Things you wish you'd known before starting to bf

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No doubt this has been done before, but I am keen to get off to a good start with sprog #1.

I was wondering whether some of the mavens here had any tips - in particular I wanted to know what are the major things to look out for/do/avoid that scupper bfing for so many women.

TIA.

And that even if you do have to give formula in the hospital (as I did - DS lost too much weight and I had to exclusively bottle feed to fatten him up until the docs would let us leave, my milk hadn't come in after emergency C section, etc etc...) it's still possible to do plenty of BF. After 11 weeks, he only gets about 4-8oz of formula a day, and that's only to give me a break!

After five days DS wouldn't latch on at all, but a lovely nurse showed me how to do 'biological nurturing', and he got the hang of it immediately.

Yes, it does hurt. But when you get it right, you'll know!

I wish I'd known that babies don't read the breastfeeding books. Everything about getting a baby to latch etc, how he would respond, how to get him to open his mouth - no one told him that.

I wish I'd known that natural doesn't mean that it comes naturally.

And I wish I'd known that 'if it hurts take him off and latch again' is all very well and good, but if it's 3am and it took over half an hour to latch him on in the first place, it's easier to stay there and sob in agony instead.

Gosh I'm miserable! Have to say though that DS is now 11 months and still fully breastfed, never had a drop of formula. Took a good 3-4 months before it was pain-free or remotely easy or natural though.

What Mrs T30 said - while the books all say that if it hurts you are doing it wrong, I found it hurt for the first few weeks and I got cracked nipples even when doing it properly. If you can get through that part, it will be fine. I would have cried with relief to know that I would be breastfeeding without pain after a few (5-6) weeks.

The midwife at the time when asked for help just told me "It's fine if she gets a bit of blood". Great, thanks for that, said I, flinching involuntarily whenever my baby came near my breasts, taking paracetamol, endeavouring to breathe through the pain, and praying she didn't need to feed again, already.

How I got through it - Lansinoh (wonderful stuff), learning to express, so I could spend a few days expressing here and there and let myself heal enough to bear having her on the breast again, and learning a couple of new holds so it wasn't always the same parts of me that were being aggravated.

Keep at it - I came really close to giving up, but am glad I didn't!

Gosh where do I start. That it would not be as easy as it seems, might need some help with latching on. It can take a while before bf is established, not necessarily straight away, might need to try for a while. That when you express it will not be as much. Take the weight charts flogged by HPs with a pince of salt, they are based on bottle fed babies who tend to be heavier. You have to look at the overall health of the baby not just the weight to see if they are taking enough milk, enough wet or poo nappies, alert happy etc. Lastly sigh, that a green poo is not necessarily a bad thing and does not necessarily mean that they are not taking enough.

They dont tell you this in antenatal classes do they. Well they dident in mine.

I liked the lansinoh pads as they are big, flat and hold a lot. At the start, when your nipples are a bit sore, I used to squeeze a big blob of lansinoh cream into the middle of the pad and then fold the pad over and smear it around - then place pad on nipple. This is definitely more gentle than trying to smear (thick and toffee-like) lansinoh on already tender nipples

That you would have boobs like Jordan when your milk comes in and struggle to stand up straight thanks to the two mellons where your chest used to be!

• have the phone numbers for breastfeeding support line handy

- keep perseverence handy for when it doesn't work at first - chocolate, oatcakes and bananas for handy snacks - take snacks to bed so when you wake up for 5th time that night you can eat something without going down to the kitchen - get set up w remote control, water glass by sofa, muslin - invest in seriously comfy pj's - buy a widgey cushion (mothercare.com) - saved my life! - get lots of sleep so your milk supply is good quality - don't overdose on cheese / cabbage / lentils unless you want to a very windy bubba - consider a probiotic (baby will get some of probiotic benefit)

• try out the express and steriliser kit before birth... saves a lot of aggravation later

Good luck! Its lovely.

Get a breastfeeding cushion. For me it has been the My Brest Friend. Really helps plus allowed me to at least have one hand free (see next point).

Most people, and all the pictures, feed holding the baby with one arm so the other is free for picking up cups of tea etc. I as a larger-breasted feeder found I had to support the breast with my hand to keep it in the right place for feeding. That meant that if I was holding DS with the other arm, I was stranded and unable to even scratch my nose. This is where the cushion became invaluable, as then I could lay DS on his side on the cushion and didn't need my arm to hold him up - I do usually put my arm around him, but that's different as I can then at least move it to hold a cup, change channels etc. Depending on your figure, don't feel bad if you can't bf while also doing complicated hand manoeuvres too.

Store up lots of stuff you can watch during the long feeding hours. If you have a Sky+ box or equivalent, fill it up. You'll have plenty of time to get through it all and it saves you being stuck with whatever crap TV is on. Do not underestimate how much time you will spend feeding and thus wanting background entertainment!

If you do want baby to be able to take a bottle, time this carefully. I was advised to do it at about 6 weeks after supply had been established but before DS got much older - I did, and he has always been fine with a bottle.

You will v likely be ravenous. Get whoever is helping you to buy in copious amounts of chocolate and other snacks you can eat easily that will give you energy. Also have these for while you're in hospital - I was starving after every night feed and eating chocolates and biscuits like a woman possessed all night. Didn't help that the hospital food wasn't great or abundant!

Everyone's said this already but you will end up feeding LOADS; it will seem like you barely stop before you start again. Don't worry about this and don't be freaked by people saying 'Oh my goodness, is s/he feeding AGAIN?' The baby will judge when s/he's hungry, no-one else!

Oh, and yes, go to a breastfeeding group. It will get you out of the house but without being in a situation where you feel weird about feeding.

On that note, you will get used to feeding in public over time, but also don't feel bad about feeling embarrassed to begin with. It's not right for everyone to go out and feed in crowded areas right away. I didn't feed in front of my dad for several months after DS was born as I was just not comfortable yet with it - now, though, I do.