Breastfeeding lying down.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

The night feeds are really knackering me, and last night I dropped baby (onto sofa) which gave us both a hell of a fright. Whilst I am wary about feeding in bed it cannot be any riskier than me faffing about in my sleep carrying baby.

I have read several of the threads on this subject but am struggling with the mechanics of how to actually latch baby on.

Last night I tried out of sheer desperation and kind of latched her on whilst propped up on one elbow so I could use both hands IYSWIM. However, it was quite hard to get from propped up to fully lying down. I found I couldn't latch her on from a totally prone position as I could only use one hand.

Baby is 9 days old so I need to latch her on myself or suffer her sucking on my nipple

Also, how do you feed from the other breast (I am small of nork so have no droopage to assist with this). I don't want baby between me and DP, and I worry that moving her across would wake her and/or I would forget to move her back. Is there anyway I can feed from both breasts whilst remaining lying on the same side?

Long post so in summary:

• how do I latch baby on when properly lying down
• can I feed from both breasts whilst remaining lying on same side

Thanks!

bump

and congratulations

I lie on my side, with one arm under ds and a bf cushion under my arm to help keep it in the ight position iyswim.

For the other side, I lie on my back with ds across my body.

I usually sit up in bed to latch on, then lie down and rearrange.

lie down with bottom arm out and over your head (usually with a pillow in between) and latch baby onto bottom breast
For other one, depends on size. I can tilt my entire body a bit so the baby can reach my breast but sometimes you do just need to roll over.
BTW I found it hard at first, but persevere as it gets easier as they get older & able to move themselves / their heads etc. Now DD is 8 months I can feed her very easily lying down and get loads of sleep - and sometimes she only feeds twice in a night so I just give her the same side both times - she's using it to get back to sleep more than a decent feed anyway

Congrats on baby
Q1 Lay on your side with baby on side too but lying lower see here www.breastfeeding.com/helpme/helpme_images_positioning.html

scroll down

Q2 I find that bloody uncomfortable and just grab, lift and roll.

p s make sure the room is cool and duvet is well placed in case you fall asleep - i do most of the time - also make sure your OH won't roll and squash baby i.e it is best not to feed on his side if that makes sense.

I would lie on my back with my head/ shoulders propped up with a pillow

LO would lie on my tummy with his hands either side of my boob and he would head-bob and latch on himself

When he was teeny I needed to use a folded muslin as a sort of a ramp for him as my boobs were bigger than him

www.biologicalnurturing.com/Pages/howtodoit.html

it was a life saver, I was scared I would slump over on him or drop him in other positions and it was SOO much more comfortable for both of us

Well, after a few days/weeks your new baby (congratulations!) will probably latch on happily in any position. But what I used to do before that happened was to latch on in a cradle hold, and then gradually move into a lying on my side position, baby also lying sideways (tummy to tummy). I would then prop my back with pillows so I could lean back slightly.

Thanks all! Lots of really helpful ideas here - I shall have fun trying them out

Oh and FWIW you were much more help than the midwife in the hospital!

Me: Could you show me how to feed lying down?
MW: You can't do that! You might fall asleep in bed with the baby!

(She failed to notice that I had in fact had the baby in bed with me all night- all though the cleaners noticed me in the morning and proper shouted at me "put that baby back in the crib RIGHT NOW" )

I found that DS flailed around a lot with his arms when I was lying down - swaddling his arms with a muslin made it easier.

I had a HV come to give me some advice on feeding 4 month old DS lying down. She couldn't give me any help on the latch as he was overtired & refused to feed, but she did prop up the mattress at my head end (using a spare cot mattress underneath my mattress) which has really helped. Now I 'drop' more into DS's mouth than I did before.

When I was shown how to feed DS lying down as a newborn, the nursery nurse suggested getting my thumb & finger in a 'V' shape and gripping the breast to make it easier for DS to get it in his mouth. I would hold the V so that the point was towards my head, and the wide part pointing straight down my body (don't know if that makes sense!). Once he was latched on, I'd let go.

Congrats on the new baby. Getting the hang of feeding lying down will probably save your sanity now and in every growth spurt!

have a look at this great page!!

hope it helps

I could never lie down feeding until one day I started feeding sitting up and then lay down with dd still latched on IYSWIM.

Since then I have done it a few more times.

At night I used to prop myself up with some pillows (a v shape one was great) and have dd on a pillow.

this is good too
thetruthaboutbreastfeeding.com/category/research/biological-nurturing/

Feeding while lying down is a livesaver, no doubt about it! Don't worry about rolling on your baby or smothering her - it won't happen. You'll be a lot more atuned to her movements and needs with her in the bed next to you, even if it's just for a few hours a night. You might find Three In A Bed by Deborah Jackson a useful read - if you have time!

I didn't manage this much when DS was really tiny, but we were doing it regularly after he was about 2 months. I found a rolled-up muslin tucked behind him, from the small of his back to his shoulders, a great help, as it positioned him nicely. Eventually, I found that I could flop the top breast into his mouth when he'd finished, but while they're small, the Grab and Roll is your friend - simply embrace the baby and roll on your back to your other side!

Try latching on with a dim light on for the first few times, as it'll help you see where you're going. I got DH to help me latch DS on at first, since he could see from a different viewpoint.

FWIW, the midwives where I gave birth (JR, Oxford) were pushing feeding lying down and offered us bed guards!

They shouted at you??

I see you have had good advice already - just wanted to add that a lovely midwife in hospital told me - and I always found this true - that the baby needs to be much further down your body than you would expect. Their head should be tilted back/up at roughly the same angle as someone standing looking at stars, or fireworks.

When DS was tiny I did the grab and roll, then not sure what age but after a while I did the thing where you kind of roll over towards them, I sort of dangled the other boob at him from above and he latched on like that, I would then use my other arm to prevent myself from actually lying on him. I have small breasts and found this worked best for me.

So does there come a time when baby can latch herself on? At the moment my big issue is I need to do the whole shove the head onto the boob thing or it just does not work...

Definitely comes a time when baby can latch herself on. My DS is now 8 weeks old and can latch himself on so the feeds are a lot drowsier - I sometimes wake properly and think, wow he latched himself on!

The early weeks were more of a struggle, as I had cracked nipples so really needed him to have a good latch so I would help him latch on. Persevere though, as it's great now. The best tip I had from a BFing counsellor was to practice it during the day when neither of you is too tired or the baby too hungry. That way you can tweak as necessary and you'll be more confident during the actual night feeds.

BTW I used to feed lying down on one side only and then sit up for the feed off the other boob as there wasn't space for rolling over (we have only a standard double bed so would have been rolling onto DH!). But I can now just lie on my left and feed him with both boobs on that side. Again, it took practice but we got there.

PS BertieBotts is right about the baby needing to be further down than you'd expect. Again it was much easier once I realised this!

Well, have successfully had some feeds lying down - latch not that great but we'll work on that.

But

I thought the point of lying down to feed in a bed-sharing situation was that mummy and dd shared some special time together as relaxed and in harmony dd latches on and off and neither mummy or dd wakes fully.

Instead

dd lets rip a massively loud wet poo resulting in having to get up, wake up and put on ovrhead lights to allow for forensic removal of poo from dds lady bits. every time.

My Ds latched on by himself from birth. We never managed to feed successfully sitting up but if I lay on my side and had him along side me he'd just help himself!