What to buy if I’m going to attempt breastfeeding

[Alanares89]

Hello :)

I’m due my baby in November and I’m going to attempt to breastfeed, I understand it doesn’t always work out and the baby might need to go to bottles, but what did yous do in this situation? Did you buy the big sterleliser sets with bottles and things aswell?

I’m on mothercares site and I see they do the big tommee tippee sets half price just now (there always half price actually lol)

Really unsure on what to buy, what did yous guys do if yous plan on breastfeeding??

Any help would be great

Alana x

Lansinoh, or any generic lanolin cream, and breast pads, although TBH you could wait and see if you're a leaker first. If you have some pantyliners a pantyliner stuck into your bra or top will do the exact same job. A few tops which you can access your boobs in. In this heat just any stretchy vest top will be absolutely fine. If you get on with it and you don't have any accessible clothes then you can go shopping later. (H&M clothes are quite good for feeding in. If you join their email "club", you get free delivery, and there's normally a 10-25% off code knocking around online. They have cute baby clothes too.)

Then not to buy as such, but to work out - the location and times of any local BF support groups/cafes.

The BF support helpline numbers.

The MN infant feeding board. Kellymom. In fact go and read the what to expect/what's normal/how BF works articles on Kellymom now :)

The book The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding is 99p on Kindle if you have a kindle or the kindle phone/tablet app (which is free). I breastfed my first and never actually read this before but it's actually surprising me how useful I'm finding it this time, and for 99p it absolutely worth it. More than any product on the market IMO, and much cheaper than most of them!

More important than 'stuff' for breastfeeding is doing some reading. I would recommend www.kellymom.com for any BF emergency questions you might have. Also, 3 in a Bed by Deborah Jackson (co-sleeping supports breastfeeding) and The Food of Love, which has great cartoons.

Do not listen to any relatives who have stupid questions like 'how do you know they're getting enough?' and 'your milk is insufficient if they're feeding this often'. Breastfed babies feed little and often, and cluster feed at night.

Good luck!

Ah sorry Bertie X-post!

Agree that you need to be a stubborn cow. I am BFeeding my 26 month old DS2 as we speak!

Agree with others. Unless you live in a place so rural that there are no chemists or supermarkets open our of working hours and Amazon delivery is patchy, then probably best not to buy bottles etc right away.

Get some comfy and cheap feeding tops from h&m or similar, they're nice and easy especially if you have some cardigans and scarves for on top.

I ended up mixed feeding my first and quickly mostly ff, a lot of this was down to lack of support, bad advice - and practically, it didn't help that I'd stocked up on ready made formula 'just in case'. When it got hard, after an emcs had left both the baby and I too tired to set up feeding well, my DH, and DM, seeing me in pain and trying hard to be supportive, really pushed the formula and it made it hard to re-establish later. Second baby, VBAC, whether luck or not, much easier!

Realistically most of us CAN bf, but many of us and / or our babies have trouble, and the thing you need most is support. First from your partner and family to give you time to get it established, then if there are troubles from mws or also people like La Leche League can be great, or Kellymom is a great online resource (yes of course not all women can - and also not all women want to and that's completely ok too. However here we have 30% of women bfing at all at 6 months, Sweden is over 60% - Scandinavian boobs are not that different, and talking to other women, I know so many that wanted to feed but were told it wouldn't work, or weren't aware that the early days were quite so much pain for later gain, etc. for this reason it can be worth reading up in advance (eg The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding) or going to a feeding course.

And if when the baby comes, it isn't working, or you just don't want it as much as you thought - that's totally ok too, hit Amazon and FB second hand pages and you should have a perfect prep and a steriliser with you in 24 hours max 😊
Good luck and congratulations!

The womanly art of breastfeeding is currently 99p on the kindle store definitely wish I had bought it before I had my baby as I did find it really hard.

I did buy a steriliser and bottles just in case and did end up mix feeding due to low supply and did give up breastfeeding at about 8 weeks so I did use them. Depends if you are planning to express or not.

Lanolin cream. I had a few bottles of ready-made formula stashed away; they helped me have a relaxed attitude "if it works, that's great, if it doesn't, she won't go hungry" and being relaxed about it really helped a lot.

Disposable breast pads are a waste of time, get a nursing bra after your milk comes in not before, and anything else you can buy is mostly just because new mums are a money tree.

Just cast my eye over some of the replies and saw someone said you'll need to be stubborn! Definitely true. Also, arm yourself with this knowledge - DC WILL NEED TO LEARN TO BREASTFEED TOO. I didn't realise this and felt awful that DD couldn't coordinate latch and suck. Thought it was something to do with my anatomy but she learnt it eventually. Also, give yourself until 4-6 weeks for it to become easier. I was determined to BF but had so many moments of nearly giving up. Promised myself I'd BF until 6 weeks and in the times that I nearly resigned myself to not being able to BF I'd remember that I was going to give it a few more weeks. 10 weeks now and it's easy peasy, second nature for us both.

In terms of actual stuff I'd recommend a decent pump and simple to use steriliser. We got a pump from amazon and a steriliser from mother care - just add water and microwave for 4 mins. Also, BFing went from feeling impossible to realistic the day I used a nipple shield so might be worth getting those in stock. I literally used it for one feed but something clicked for DD and I didn't need to use it again.

Good luck!

I breastfed for 6 months (and it was a bit shit) couldn’t get him to take a bottle. My husband said he wished we had had the steriliser set up ready as initially we had to top up with a cup (wtf) every 2 hours as he was so small and I had to pump so had to sterilise that too.
Some people find it easy. I didn’t.
Give it your best go but if I had my time again I would combi feed as even when I was Ill I had to feed him as he wouldn’t take a bottle.
I am a breast feeding supporter but never lose sure that fundamentally fed is best!!! Xxx

I got a book which has got a really annoying name, but it was like a bible of breastfeeding and great for skimming over whilst pregnant and then dipping in and out of for certain topics during the first few weeks (and beyond) of breastfeeding -The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by La Leche League
Definitely get the lansinoh nipple cream.
I know some people don't like them and in theory it' would have been great to have the confidence to feed in public without one, but I couldn't have done without my breastfeeding scarf. A nursing pillow (actually I used my maternity pillow) was also very useful, especially after a c section.

My Brest friend pillow
Multi mam nipple pads
Take an anti inflammatory for a couple of weeks til the nipples toughen up - the first two to three weeks were sore for me

I was so glad of my breast pump. And nursing pillow. And breast shells. And milk bags to freeze any you express or collect via leaking. I did put expressed milk in bottles once or twice when my nipples could take no more.

I breast fed both DS. I didn't prepare anything for not and they were both complete naturals. My first literally crawled up my stomach to feed when he came out and I never had any pain. I had the same experience both times. However, I didn't last long with either because I literally couldn't keep up with their feeding demands. I was a wreck from feeding every 45 minutes for months. They screamed unless they were fed and I lost all my pregnancy weight (actually went under after a month with my first). Be prepared to do what is best for them and you. That is all that matters.

Lansinoh breast pads are the best
Lots of muslins
I got the lansinoh breast pump too, which is fab. It's great at the beginning to stimulate your milk in case you're having problems with latching. It also comes in handy a bit later if you want to express milk for feeding by someone else.
Comfortable nursing bras (I had to sleep with one on too, so need to be comfortable).
Lansinoh nipple cream - a godsend!!

We had a tricky first few weeks with painful latching. Watching YouTube videos on the flipple technique saved me and we're still feeding now, 19 months later! Never thought I'd say that! Good luck :)

Buy and read “the womanly art of breastfeeding”. It explains how to breastfeed and how to fix all the things that can go wrong. The most useful advice I got was don’t bother buying anything you can get from Amazon prime before you need it as you can always get it next day delivery if you end up wanting it.

I bought nursing bras, lansinoh cream, nipple pads, breast milk bags and a double boob pump. I second PP who suggested the ready made bottles of formula, I had the sma ones.

I ended up ff first night in the hospital (I had twins, I was exhausted, I couldn’t feed them both and the absolutely wonderful MW fed my babies and stayed with me as I cried) and I’m so glad I had the formula milk with me, although I was really quite anti feeding them it.

Don’t mean to piss on your parade with the above, billions of women successfully bf, it just didn’t work out that way for me. I’d seriously suggest amazon prime, it’s saved my bacon on multiple occasions, and if you need bottles, saves you the hassle!

Good luck with bf!

M&S nursing bras, Boots breast pads and Lansinoh nipple cream. I did buy an electric breast pump and a set of bottles ‘just in case’ but none of my babies were keen on bottles so just stuck to the easiest method.

I wouldn’t personally buy formula and a steriliser as a back up because if you really want to BF, I feel like it’s setting your mind up to fail having it there ‘just in case’. There’s always 24 hour supermarkets and amazon prime if you’re really desperate.

You don't really need much to breastfeed. I'd get a couple of nursing bras (Bravado Body Silk are really good and are stretchy enough to accommodate changing boob size in the early days) and a pack of breast pads and then concentrate on knowledge and support, which is what generally makes the difference between wanting to breastfeed and actually doing it. If you know anyone in your area who has breastfed, ask them about breastfeeding counsellors and support groups. Make sure you have the contact details somewhere easy to find. Get The Food of Love and read it when you are still pregnant, and bookmark the Kellymom website.

I would say that your chances of being able to breastfeed are vastly increased if you know, before your baby is born, about the most common barriers to breastfeeding and are aware of things you can do to try to solve those problems. That way you can go "oh, a growth spurt - I've read about that and know just to wait it out" or "fuck, my nipples are in agony - I'm going to see X to sort out the baby's latch" or "I can see all the signs that my baby isn't getting enough milk from the breast - I'll contact my health visitor to keep an eye on the baby's health, talk to a breastfeeding counsellor about identifying the problem and how to fix it if at all possible and how to go about supplementing in ways that are likely to support carrying on breastfeeding - maybe starting off by cup feeding expressed milk and seeing if that does the trick."

My helpful resources were the book "The womanly art of breastfeeding" and loads of YouTube videos about latch.

Lanisoh cream (I got it on prescription). Nipple shields. I got a cheap manual pump and an electric one, should've just tried the cheap manual one first as it was fine. A v shaped pillow helps you both get comfy.

Oh and my kindle fire kept me from being bored shitless. Any tablet with decent battery life that you can read in the dark at 4am would do.

Lansinoh cream essential! Apply a thin layer to nipple and areola after every feed for a week or two. Don't wait till you get sore - prevention is key!

Also, breast pads, nursing bras and nursing tops, muslins and a Widgey feeding pillow. This one is really firm and so keeps the baby high up to prevent you hunching over. Always put a folded muslin under baby's head so that they aren't sick directly onto the pillow.

I had a couple of bottles and a cheap cold steriliser just in case, but only because my friend lent them to me. Didn't need them until later, when I started occasional expressing.

Another thing I found useful was a breastfeeding cover for feeding in places where I felt a bit self-conscious. I like the Baby Au Lait ones. Always lots second hand on Ebay.

Good luck!

Just seen that a PP says breast pads are a waste of money. If I didn't wear them, I'd stink of stale milk, as the opposite breast to the one I'm feeding from leaks milk.

I'd buy them just in case. I clearly remember a 9pm dash to babies r us with a 4 day old baby when breast feeding wasn't working out.

Lansinoh and breast pads. I assume you already have muslins.

No need to get a pump or bottles or steriliser until you need it. Most supermarkets sell them and if not there's always Amazon prime!

A bra you can nurse in, though personally going braless for the first few days is much much easier!