Random qestion - precisely just how do you breastfeed?!?!

[navyeyelasH]

First of the bat I'm not pregnant and I have no children; I work with children so things child related are more in my mind than most other people IYSWIM?

Anyway, Ive read in here and experienced in real life that BFing can be a bit of a bugger. I come from a long line of FFers but when I do have children I think I would like to BF. But having read the anguish on here if it doesn't work out so be it!

I get the impression it's not this amazing thing that someone just presses the "on" switch and away you go? You don't really get a 'Kum Bay Ya', earth mother, zen hotline to breast feeding goodness?

So just what the buggering hell do you do? And also what is this "My milk finally came in" business - is it not just there magically the minute the baby arrives?

Oh and one last thing, how the hell do you express? It seems like the worlds most impossible task if MN is anything to go by.

Humptynumpty, you're right to say that online support is good now, certainly a lot better than it was 7 years ago when I was first looking into breastfeeding. KellyMom is great and I've had a good look at it since my two were small to try and work out where I went wrong.

There were no NCT or BF groups near me at the time as far as I recall. The antenatal classes at the hospital were all cancelled for building work or something. And the BF volunteers at the hospital when I was there were only there for a short time and I wasn't able to see them before I came out.

My community midwives were lovely but all they generally said was that it was clear I was struggling with BF and if I was absolutely sure I wanted to carry on then it would take lots and lots of effort on my and their side to make it work and lots of weighing visits for the baby etc etc. They just seemed so unenthusiastic and really put me off, but maybe I just didn't try and persevere hard enough past that point. Certainly they seemed relieved when I said I'd decided to switch to fulltime bottle feeding.

I'm sure support is a LOT better than it was 7 years ago, which is why I really think it's a good thing that the OP is looking into it so much - she's aware from Mumsnet threads that women DO actually experience all sorts of problems other than mastitis and sore nipples, and is trying to prepare herself far better than I ever thought was necessary . I think that maybe if I'd done enough reading, as you did, then I might have stood a better chance at success, but I just wasn't aware that all the problems that I experienced existed. I honestly thought that the free NHS booklet was enough preparation and that it would just all happen naturally. [ignoramus emoticon]

So I suppose it's just about eduating yourself by any means possible, both well in advance and also as you're experiencing problems, which is what the OP is trying to do.