Any top tips on Breast feeding / what you wish you had known beforehand ?

[EnchantingRaven]

Hi all

I’m currently 36 weeks pregnant and hoping to ebf my LO and she’ll be our first baby.

I’m sure this is normal but I feel like I have absolutely no idea what to expect / how I’m going to cope! I’ve been reading a lot online and watched some videos on YouTube which there seems to be a lot of focus on the ‘latch’ & ensuring it’s right.

Does anybody have tips or advice of what you found useful when you just started breast feeding / getting the latch right? Is it clear you can hear the baby sucking and then swallowing? (Sorry if that’s a stupid question)

Does it hurt? I’ve read conflicting info some say it’s toe curling others not so much, is this more so down to everyone being different?

I’m also hoping to express milk so my DP can bond with her too and I can have precious sleep too!, I understand you shouldn’t really do this for a few weeks which is fine but again, any tips on how to cope with feeding on demand? Is it literally whenever she needs it so there’s no limit I can feed her? My HV came around at 28 weeks and told me it will literally feel like I’m BF all day for 8 weeks! (I’ve bought nipple cream and nipple shields incase they become sore.) I wish I asked my HV more questions but I’ve had HG throughout this pregnancy and wasn’t particularly feeling great when she was here so I’m kicking myself now.

I’m really excited to meet her but I’m really worried I’m not going to be able to get the breast feeding right! Any other tips / advice would be great too

TIA

[Kbarned]

Yeah latch is ok and doing the nappy change now which is helping. Now just trying to deal with my painful nipples. Using tons of lanolin but still cracked and sore and baby drinks every hour which does not help.

[BertieBotts]

K you need to get a feed observed by someone who is experienced with breastfeeding. Are you still under midwife care? Lanolin sounds good. Glad you have been able to wake baby up with nappy change :) How is weight regain going?

[PorridgeLove]

Not sure if this was mentioned already. With DC1 , I wish I had known about cluster feeding. It basically means that baby wants to feed all the time for hours and then sleeps for a longish stretch. It was really shocking when DC1 did not want to get off the boob for what felt like an eternity.

[BeHereNowx32]

@PorridgeLove my baby is a cluster feeder. Makes me want to give up sometimes! Did you feel like that it eases off and baby got more of a feeding routine?

[Lovingit81]

I breastfed my DS until 2 and am still feeding my 17month old. My best bits of advice are:

1. Just because it's natural doesn't mean it's easy! Persevere at the start if you can. It's bloody exhausting, a bit painful and a real faff and then something just kicks in and you get it!

1. Make sure you have food, drink and flicker before you settle down to feed...you could be there a long time.

1. Lying down feeding is a godsend...learn how to do it from the start. It will make life a lot nicer, especially at night.

1. If your baby seems satisfied and is growing well don't question whether it's going well. It clearly is. It wasn't until my second that I realised I just breed small babies. Plenty of people told me to formula feed to make them bigger. I'm so glad I trusted my own instincts.

1. Get in touch with la leche. Don't always trust your GP has up to date info on breastfeeding.

1. Most importantly cherish every moment of it. It goes too fast and the memories will keep you warm forever. ❤️

[le42]

Sorry to hijack OP but as there are so many BF mums on here...

I started my period after 6 weeks, and had another one two weeks later and I can feel another one is coming at 11 weeks, I'm gutted.

My nipples and boobs are so so sore, like a throbbing pain, not something lanolin would cure. Has anyone else experienced this and did anything help? I'm currently dreading feeds and my DS seems to be on a permanent growth spurt and feeds more than he did as a newborn ☹️

[Smotheroffive]

I really feel for you! That sounds horrid. I haven't experienced sore and throbbing boobs. Have the occasional minor blocked duct which I rubbed out straight away before anything developed. Do you feel well? But I can't think why both boobs would be sore and throbbing!

Are they filling and emptying ok?

I really hope someone might recognise those signs and be able to offer some advice for you.

II wonder if your period showing up so early might be due to the amount of milk production? Do you pump also to help build your supply?

[le42]

@Smotheroffive Thank you for post! I believe it's definitely linked to my period as I always had sore boobs prior, it's just intensified with BF.

As far as I'm aware production is good, DS is tracking on 80th percentile soon reason to think my supply is low. I do pump occasionally.

[BertieBotts]

le I would start a new thread in the infant feeding section as you will probably get more replies.

[Smotheroffive]

Ah, well you cleared it up for yourself then!!

The percentile itself doesn't indicate amount of milk, babies can be destined to be on 8th, 25th, 90th, 100th! It's all about matching the baby's demand whatever the centile, and yes, lack of supply can mean they will not achieve their centile,or drop centiles. I have had friends who have multiple babies, and some are just small, but they're constantly mythered by MWs, HV about their centiles

Thankfully they're not worried by the mytherers!

[Smotheroffive]

What do you usually use to help with throbbing and soreness? If anything?

Just unlucky I guess that you started your periods so soon after!

[PorridgeLove]

@BeHereNowx32: With DC1, we introduced expressed milks at 14 weeks. That took care of the cluster feed. To be fair, the cluster feed had become shorter and less frequent after 8 weeks. I also think that part of it was day/night confusion and that I could have managed it better by feeding more often during the day, even if it meant shorter naps.

DC2 is a newborn and also has day/night confusion and cluster feeds at midnight. This time, I am going to work on the day/night thing first.

Good luck!

[BeHereNowx32]

@PorridgeLove yeah, our little one cluster feeds more at night. She can be up from 2am. We do give formula too, but she prefers to feed from me.

Definitely want to introduce a day/ night routine! Pass on tips for that too if you have any 😅 thanks

[annlee3817]

One thing I didn’t factor in was that DH could help, when I struggled to get dd to latch on my rather full boob, he had watched how the midwifes confidently almost shoved her on my boob, his confidence with that was really helpful to me in the first couple of weeks in the moments that I was really struggling.

With me the latch would really hurt for the first thirty seconds, no tongue tie or anything like that, breastfeeding experts were all happy with how she was feeding, it just did hurt for more than a few seconds, eased off after two weeks and got so much better.

Snacks close by, drinks within easy reach and the tv remote for those days when it really is all about siting with your boob out :)

Echoing what someone else said about different holds, I found laying on my side with her laying next to me really good in the beginning until I got more confident .

[PurpleFlower1983]

I would say don’t rush out of hospital, if there is support there it will give you a great start. I went home very quickly and EBF for a week thinking all was going fine until day 5 when my little girl had lost 9.4% of her body weight. Turns out the latch was poor.