How to survive breastfeeding!?

[chickennuggets2]

Hey! My baby is a week old and just wondering if anyone has any tips, dos and don't with breastfeeding. Currently mastered latching and baby is feeding fine. Baby is feeding sometime all day (literally), I assume this is cluster feeding but feel pretty clueless.
So exhausted at the moment, hoping things get easier and I manage to stick it out.

It gets easier, honestly.

For me (everything is personal) - drink lots of water, sleep when you can, eat well, put lots of Nipple cream on and try to just enjoy being able to sit on the sofa and feed.

Believe it or not I really miss those days now I have a toddler. Get some good box sets, get comfortable. And know the constant feeding will pass.

I fed mine for nearly three years. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that it’s easier than bottle feeding. No bottles to make, no sterilising, nothing to bring with you if you go out. I’d be even more exhausted if I had to do all that as well. Take a calcium supplement - the calcium for the milk comes from your diet, and if there isn’t enough it comes from your body. Constant breastfeeding has weakened my bones and I suffered my first broken bone. I’m now on supplements to strengthen my bones back up.

Stick with it, it does get better and easier!
As Naithnira says, it is much easier than all that sterilising and measuring and faffing with bottles, particularly at night, and especially if you co-sleep. If you can figure out feeding while lying on your side, then that is even better.
Make yourself comfy on the sofa or in bed and get your OH to wait on you.

My friend is a breastfeeding supporter (she few twins herself) and has a saying:
"The first month is the hardest.

By the second month it's getting easier and by the third month you'll feel sorry for formula feeding mums." (Because bottle feeding is more faff and you can breastfeed lying down).

My still feeding DS at almost two and it's great - if he's having a meltdown just whip a boob out and all is calm again. We call it the "magic boobie" 😂

Just to add another side to this - I was in hospital after birth for 5 days with my son and breastfed in that time. He didnt take to breastfeeding really, never got the hang of a good latch. It made me miserable. I tried a for a while after we got home. My nipples were bleeding and has scabs on them. In the end he lost so much weight I switched to formula. He gained weight, was so much happier and so was I.

My point, I suppose, is that dont be afraid to try formula if you think it might work. It wasnt covered at all in my ante natal classes and I do think thats wrong.

Keep at it, it gets better. In the early days find somewhere comfy, gather your snacks and drinks, have the remote/phone/tablet/book/magazine nearby and enjoy it. I got through a few box sets with a bf newborn! Don't be afraid to spend all day in bed or on the sofa.

Lots of skin to skin is a good way to bone and help your supply. If you've already got the latch sorted that's half the battle.

Kellymom, la leche league and breastfeeding support network all have great info. There is a lot of misinformation about but I've found these very reliable.

What I did find useful (and had I known with my first I would have bf longer) was nipple shields- about 3/4 weeks in baby suddenly forgot how to latch and I was in so much pain but shields really did help!

Work on learning to feed lying down. It can take a little while for babies to get the hang of it, but once you've mastered it it's a total game changer. And congratulations!

Lets yes I do think they should cover more on proper formula preparation BUT formula feeding is the norm in western societies and the instructions are right there on the tin.

Breastfeeding takes time to learn and without the proper support, as so many mothers do not get, then it's often doomed to failure.

DS was formula fed for the first five days of his life I was ill so I am by no means anti-formula but I know breast is best - it's a live milk that is tailored to your child and their needs at that moment - and so I worked damn hard to establish feeding. However I recognise that that may not have been possible without my breastfeeding supporter friend.

Knowing that sticking with it, it is harder than bottles for 12 weeks and then so easy. No getting up in the night to prepare them....
Just do that day. Then another... and then you are so happy you did. Because I am lazy

Thank you so much everyone, definitely reassuring to know it gets easier. I am enjoying it and luckily having no pain, occasionally when he first latches but I'm pretty comfortable on a whole. Will definitely work on the lie down position, it worries me incase I fall asleep while feeding 😬 I don't mind cluster feeding so much when I'm well rested, when I'm exhausted I feel as if I'm failing but everything is easier with a bit of sleep! My raging hormones probably aren't helping with that! ( I cried because baby is cute the other day, wtf!) Will definitely keep going, got a brilliant husband who is supporting me great, just need to get through the first months by the looks of it and then we will be on a roll!

Babies rapidly get more efficient at 'draining the breast' (lovely language eh) and your body gets more efficient at letting down the milk. So feeds get quicker and less frequent over time.

There are pros and cons to any way of feeding. Feeding lying down and co-sleeping so I could feed practically asleep at night worked for me. It's still the best way to shut up soothe DS at 11 months.

The exhaustion probably isn't going away, tbh, there's an initial bit where the baby doesn't cry that much and there are lots of presents and cuteness - it's hard once you realise this is how life is now. Your body adjusts, though. I used to think of it as learning to live in a hot country. Don't fight it, just go with the flow and rest where you can.