What's it like to breastfeed?

[justanotheryoungmother]

I'm currently 32 weeks pregnant with my first, and I'm swaying towards trying breastfeeding, but I don't know anyone who has done it. I was wondering if you have done it, what were your experiences and was it easier to do than bottle feed (if you have experience in both)?

Thank you for any replies

Oh yes, and I'd compare the let down feeling to being like having a wee when you really need one, or, if you've ever been a smoker, that feeling of nicotine spreading round your bloodstream. It's almost addictive!

I personally found it easy, pain free and quite frankly amazing!! I'm still feeding my 9 month old yet feel it appropriate to wean him off when he turns 1 but I will miss it sooo much.

Go for it! Be determined to make it work. Expect cluster feeding it's completely normal.

ALSO .... it's brilliant soother when your baby has a bump, jabs or his just sad it's instant relief rather than trying to calm them down

I breastfed my premmie twins until they were 18 months and my toddler until he was also 18 months. None of them would take formula, so the only bottles they had were expressed milk. I loved breastfeeding and - once we got established - I found it convenient and much easier than bottle feeding (bearing in mind that I had to express first to bottle feed so breast feeding cut out that step!). Particularly with the twins, I set myself little goals and re-evaluated when I reached each of them - 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months. Once we hit 6 months I knew we would continue until the boys all self weaned as it was just our routine by then. Give it a try. Set yourself reasonable goals. Get your partner and family onside to give you support and encouragement.

It's not easy.
There are so much conflicting advice out there.
I had my 1st at 32 and like you, didn't really know anyone who had done it.
I remember my mum had breast fed my sister (I was 9) but that's not the same.

I knew I wanted to try, & husband was supportive of this.

My boy was prem and ended up in nicu for a few days. I was lucky the midwives were very good and helped me start pumping the day after he was born (they tube fed formula until I had had pumped) and once he was back on ward they helped me get him latched.
I fed on demand....and boy did he demand!
There were days I felt all I had done was sit there and feed.
This settled after a few weeks.
I learnt it's normal to cluster feed - especially on an eve, but every baby is different.
My eldest settled in to a routine quickly. Every 2 hours, then 3 then 4 as time went on. He did good sleeps (11pm to 5am) early on. Wake for another feed then back to bed until 8/9am.
My youngest fed every 3 hours day and night no matter what from day 1 until he was 6 months!

Don't get me wrong, some days it was hard, I mean sat on sofa crying and begging husband to go buy formula hard.
My husband kept me going though, just try one more feed. Go take a nap now and I will bring him up when he's ready for next feed. Supportive comments (he's growing well, your doing this, here have chocolate lol!)

The other side to this is its soooooo easy once your doing it. No bottles to wash just pop out a boob and jobs done.
It can be a comfort thing. Both mine would have a bit of boob if they were grumpy/ill/board and it sorted them.
They fell asleep great on the boob - they had many naps on me which was so nice - lots of baby cuddles.

It took me a long time to feed in public though. Maybe 4+ months before I was comfortable feeding outside the house.
Got too comfey though - Sat in Nandos after shopping with my mate with him on the boob waiting for my food lol!
Sat in playgym with mates with youngest on boob drinking coffee....he got fed where ever from birth.

It''s a roller coster of emotions but do try, and make sure you ask for help - even from twitter/mums net if you need it.

Although lucky to have very positive birth, I found bf horrendous from day 2 till about day 10, until my poor nipples & I got the hang of it. I remember just sitting & silently crying in agony whilst ds fed. But after that it was ace. So convenient, cheap, lazy, comforting; loved it. I made error of immediately latching him on & letting him feed for hours, before my milk had come in. Probably not using a deep enough latch. My nipples were raw. Also I got mastitis, which feels like your tits are full of itchy concrete that is on fire. Ouch. My advice; read up, talk to mums, get good advice on latching & positions, maybe persevere for a few days if it isn't perfect immediately & if it's not for you then use bottles. Do whatever makes you happiest- that is what is most important. You will be doing a great job, however you choose to feed your baby.

I think reading a bit about it and visiting your local bf support group is a good idea because you have to learn to trust your own body and your baby. I had a lot of trouble establishing feeding at first and eventually had to give up on one side as had an inverted nipple that was impossible to latch on to and difficult to pump from. Fed my dd from one side only perfectly well from then on. She was ill and in hospital at 9m and couldn't feed / I was v stressed and everything stopped then, I was devastated but she was fine. It was convenient, comforting for both of us, cheap and I loved it. Difficult at times but I'd definitely do it again. Get support & give it a go.

The first two weeks were quite uncomfortable but after that I loved breast feeding my baby. It was a lovely bonding time and it's also really convenient! The only downside I found were neither of my babies started sleeping through the night until they stopped breast feeding but the benefits for them and myself outweighed the sleepless nights.

I found it very painful and although bany latched on fine I just wasn't producing enough milk. On an hour if pumping from both breasts I got 40mls. I gave up at 5 weeks and found bottles a breeze. Plus DH could share the night feeds. My SIL breastfeed fed with no issues bit her son refused to take a bottle so she literally couldn't leave him until he started to take a soppy cup of water at about 9 months x

I found it INCREDIBLY difficult in the first 6-8 weeks with each of my 3 children. My nipples just aren't designed correctly...I had help from a breastfeeding consultant each time and each time I had to express with an electric pump and feed the expressed milk for at least 3 out of the first 6 weeks. It was the hardest thing I have ever done and there were times in the first few weeks when I wondered if it was the right thing for my mental health in the short term, with all 3 of them.

However, it was the MOST REWARDING thing I have ever done and the most special. I went on the feed all 3 for as long as felt right for them and me (over 2 years with my third child). In the long term, it was definitely the right thing for them and me, both for our physical health and mental health.

I wish you lots of luck, but be prepared to need lots of support and keep asking for support if you're not feeling like the support is enough. Be kind to yourself in the first few weeks especially and know that it does get easier for most women. Also kelly mom is a useful website for info.

I bf my first for 9 days, second for 17months and 3rd for 20months (stopped about a month ago).
My first I was unprepared and naive. I had an exhausting longish labour ending in emcs. I thought babies fed on demand but later learnt that for the first 24 hours babies can be exhausted from Labour too and rather than cry about it they try to preserve their energy and 'hibernate' so I didn't feed much during that time. When I did try to feed her she was too tired to latch properly and I got incredibly sore. After 9 days I got to the point where I couldn't bear to have her near me as she'd cry for milk but it was so painful to feed and that's when I thought it was better to have a bottle and happy mama than the situation we were in.
With baby 2 I felt like I'd learnt how not to do it and was determined to try again. I went to the local children's centre who ran a bf workshop for pregnant ladies, I looking in to latching correctly and I found out about needing to feed often right from the start. My labour was better too so we had a much better start. I also co-slept so at night I didn't have to get out of bed to feed.

Overall having done both I'd say that once you're established bfing is much easier than bottle. No sterilizing, always freely available, they get as much as they want, no thinking about taking bottles etc out with you, feed any time/anywhere

I was desperate to bf my daughter. I really struggled with my son and ended up exclusively bottle feeding him (He's an awesome 4 yo now!!). I really struggled again with my daughter. It was agony. My nipples cracked, blistered and bled. I used to dread every feed. When she latched I used to cry in pain. I got really down about it, felt totally inadequate. I stuck it out for two weeks. It just got worse and worse. It was awful. So I bought a breast pump and started expressing. Best thing I ever did. Me being happy has only strengthened the bond between us and my hubby can do feeds as well which is lush, for all of us. The best of both worlds!
Give it a try and see how it goes. Don't feel downhearted if not all goes to plan. There are so many options out there to support you and suss what's right for you and your family.
Good luck!!! Xx

Farfarawayfromhome I totally accept people should be able to feed their babies as they choose (this isn't a formula bashing post) but to say it's as quick to prepare a bottle is simply not true. Saying you have to faff around with 'latching the baby on' is rather misleading to those who haven't breastfed before. Sure, it might take a bit of getting used to for the first week or so but it literally takes seconds once you are into the swing of things and for the vast majority of the time you breastfeed for is unlikely be a problem.

Pickles I suppose it depends on definition of hard. Ds1 latched easily. I had milk. But I found bottles easier. Hard to explain but maybe it was more emotional and psychological but I can assure you bottles are easier despite finding BF physically easy.
I think this has been a supportive thread. I would have continued to BF if I'd loved it like many here. I feel sad I didn't.

I absolutely hated it during the early weeks, found it miserable and boring being chained to the sofa. It got a bit better after the first month.

I loved sitting on the sofa with the twins cuddled up to me feeding.
I got through 6 seasons of The Walking Dead and 2 seasons of Vikings in about 3 months.

Now the girls are too distracted, so there is no tv when feeding; and they are super quick - 6 to 10 minutes a feed, I barely sit down anymore!

I chose to breastfeed each time. Good points and bad points.

Good:
I liked doing what I knew to be good for baby and for me.
Great for bonding.
Once established, it was mostly convenient.
Once established, I actually loved it.

Not so good:
It was difficult at first - hard to get the latch right, and even when it was right the breast was painful for the first minute as the milk began to flow.
It was awkward when I had just got myself comfy in a chair and baby was feeding happily suddenly unexpected visitors turned up. As a new brfeeder, I was not happy to continue in front of great uncle Arthur, so I had to relocate in my own home
It wasn't free. I spent a lot of money on feeding bras, night bras, breast pads, extra washing because I leaked so much. Also, if you intend expressing milk, you will need breast pump, bottles, sterilizing equipment.
Sometimes it was not convenient - for example in a restaurant when a group of old ladies complained to the manager (who sympathized with them, but said nothing to me), and when I had to miss a wedding simply because I knew my baby wd have wanted to feed through most of it and the thought did not appeal to me.

On the balance, I would say go for it!

Interesting how some people love being chained to sofa and solely responsible for feeding love it. Whilst others ( me) hated it.
I'm an introvert who is very very non tactile and I don't like being touched and I suspect that's a factor. I wonder if all you huggy tactile extroverts are the ones loving the experience

Chained to the sofa? Why?

I'm a very very non-tactile introvert, and I enjoy breastfeeding my children. I don't mind them touching me. I'm also not chained to the sofa - I will happily feed anywhere and spend most days out and about with my DS2.

I hesitate to post this, because I've got into trouble for similar posts before, but here goes. I know there was a time when the downsides of breastfeeding were denied and glossed over, meaning that women who couldn't/didn't want to felt like failures, or unnatural or any one of a hundred other negative things. And it's fantastic that they are now talked about openly, and much more help is available.

But I do wonder whether it might have gone a bit too far the other way. I think people who found it easy and enjoyed it are very wary about sharing their experience. Which means that people like the OP will come away from a thread like this thinking that they overwhelming majority of women find it incredibly hard, painful and something that they will probably have to either give up very quickly or go through a hellish few weeks before it gets bearable. It would be quite understandable if she decided not to try at all, or approached the task so full of apprehension that her tension and stress made a self fulfilling prophesy of it.

I don't know what the answer is. I don't know how people can be well informed about possible problems but still hoping and expecting for it to be OK. But I am sure that, as in most things in life, expecting something not to work is a pretty good way of making sure it doesn't............

I said chained to sofa just because someone else had.
Actually you know I think the overall majority of women here have had a very positive experience. Many loved it after initial difficulties. I had no difficulties but stopped simply because I didn't like it. But I think I'm in the minority here I really do. And I'm very jealous tbh.
AssassinatedBeauty you have proved my theory wrong and I honestly wish I'd had your experience I truly do.

I breastfed all four of mine, never considered not doing so, but the experience was different with each one. Two would have carried on for ever, other two stopped at 3-4 months for different reasons. DS1 was incredibly easy, DD1 was very difficult all round. Overall it was very satisfying and created a lovely bond.

I found I was chained to the sofa for the first month or so, definitely. They only wanted to sleep on me, screamed if they were anywhere else, hated the sling. It did get much better of course but there are only so many hours of TV you can watch before losing the plot. I'm always a bit jealous of people who really love breastfeeding if I'm honest. I found it painful, exhausting and it made me cry a lot.

*Bertrand
*
I completely get what your saying. The vast majority of women in this country do initiate breastfeeding though, I don't think persuading women to try should be the priority if we want to increase long term breastfeeding rates. I think it irks me when potential positives of breastfeeding are presented as fact. Eg. It's free- it's actually quite expensive if you have to consult a private LC, hire a hospital grade pump etc.

I felt like an absolute monster because I had nursing aversion. Hardly anyone knew what it was. Local breastfeeding peer support service and La Leche League helpers were really awful to me about it. I had a difficult birth and really struggled to bond with my daughter and I persevered with bf for way too long as I convinced myself it would help me bond with DD. I still feel very, very sad when I look back on that time. And I'm very pro breastfeeding and I want every woman who wants to breastfeed to get amazing support and information to support them in their feeding goals. I know it's my own problem but when I see 'bonding' being touted as one of the benefits of breastfeeding it makes my blood boil (momentarily until I get a grip).

Agree Scooby