How to breastfeed

[PinkBump2022]

I’m 30 weeks pregnant and decided that I want to try breastfeeding. Iv never breastfed before. Iv bought a nursing pillow and some nursing pads, I just have some questions…..
will I need to stay in hospital until baby is feeding well? If so how long is this?
what if baby wants fed while I’m out let’s say doing the school run….. can I express my milk into a bottle before the school run and take this bottle with me? How long would that milk in the bottle last without going off?
do I need to buy special nursing clothes and bras?

will I need to stay in hospital until baby is feeding well? If so how long is this?

Not necessarily. I went home before my milk started flowing. The nurse taught me the best methods to cradle baby whilst feeding (don't worry babies come out knowing how to latch, its a wonder!) You'll first get whats called colostrum, which is not really milk but it is filling for baby. Baby's tummies are so tiny that they literally just need a few drops I was told. If your colostrum doesn't start coming in, you can give formula in the mean time but nurses will advise!

what if baby wants fed while I’m out let’s say doing the school run….. can I express my milk into a bottle before the school run and take this bottle with me? How long would that milk in the bottle last without going off?

Yes you can start expressing immediately after you give birth, I was advised to do so by the nurse even if nothing comes out the stimulation will help encourage the milk to flow faster. You can express in pout in freezer and it last 6 months, in the fridge I think it last 24 hours, room temp, 2 hours. So yes you can express and take bottle with you.

do I need to buy special nursing clothes and bras?
You will need nursing bras because you're boobs are gonna get a lot larger and your normal bras wont fit anymore and it will be uncomfortable. Also the nursing bras has those clips that allows you to open up and take your boob out without having to remove the whole bra and make you uncomfortable. I wouldn't necessarily say you NEED nursing clothes but its always good to have a few, again they have those opening to allow you to take boob out comfortably.

And lastly, I will add the BF is not an easy journey for all women and can be very frustrating but its also a lovely experience. Remember fed is best.

Ah good luck with BF ing. It's a lovely thing but really hard work/painful to begin with.

Try and get your partner on board too as it can be a two person job to begin with. Don't be too hard on yourself about getting it right. I found different BF patterns with each of my 3 babies. You sort of learn together. One of my babies fed for hours and I got to watch lots of TV. One was so quick and fussy I watched non.

Your midwife should be able to tell you about your local breastfeeding support groups and should answer your questions.

You should get help in hospital with getting your technique right etc but sadly they are so busy you may not get as much as you need.

With My last baby as soon as they had seen her feed and do a wee we were sent home

Good luck and try and enjoy it! X

Will I need to stay in hospital until baby is feeding well? If so how long is this?

Assuming an uncomplicated delivery and a healthy baby, then the midwives will just want to check your feeding method and be happy that you know how to latch baby on and initiate feeding. You will get more visits at home from the midwives and then the health visitors. They should also give you details of how to get support with breastfeeding if you need it.

What if baby wants fed while I’m out let’s say doing the school run….. can I express my milk into a bottle before the school run and take this bottle with me?

If the baby wants to be fed when you're out, the major benefit of breastfeeding is that you can just feed them, wherever, whenever. No prep needed. It's recommended that you don't start expressing until your milk supply is established, eg 6 weeks ish, as it will interfere with the normal supply and demand process between you and your baby. Plus it's extra work, hassle, prep, cleaning, time that you don't need to do. Having been forced into expressing from day 1 due to poorly babies I would not suggest you express unless you absolutely need to.

For things like the school run, feed the baby before leaving the house to minimise the chances of needing to feed again. But I have sat on the benches in the school playground many a time breastfeeding my youngest whilst waiting to pick up my eldest. Or in the car if the weather was not great.

How long would that milk in the bottle last without going off?

Here are some guidelines about breastmilk storage:

kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/milkstorage/milkstorage/

Do I need to buy special nursing clothes and bras?

No to nursing clothes, not if you don't want to. Many women use the two tops method, where you wear a vest top or similar underneath a tshirt or other top. Then you just pull the vest down underneath your boob, and bring the top tshirt up above your boob. I used to have a large muslin to hand as well, just to cover me whilst I was sorting baby out, then once they're latched on you're all covered. If you have a baby prone to popping off and looking around, then I used to tuck the muslin corner under my bra strap, so I could easily bring it across me to cover up if baby suddenly unlatched.

You will need nursing bras though. Your boobs can get much bigger than normal, although not always, mine didn't change much. So nursing bras often come in stretchy soft fabric so that they can adjust. You will need nursing bra straps to enable the cup to be pulled down.

In the early days of breastfeeding it is very intensive, but the payoff is that it gets easier and easier and requires very little planning or equipment when it's all working well. Your partner, if you have one, should be doing everything else pretty much for you and baby in the first few weeks so you can rest and establish feeding.

You don't need to take bottles if you're breastfeeding, you can just whip out a boob and feed the baby. That is the best thing about it.

I just don’t want to sit and breastfeed in the school yard Infront of loads of dads and grandads and 11 year old boys coming out of school.

Ok, so feed just before you leave the house, and you more than likely won't have to. Dads, grandads and boys won't even notice you're feeding. I had instances of men thinking I was just holding the baby instead of actually feeding them.

If you don't want men or boys to ever see you feeding then that pretty much means you won't feed when in any kind of out of the house situation. That's not really going to work.

One of the things with breastfeeding is you just get used to feeding in public - you kind of have to our else you'll end up staying at home. Tbh it's pretty discreet once you get the hang of it! You don't really want to express before 6 weeks pp as it really messes with your supply. Nor do you want nipple confusion so it's recommended that you don't bottle feed or use a dummy before 6w either. You'll need some nursing bras, my fave are from H&M. You won't necessarily need "nursing clothes" but I found them useful. The first few weeks you just want to hunker down with the baby to establish feeding, so if someone else can do the school run for a few weeks that would help.

It's OK to feel conscious about breastfeeding public. I had to adjust too. School runs don't take that long unless you're sat there for hours which I doubt is the case. If you feed baby before you leave, you most likely wont have to feed again until you're back home. If you must feed, carry a bottle of expressed milk. I've just checked again and it can last up to 4 hours room temp.

You can breastfed in sling. Huge advantage. Pop baby in sling for school run and they can feed without it being noticeable, and your hands free

I understand the not wanting to breastfeed in front of people when out and about. I felt the same at first. I have breastfed 2 babies. With my first I used to feed her in the car at first if we went out. I soon felt comfortable to feed her pretty much anywhere. I had a cover up with me to start with and then after a while got used to being able to latch her on without anyone seeing anything. The good old two tops on one to pull up and one to push down helped.
No one batted an eye lid when I have fed. I've never had anyone stare and certainly no one has said anything, apart from being offered water by the staff in Costa. I don't even think people have noticed I was feeding. I have even fed in the changing rooms whilst trying dresses on. My second I combi fed and found it so much easier that I could feed him anywhere without having to prepare bottles.

Honestly, most of the time, when you feed a baby outside the only people who notice and understand what’s happening are other women who have breastfed their babies (sometimes several decades ago!), and tiny toddlers who still breastfeed themselves. Once you figure out what clothing combinations work well for you, you can try feeding in front of a mirror. There’s nothing to see, the baby’s head blocks the view.

There are plenty of breastfeeding covers :) but I just used a big muslin cloth (whitish so it's cooler, with nice designs) and a couple of pegs to hang on to my shoulders. Nowadays I just tuck it under the bra straps but I used to live in a very conservative country so I wanted to make sure I was well covered.

Regarding BF when the baby is born, I would say "YES WOW try your best, it is so much easier and nicer than bottle feeding". But I also know that sometimes it's out of your control..... do ask for help. And even if you have milk still ask for reassurance 😉 I did with my 3rd BFd baby!!! She was feeding non stop for hours and I thought I may have been doing something wrong or I didn't have enough (my experience with no2 had been different). The nurse gently squeezed my nipple and the milk just squirted 😅 BFing takes some learning and helping each other out

Best of luck!!!!

@Cocowatermelon love that you mention the toddlers who notice 🙈 I was breastfeeding my 2 year old on a bench at a petting farm a while back, and a little boy around her age came toddling over, climbed up on the bench next to me and said “Me milk please?” 😂😂 His mum came over and told me that they’d only just stopped breastfeeding and he was struggling with the transition 😂😂

I've a 6mo and navigated the school run with him in tow. The thing with bf is, they don't feed on a schedule or necessarily at the same time each day so you can be quite flexible with where and when you want to feed (within reason). I just latched him on before leaving and let him feed, then he would sleep during drop off and pick up and feed when we got home again if needed. I've no qualms about feeding in public but have not had to do it on the school run as I just feed around it.

I've never expressed as none of mine have ever taken bottles but plenty of people do and it can work well.

You don't need special clothes - join Can I Breastfeed In It UK on Facebook to see recommendations for clothes easy to feed in. It's really easy at the moment as current trends are very boob accessible eg stretchy, elasticated tops on dresses, gypsy style tops you can pull down and so on. Basically as long as you can get your boob out, you can feed in it.

You don't need to stay in extra time at hospital if breastfeeding. They check the latch and then send you on your way. Most important thing is to feed on demand and not by the clock. If you start feeling like a 24/7 dairy cow, you're doing it right. Good luck!

In my experience even with a full boob out most people don't even notice and if they do they are very polite and look away. I had a man approach me once asking how old my baby was, and he was very embarrassed as he hadn't even noticed I was breastfeeding her at the time! Most people are very encouraging and often make very positive comments so please don't feel embarrassed or it will make it difficult for you to feed the baby when you need to.

Oh regarding clothes!

I use anything that I can pull up 🤷🏻‍♀️ so basically nothing too tight. And may I suggest slip on jeans from Next? 😁 lovely if you're still hooked on pregnancy jeans. They come a little higher so I don't show all my belly and back when I lift my top. My trick is to expose the boob under my clothes/muslin, put the baby in position and then quick lift my top to show the nipple

You can express in pout in freezer and it last 6 months, in the fridge I think it last 24 hours, room temp, 2 hours. So yes you can express and take bottle with you.

No, no, no - that’s formula you can leave out for 2 hours and store 24 hours in the fridge if you really must (but not ideally). Breastmilk is incredible, it’s antibacterial so - 6 months in the freezer as stated, 6 days in the fridge, 6 whole hours on the side at room temp! It’s great!

ohhhh didn't know that. Even better for you OP!

@Ringmaster27 That’s cute and pretty funny. I know about toddlers noticing because mine did for months and months after I stopped breastfeeding him.

I’ve had 4 kids and bf all and never needed to feed on the school run 🤷‍♀️ Feed before going then feed when back.

Lots of great advice above.
I'd also look in to who/where your local breastfeeding support is - I.e breastfeeding groups or lactation consultant (IBCLC ideally). It's great to know where the support is in those early days as it can be a challenging first few weeks. Also have a look at Kathryn Stagg on Instagram. I find her posts really useful.

I agree with the above as well. Most breastfed babies aren’t fed on a strict schedule. So usually I would just always attempt a feed before leaving places, meaning less chance of them needing one asap when you arrive somewhere.

will I need to stay in hospital until baby is feeding well? If so how long is this?
Yes, they will want to see the baby is feeding OK. How long this takes depends on how easily it goes and how much help you can get while you are there
what if baby wants fed while I’m out let’s say doing the school run….. can I express my milk into a bottle before the school run and take this bottle with me? How long would that milk in the bottle last without going off?
Expressing is a massive faff and pain in the arse. I did it for DC1 just to get them to take a bottle so I could go out for a day hen do, couldn't be arsed even trying with DC2. Nobody will notice you feeding and if they do they won't care. It's really the easiest thing to just feed when needed regardless of where you are. You can buy one of those feeding shawl things if you want but I think all they do is draw way more attention.
do I need to buy special nursing clothes and bras?
Bras yes, I would say. You need to be able to use the latch bit. Clothes if you want to but the one up one down method with a cheap vest under a normal top works fine.

Get some lanisoh for your nipples. Get the baby checked for tongue tie. Get a midwife to check your latch. Once home, find a free lactation consultant- we have a drop in once a week and get them to check. I had breastfed before but they were so helpful second time round. Prepare for baby to be on you nearly 24/7 for the first 12 weeks!

I didn't have an issue with this- just slung a muslin over baby but I am small chested so nothing much to see. I wear nursing tops (with an envelope opening) and a normal top over. I don't need bras so can get away with this