All advice for breast feeding and pumps needed please

[ItTakesAVillage97]

So I have 6 weeks left until I'm due and I just want all advice on breastfeeding and pumping please this is my second baby my first I breastfed and pumped but struggled with it due to malnutrition on my part and lack of support and ended up loosing my supply when he was around 6 months i really want this to work this time and any advice would be massively appreciated from latching to breast pumps I've already started leaking colostrum so I'm quite happy there something going on there I want to exclusively breast feed for the first few weeks so we can both get the hang of it then eventually express aswell as breastfeed so my partner can also feed so I can do other bits aswell as i just want to be as prepared as I can be and if I need to come look back on things I can just jump on here and have a read thank you so much!

Only 6 months into this journey but here are my tips

• eat and drink plenty of water. Pregnancy hunger has nothing on the amount I’m eating these days.
• Do not follow feed the baby every 3-4 hours. Feed when they are hungry. For the 1st few weeks mine was cluster feeding like mad but it was what was needed.
• Pumping doesn’t work for everyone but a proper fitting flange is key. If you are struggling hot compress can help. Also some say looking at photos helps but I found that having a onesie that smelled like DS worked better.
• use bottles that will not cause bottle preference. That means they should have a slow drip and the nipple should not have much deadspace when you put your fingers around it in a triangle shape.
• pump from the start (unless like me you have an oversupply, then be careful with pumping too early as you can cause it to be worse).
• you might need to try various positions till you find one that works. I had a fast and powerful letdown so had to lean back during feedings early on till DS could handle it.
• if you give him a bottle pump at the same time so that your supply maintains
• even if it was going well it can all go pear shaped around 3-4 months as they become super distracted when feeding. Just keep going it does get better and eventually feeds will take less than 10 mins.
• when weaning be careful to try and maintain your supply or have a stash. DS got a nasty virus like 4 weeks into weaning that caused blisters all over his mouth so he would only have milk and even that was a struggle. Luckily I had kept my pumping schedule up so I still had enough milk supply for him to be only nursing that week.

Echo what PP said, some solid advice there. Personally I expressed from the get go and just built up a stash once I was actually expressing something to freeze. DD had a bottle now and again from early on and still takes bottle or breast now nearly 9 months on. That being said, there have been times she has preferred a bottle OR breast at various points. I think this is normal, just not everyone uses both bottles & breast so there is less documented about it. Really recommend lansinoh bottles, pace feeding is worth looking into as well. Well fitting flange is so important and they don’t usually come with the correct size, I’ve ended up with elastic nipples so had to go up flange size a few times. Most importantly just remember, fed is best and you need to be as rested as you can be for both your kids so try not to get too stressed about it xx