breastfeeding

[lmckean]

Hi there
Would really appreciate and like you to share any experiences of breastfeeding in the beginning and whether you felt more comfertable in the hospital under close midwife instruction or whether you felt more comfertable at home?
Also in your personal experiences did you want to stay longer in hospital for breastfeeding support or did you have more support at home?
Any responses are greatly appreciated.

i personally found hospital crap for breastfeeding support. Midwife walked in grabbed my boobs and shoved them in dds mouth and left. I had an independant midwife and so on ce i got home, she was an angel showing me what to do in my own home, in my own time, encouraging me to unlatch and re-try and try until i was comfortable etc. I know this is a luxury some cannot have but breastfeeding support workers, la leche, breastfeeding groups and cafes. all were far more help than the hospital. In my experince they were too busy to teach me how to breastfeed merely shove baby on and get on with the next job.

oh and when my DD cried on the ward they told me is hould use formula as "that baby has been crying on and off for 5 hours do you know?". I squirted colostrum out at midwife and told them she was getting all she needed thanks very much!

In hospital my boobs were grabbed and manhandled by midwives, I made to feel guilty because my crying baby was keeping all the mothers in my ward awake (they were all FF),I had no privacy as the curtains HAD to be kept open apparently and DD was taken away and I suspect given formula so that I could sleep. Result=she only latched on once when the breastfeeding counsellor came around, but I was so eager to get out of there I never got the help I needed and she never latched on again. I pumped for three weeks without any support and ended up with bad mastitus, PND and a strong sense of failure.

Second time around I gave birth at home and he latched on instantly. We managed four days this time before I couldnt cope with the pain of bleeding nipples and the excruciating afterpains. I wasnt offered any support this time but I felt much more comfortable and relaxed this time around and feel much more positive about the whole business.

I found that it depended on the midwife who answered my buzzer
some were excellent, patient, brought me cups of water, and just waited with me whilst DS took his own sweet time to latch on. a couple did the 'ram his head onto the breast' thing, which he did NOT appreciate.
immediately after he was born, we did skin to skin, and he was rooting after about 20 minutes, and the midwife suggested trying to latch him on, which I did, and he fed quite happily for 10 mins, so perhaps i was just lucky to have a hungry baby!

make sure you have skin to skin as soon as baby is born. Ds and i were left all morning having skin to skin and I am sure that helped with breastfeeding.

I had dd in hospital and had limited breastfeeding support - basically they saw her feed once and then left me to it. After a few days of struggling with it at home, I was helped by the community mw's who visit after baby was born. I found them to be much more patient and they really helped me.

Ds was born at home and thankfully he latched on straightaway so they saw him feed before they left.

Definately do skin to skin straight away, and for as long as possible - it's amazing to watch your baby start to root around for your breast, and don't be too tough on yourself. It's a new skill that needs to be learnt. It will take time, it may be painful at first and you could feel like giving up. Stick with it - put your baby on the breast loads over the first few days to stimulate supply and bring your milk in. Good luck.

Why do you ask? Are you expecting or are you writing a report?

Hi there
I am actually a mother of 2. Both of my children were breastfed and I found the support I recieved at home was much more benefitial as It was more relaxed on a one to one basis with the midwife. I am actually a student midwife in my first year and we are preparing a casual debate on the subject. I was very interested to find out about personal experiences of others.
Thanks

I gave birth the 3rd time in a small mw-led unit. I had no probs bf but another woman did. A mw sat up with her for hours through the night helping her, bringing cups of tea, supporting. It was incredible. By sunrise the baby was feeding. I've never experienced such dedication.

But, I suppose it was just luck that there was no-one else who needed her at that time.

With my first, I was in for 3 days and after baby latched on after birth no one bothered me about breast feeding again, had no idea if I was doing it right or not. I carried on and it all worked fine.

2nd baby I was in for 6 hours, again baby latched on and that was it but going home so early was a nightmare, I didn't make enough to time to concentrate on breastfeeding and slipped back into daily life too quickly, it ended badly and I ended up FF after 2 months or so.

This time I'm staying in hospital longer, even if I have little breastfeeding support I will still have uninterrupted time with my baby without having to worry about my other 2 DC and normal day to day stuff. I'm determined for it work out this time.

Thankyou so much for all of your posts so far!

In hospital I found that with DD they were itching to give her FF straightaway - while I was in recovery. I asked if she was hypoglycaemic, they said no, so I said she could wait then. I was v drowsy after a hideous crash CS.

With DS they were a bit keener on BF but the 'help' again consisted of shoving my breast into his mouth. I struggled as he was sleepy and weak at feeding and lost lots of weight, was topped up for a while.

All credit for me succeeding with bF this time was due to my own research, and mumsnet support and support from friends made on yahoo email groups. My HV was understanding of my need/wish to continue BF but didn't care how we got the weight back on tbh.

DD1 was a CS as she was undiagnosed breech. She was latched on by the tried and tested 'grab mums boob and babies head and shove together' routine. I was also offered formula to keep her quiet as she was keeping the other mothers awake (all ffing)
I heard one mother gently persuaded into giving up bfing as it was 2am and her stitches hurt, the MW kept offering formula until she gave in.
Was very difficult and stressful but I managed to feed ehr for a year, mainly due to me being stubborn in the hospital as I had no practical support at all.

DD2 was natural birth, born onto the bed and I was the only one to touch her for the first 10 minutes. Immediate skin to skin, immediate feeding and I fed her for 20 months with no issues. I didn't ask for or need any advice as I knew I couldn't depend on having it.

I wasnt pushed into FF'ing by the mw's-quite the contrary. I had support in hospital and at home and still struggled. Being at home was better though as my sofa was comfier

With DC3 we actually stayed in hospital 5 days after his birth due to him having an infection.

I must admit I found him the easiest of the three to establish bf with. I think it was because all I had to focus on while in hospital was feeding him. Help was there if I needed it but I did have to be assertive about them giving him formula.

Because he had an infection he was too drowsy to be awake enough to latch on so initally they gave him a bottle (it had been several hours since his birth and his blood sugars were dropping quickly). A few hours later they appeared again with another bottle - I had to tell them I didn't want him to have it as I was going to bf. So they then gave him a feeding tube until the anti-biotics kicked in and I could get him to latch on.

Other times I would say the amount of support was about the same in and out of hospital. Not much in either place really ime. I just worked it out for myself! With a bit of help on the phone from NCT/Le Leche League.

My first experience was horrendous. My DS was a ventouse delivery and barely latched on yet my notes say that he was feeding well. We were not allowed to leave hospital until he was given formula for jaundice and were told to top up all feeds with formula. My milk didn't come in for 6 days and by day 8 he was FF.

My DD in contrast latched on immediately, fed well and the midwives left us to it and we went home 10 hours later with no mention of formula but most of that was due to research I had done when pregnant and I went in armed with info that if she needed any artificial feeding it was only to be with consent from me and had to be via a tube.

This time I am having a private delivery and am planning on spending 2 days in hospital in my own room doing nothing but feeding and I have chosen a midwife with good BF experience so am confident that my wishes will be supported.

I had very good support in the hospital and was happy with that. I did not want to be discharged early-hadn't been feeling so good myself in either pregnancy, so felt I needed support.

There were problems- dd was not very well- but hospital was dedicated to overcoming them.

Things did go bad after we got home- again, not due to lack of support, midwives and HVs ere excellent, but because of dd's genetic condition, which we did not know about at the time.

Also, had support from hospital breastfeeding counsellor (at home and after we got admitted to hospital for failure to thrive)- again, very good and helpful.

Have to say, they were all very good, and I couldn't put one lot over the other.

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences! x

Brilliant thread, I want to bf dc2 who is due in January. I ff dd as that is what I wanted to do but this time I really want to try bf.

If any midwife grabs my boob and shoves it in dc2's mouth they will be shouted at!! I am hoping to do research and ask people before hand about how they did it. I want as little help as possible.

I must say that when I had dd my choice to ff wasnt questioned once and the midwives happily bought me in as much SMA as we needed - I wonder how helpful they would have been if I had been breast feeding...

Just had DC3 and the hospital seems to have improved since DC1 and 2 6 and 5 years ago. I have been lucky with 3 good feeders but I noticed a lot more support for 1st time mums this time. The midwives are busy, but there were more HCAs and nursery nurses, and even 1 of the domestics was like having a helpful aunt / granny starting by making encouraging comments, then I saw her sitting with someone offering a bit of advice.

I think it would be great if any member of staff who has bf or wants to support bf could be trained on hospital policy and could then help rather than everything being left to a small number of midwives who have so many other things to do too,

I found mw a pain also when ds was attached they would come over tell me I am doing it wrong because too much nipple is showing so they would pull boob out of ds mouth and then put it in so that the attachment was text book.

But due to my large nipples he would choke they would try a second time and then give up and tell me they wouldn't let me home until they had seen me do it properly.

In the end I attached him the way they wanted to even though it was agony and smiled and said no pain when I took him off I had a big red welt but they let me home where everything was great. Considering my attachment was so wrong I fed him for 21/2 years without many problems.

I definitely found the hv and family more supportive as in while I was stuck to settee they brought me things and entertained me.

I was refused any help in hospital with a jaundiced and sleepy baby post em cs. They just offered formula repeatedly. The woman who changed the beds heard me crying and came and sat with me. She was a Mum and came back several times that day to help me feed dd. I owe her my breastfeeding relationship with dd.

Hello all,
Im probably panicking (especially at such an early stage)
Im in my 1st trimester and my boobs are sore, especially the nipple and although i plan to breast feed Ive kind of given up on the idea already as I can not foresee it happening with sore boobs - do ur boobs become less sensitive near birth?

I gave birth to my DD in a midwife-led part of a hospital, and the midwife who delivered my baby just suggested I try latching DD on, and she latched on fine and fed like she'd been feeding for months already. The midwife was quite hands-off, which was fine by me. Don't know what would have happened if I had had any problems - I got the feeling she would have come back and helped.

I was then lucky enough not to have any problems once I got home (that same day) but again, the midwives and health visitors always asked how BF was going and I expect they would have helped.

Good luck with your student training, OP.

HCarra - your boobs will probably feel completely different just after you've given birth - for a start, they will have colostrum in them, and then a few days afterwards, your milk will come in and they will feel different again. So I really wouldn't make up your mind now about whether or not you are going to breast feed. In fact, you don't actually have to decide until the day your DC is born! My boobs weren't particularly sore, and remember that they are designed for breastfeeding, and many people manage to BF successfully and painlessly.

You could also start a separate thread to see about others' experiences, as people might not see your question here (as the main thread is a student midwife asking for people to share their experiences of help from midwifes in establishing breast feeding). There will be lots of people willing to share their thoughts and I'm sure some people will have felt the same as you.