD is 6 weeks and although breastfeeding isn't sore she fusses a lot and feeds constantly. It's really wearing me down and I have just started giving a formula feed at night (While I express) to try and get more sleep. She started feeding at 10am this morning and I didn't get her down to sleep until 2pm. When she wakes up she usually feeds all evening and doesn't go to sleep till 10.30pm.
I actually prefer giving her a bottle. Breastfeeding is not enjoyable for me, but obviously I want what's best for my child. I am seriously thinking about giving up and switching to formula though.

With ds it took me a good 3-4 months to get past the probs and also get my head round being so demanded all the time. But, that latter part wasn't just bf, it was also aclimatising to the reality of mothering a young baby.

With dd I loved bf almost from the start. There were ups and downs, but they were just part and parcel of the experience, not problems IYSWiM?

I never had a problem with breast feeding(know I am very lucky in this and did not really find the demand bit bothered me either as I could walk around cuddling DC and feed as well.
I think the frequency at night was tiring, but that was lack of sleep, not Bf feeding being anymore "difficult" than FF would have been IYSWIM

6-8 weeks was about the time I felt it had got easy I think.

And you are absolutely right about making up bottles etc being a lot more knackering. I bottle fed DS1 with EBM and he had about 50 10ml bottles every evening and I always got the night time ones wrong too - either far too much and had to throw it away, or not enough and a screaming baby.

Yes my username is a bit off-putting I'll admit !

DS2 had bad reflux which meant he didn't sleep at all or slept upright.

Luckily I was able to bf him because my SIL had nightmares with her DD who had the same problems, same meds, but couldn't bf her to comfort her.

Now, nothing much had changed still no real schedule but I'm ok with it. Nights are easier as I'm actually getting some sleep - last night being an exception as we are at 8 weeks and had injections yesterday.

It can be just as hard with bottles though, my best friend bottle fed and she had more problems than I've had!

dxx

3 months. So glad I stuck with it, DS 7 months still bf.

By about 4 months both of my dds were going longer between feeds, were able to be put down to play for a little while and had pretty much stopped cluster feeding. Dd2 is easier i think mainly cos she has dd1 to keep her entertained as well as me. i also kept her in the sling pretty much constantly for the first 8-10 weeks and that seems to have made her more cherful about being put down now.

I think it was about 8 to 10 weeks with no1 and 5 wks with no2. It's not a lie ,but it gets easier and easier. I had a horrendous battle with bfing ds1. Got to 9 months with him, once my local baby cafe sorted me out and we had a few weeks of time consuming feeding out of the way.Had to stop so I wasn't bfing on my wedding day(for logistical reasons) Both of mine were major cluster feeders. I planted myself in a chair every evening for weeks.

I bf ds2 til he was 14months old and even managed to express at work til he was 9mths.
Bfing a "big" baby/toddler is sooooooo easy compared to a newbie! I could prob have just carried on feeding him, but I think my DH was afraid I'd end up in one of those documentaries about "bitty".

Multitasking saved my sanity. I read some really funny books while bfing(and it seemed to help my flow rate too!)

If you saw me in my first few weeks, you would never guess bfing would be something I'd be lucky enough to manage for almost 3 years

oops. TWO years...time flies. It felt like THREE years in those first few weeks!

9 weeks was the breakthrough time for us. DS started coming off the breast of his own accord, and started to go two hours between feeds. Up until this point, he had been either attached or crying.

Then, at 6months, it became a lot easier once he was on solids.

You are doing the hard bit right now, and the rewards will come later.

With ds1 about 8-9 weeks: every feed was agony to that point and don't know what happened to make it suddenly work.
With ds2, day 3, as soon as my milk came in, and he fed almost without interruption, for what felt like several months.

You've done the really hard bit - don't stop before you've reaped the rewards and make it complicated for yourself in a different way! Just think - all you'll need to leave the house for the next five months is your breasts and some sort of nappy changing accoutrements. No worrying about cool bags/kettles/bottle warmers, etc!

It took 16 weeks with ds to really be easy, but after that it was brilliant and I bf to 14 months. So even if it does take a while to "click" it doesn't mean it won't.

(That was pain caused by various issues btw. I found it much easier to anticipate ds's needs after about 8 weeks probably and he started sleeping longer at night at around that time too)