Has anyone used the Thompson Method for Breastfeeding?

[Luna88]

I am a first time mummy to be and feel quite passionate about breastfeeding. I have heard it can be so painful and only 15% of mums continue to breastfeed to 6 months. I have found this Australian method which promises of pain free breastfeeding, which understandably sounds like something every mother would like to experience! It’s called the Thompson Method and they have an offer on at the moment selling all the information including videos and seminars at half price. I just wondered if anyone had used it or knew anyone that had? Is it really as good as it sounds?
Thank you!

Interesting first post but okay, I'll bite. Fuck me they really will monetise anything.

If you won't miss the cash (as in if you lost £50 in your house you wouldn't bother looking for it) then go for it. Having just spent time watching their videos and reading about it it just looks like breastfeeding? It's certainly no different to what any qualified person would recommend (for free). The ongoing support might be useful, but is it likely to be more useful than the thousands of free resources out there? Doubt it.

People do give up breastfeeding because of pain but I think a lot of people give up because it's hard being the one doing all the night feeds, dealing with cluster feeding, a baby that just wants you all the time, feeling like an all you can eat buffet, partners that no longer see you as a sexual being. I breastfed DS for over 2 years, the pain was just in the first couple of weeks.

For a few people breastfeeding is very easy.

For most it's hard work and painful to start with, then gets easier.

For some it takes absolute grit to get through the first few weeks/months.

Lots of it depends on the baby and your shape. My first DC wouldn't open his mouth properly, was tongue tied and I have flat nipples which make latching even harder. It was hell on earth for six weeks but I refused to give up. He needed his tongue tie snipped, to grow a bit and then things got easier. No magic method would have fixed it or helped me avoid the pain. Don't waste your money, there are loads of free resources.

I agree with the first poster. It just looks like standard breastfeeding advice which you have to pay for. There are lots of free breastfeeding courses just now. I highly recommend the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers course "team baby". Also the websites "breastfeeding.support" and "kellymom" are very informative and run by IBCLC's. Also have a read up about the 4th trimester.

The first weeks are hard but it generally gets a bit better by 6 weeks and hopefully you are flying by 12. Have a look on facebook for your local breastfeeding support group to connect with and seek support early if you need it.

I follow the Thompson Facebook page and I personally find the page a little cult(ish).

They are very critical towards other techniques that some might find useful and refer to the Thompson as the ONLY one that works.

I stopped following the page because each time a mother would post asking for advice some one would always reply something along the lines
"join the program, thatvwill answer your question, it's the best way to feed etc"

Sorry, more of a rant on my part.

I'm breastfeeding right now and the best advice I can give is simply contact you midwife/health visitor, keep feeding through the pain, get hydration gel pads for your nipples

It is absolutely just an individual monetising very standard BF support.
In the UK, the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers, La Leche League and Breastfeeding network do brilliant work for free, with the same level of skill.
You can pay for an IBCLC to give you face to face support if you have spare cash, groups like Milk Matters are doing online consultations during the current weirdness.

There really is nothing special about this method, and in general, it's wise to be suspicious of any parenting guru who claims to have a single answer to all problems: every mother and every baby are different, so will require different solutions.

I'd look at la leche league and the 'Breastfeeding younger babies and beyond' Facebook page- great advice, free of charge.

We do have low breastfeeding rates in this country it's true, largely due to lack of support and few knowledgeable HCPs. My words if wisdom would be:

1. If in doubt, whip it out. If they're upset, try boob. Even if they literally just got off.
2. Skin to skin in the early days.
3. Try not to stress, they'll get there.
4. If you've gotten so engorged that the baby cannot latch, pull the excess off with an electric pump (I wouldn't bother with a manual. You can hand express if you like but I hated it). Lifesaver. I had a lot of to-ing and fro-ing about this with mine (lots of, 'But that'll increase the supply even more!') In the end a knowledgeable midwife said, 'This is what we're doing,' told me to pump until the boob was soft and DD kept pace after that.
5. Get an electric pump.
6. To get them off, use your finger to pull their lip up to look like Elvis (Google Elvis lip). Gets them off without having to try and put your finger in their mouth.
7. You don't need to buy tons of nursing clothes. Visit, 'Can I breastfeed in it UK' on Facebook for tips, tricks and recommendations.
8. If baby isn't latching, you can just use your fingers to flatten the boob and then post it on in there.
9. Breastfed babies do sometimes need winding.

10. Breastfeeding can hurt even if you are doing it right. Something is sucking on you for hours a day and your post partum hormones can cause breast tenderness anyway. If it is agony when feeding, check the latch, but a bit of discomfort is fairly normal. 11. Stock up on lasinoh. 12. There is a well-known and studied correlation between women who breastfeed longer and women who co-sleep. Often it's just the only way to manage. If you're getting so tired that you're falling asleep holding the baby by accident, it's time to look into the safer co-sleeping guidelines.

Good luck with it all!

Don't pay for it, virtually all BF advice can be found for free on La Leche League and Instagram accounts like @legendairymilk or @moomysmilk. These are some of the things I found useful:

• It WILL be painful to start with. You will curl your toes each time the baby latches, but I found that knowing it's going to be painful somehow makes it easier to bear. Just like childbirth, it's about the mental coping mechanisms rather than trying to make the entire process painless. It will eventually get better after weeks 4-6.

• The more often a breast is emptied, the more milk gets produced! This is the the ultimate principle. No amount of supplements, breastfeeding cookies or drinking water will increase milk supply close to continually emptying the breast.

• This means having to latch the baby every 2 hours, 8-10 times every 24 hours, all around the clock. This was hands down the hardest thing about BF. You do not get a break, you will not sleep and you will barely have time to do anything else aside from feeding.

• As PP mentioned, pain is not always the main reason people give up. In many cases, it's the gruelling sleepless schedule in a time when your body has been battered and injured. Some may delegate night feedings to a partner just to get more than 1-2 hours of sleep, but during the time sleeping the breast isn't being emptied so supply slowly starts to fall

• Each time you miss a feeding, the supply falls making it harder for baby to get milk and each substitute feed with a bottle gives them instant gratification. It's a devil's cycle and you only need to accumulate a few consecutive episodes of missed feedings for the baby to prefer the bottle and for milk supply to drop.

• If you make it past the chaotic 4-6 weeks then things do become easier because your milk supply adapts to your baby (no more worrying about over or undersupply) and it should be virtually painless by now. However BF is a grind. Some women are lucky to have babies that feed on-the-go so they can still get out of the house. My experience with a fussy, reflux baby is that you need all types of pillows, muslins & change of clothes just to get them in a good latch which doesn't result in swallowing air.

However it does get easier, particularly after they get started on solids.

Good luck :)!!

@milkmakingmumma is also amazing on Instagram.
I wouldn’t pay for help, there is a plethora of videos on YouTube etc.
The Multimam nipple pads are very cooling and so great at healing nipples if they are sore

It might be a bit sore at first, but not everyone finds it very painful. Cracked nipples are common but you can put lanolin cream on to help. If you get any hard lumps then massage your breast and keep feeding. The NCT has a free helpline you can call for advice. Personally I haven’t found bf that painful and it is very convenient not having to make up bottles.

Women give up or don’t start breast feeding for a lot of different reasons. Some just don’t like the idea, some get fed up of all the night feeds (bf doesn’t seem to fill them up as long as formula). I wouldn’t pay anyone to show me how to do something that should be completely free.

Thank you everyone for your comments! As DivGirl pointed out it is my first post, it's actually why I joined mumsnet as I thought I would be able to get some good advice, and I haven't been disappointed, so thank you for all of your thoughts!
I have decided not to buy the Thompson Method and to use the free information you have all posted about.

Thank you so much!!

I paid for this course during my pregnancy and it has honestly been amazing. The support you get from the group is really good and helpful. My little one is nearly 4 weeks old and EBF completely pain free. I would 100% recommended it 😊

I didn’t get any support with breastfeeding aside from looking things up on Mumsnet and I’m still going at 2 years. If you’re going to spend money, spend it on a consultant who sees you in person.

I would really recommend buying a good bf book in pg and reading it - it really helps you to know what to expect in the first few weeks. The Food of Love (Straight talking with lots of jokey illustrations) and the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding (Long!) are both very good.

As well as reading a book to prepare, the other things it would be great to do are to plan your bf support network in advance - get in touch with your local LaLeche League group if you have one, who will be happy for you to start coming along while you are pregnant.

If you plan to do an nct course they have a breastfeeding prep element you can add on as well.

Definitely have labsinoh Nipple cream in and breast pads in as well for comfort (the ones made by lansinoh are really good)

Also get measured for nursing bras at the end of your pregnancy

Googled this....

The Thompson Method incorporates immediate and uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact after birth until after the first breastfeed, holding the baby in the same arm as the breast being offered, and fine-tuning the position so that baby's nose, chin and cheeks are symmetrical at the breast.

Doesn’t seem like rocket science.

My approach of putting my baby to my boob has been pain free so far (14 months and counting)...

Exactly what @CoffeeDay said. The first few months are utter torture and it's not the pain, it's the absolute relentlessness of it- the lack of any sleep that allows for proper rest, the paranoia over supply if your baby has any latching or weight gain issues, that fact that you are totally responsible for every nutrient your baby receives. All while adjusting to your new life and the long recovery after actually having the baby.

However... if you grit your teeth and focus on the end goal, the reward of how fantastic BF is when it gets easier, the fact you won't have to get up to faff with bottles or sterilising... life is so much easier and the boob is at your disposal for so many things, comfort as well as feeding.

Best thing you can do is know that there is real- life support out there that makes a difference if you're struggling. I really struggled for the first few months but paid to see a lactation consultant and it was the best money I've ever spent. Dd is 10 months and we are still going and loving it!

I would strongly advise now to get the details of a qualified lactation consultant near you who can actually come round. If you are struggling, it will be much better to have someone who you can text/call & who can physically help. Having someone’s details ready makes it much easier than wading through endless information when you’re tired and struggling.

Hi there,

I’m a mum of 2. A 4 yo boy that I breastfed 9 months and a 2 months old that o currently breastfeed.

For my first baby I was using IBCLC and La Leache League advices but it caused me many nipple trauma from the start.

I came across the Thompson Method few weeks before I gave birth to my little girl this year.
I was wondering if I should spend money to get the method or not. At the end I purchased it.

Not only you have answers to all the questions you will have. (Low supply, mastitis, cluster feeds, breastfeeding after c-section and so on....) but the support group is so great. Robyn Thompson answer herself to your question in Q&A if it’s something she never talked about and you have REAL advices).

I’m sorry but usually the method most people will show you won’t work for you or will cause you pain (this famous image where you see you need to put the baby’s nose Up to you nipple and maintain him from the back of his head...)...

Si yes you can get free courses of course... but after I tested both methods I can tell you the Thompson Method is worth it.

Plus you can access all the videos whenever you want (even from your mobile because there is an application).

If you have any question I’ll try to answer them :)

(Sorry for my poor English, I’m not a native :) )

It would be worth seeing your hospital has a (free) peer to peer breastfeeding support service (you get paired with a mother who has recently fed a newborn)

It's really not worth paying for support, unless it is an experienced counsellor who will actually come to your home and see the pair of you in action.

You might get lucky with a didactic approach to single method, but I don't think it's the best approach

It’s really odd that people who have only used this method ‘know‘ that it’s painful if you don’t use it. It needn’t be painful at all.
These posters read like shills tbh.

Wow, four people in a row resurrecting this thread to post about how good this course is... that doesn't seem suspicious at all!

@GirlCalledJames

It’s really odd that people who have only used this method ‘know‘ that it’s painful if you don’t use it. It needn’t be painful at all. These posters read like shills tbh.

That's what I thought! I fed 2 dc, 1 for 20 months and 1 for 3 years. Hardly any pain. Wasn't a 'nightmare'. Yes there were periods where it felt like I'd done nothing but feed for hours on end. I ended up volunteering as a peer supporter with the bfn. The advice we gave was the same as what @BillywilliamV posted. Maybe I should have started charging for it