Anyone unable to breastfeed first baby but did second? Any tips?

[Napqueen1234]

Hello :)

Pregnant with dc2 and keen to breastfeed. Was v keen first time but due to various issues (early baby, jaundiced, being an anxious first time mum!) it didn't work out.

Obviously cant predict how all will go and nothing against FF at all if I need to- it worked very well for DD in the end but wondered if anyone who did breastfeed their second child what did you do differently/any tips?

Thanks!

I’ve only breastfed ds1, but have friends that didn’t for first child for various reasons, but it came good for second baby!
I think it’s harder- not in terms of establishing feeding- but keeping it going because you’re familiar with how it works etc with formula.
I’m terrified of needed to formula feed for next baby. because I dont think id be organised enough!
What was main issue with dc1? Did you establish feeding or did they need formula from birth?

Thanks @Bere for your reply. Basically she wasn’t feeding, ended up v jaundiced and admitted for 3 days and was told she MUST have 15 ml every 2 hours. Found it hard breastfeeding to know how much she was getting so was v anxious and supplementing with formula. Then never really built up a supply. Looking back I would have done differently but it was v stressful! Thanks for the info about your friends!

If you need to supplement with formula early on, pump in addition to breastfeeding to keep up supply. When you first start feeding looking up biological or laid back breastfeeding. This can be done straight after delivery. Basically baby lies on top of you and you are lying back in hospital bed, baby can access breasts when baby wants. No need to force on. Sometimes it helps to brush nipple against baby mouth. Kelly mom has a lot of good breastfeeding tips. The hardest time for breastfeeding is first week or two. Get past that and it gets easier. My first week with my second every time he latched on it was so painful I cursed. After a week it was fine. I had to just keep going. And early on you have to feed often bc their tummy’s are so small.

@napqueen
Yes I think just approach it planning to get through first few days...my ds was also jaundiced, even though he was latching ok as the midwife told me to feed him every 4 hours I was literally doing that- and writing it all down thinking I was doing a great job! Then at my first home weigh in they said he’d lost 20% of birth weight and was jaundiced, she then told me off for not having formula in the house! She said she’d come back in 24 hours, so I basically sat in a chair for about 8 hours feeding, which got his fluids up and my the end of the day my milk had come in.
But I know I was very lucky, and hospital said my ds was a natural breastfeeder and typically babies don’t latch so well- so I had luck on my side.
I think for the first few days you need to remove the idea of them being ‘fed’ like they would be with a bottle, and let them graze on colostrum taking in as much as they can.
Once you milk is in it all becomes a lot easier, and then by week 8 it is very easy.
Check out the milk meg and dr jack newman - loads of information, dr jack Newman has more of the science of breastfeeding which was really motivating for me.

It's absolutely possible. I breast my first son but it was hard going - he was also early, jaundiced and wouldn't latch so I was pumping and cup feeding for the first two weeks. I did continue bf but it never felt that easy and he took ages to feed. Stopped just short of 6 months.

DS2 is now 9 weeks old and breastfeeding has been so much easier. He wasn't premature but was still in NICU for a while but despite this he managed to latch very easily and feeding has been a breeze. No nipple pain at all and no supply issues.

So in my experience it has been so much easier second time around (and not because of anything I did or didn't do). Wishing you all the best

I fed my dd1 for 5days - while in hospital, then stopped once I got home. During the 5 days she was given donor milk at hospital and every feed was painful, in the end I had blood blisters on both nipples. It was a hard induced labour (b2b, ventouse, 3rd degree tear and episiotomy) I was young, frightened and my now exh barely visited leaving me alone for most of the time on a busy ward - probably a similar story for a lot of people.

Dd2 and dd3 I breastfed, I had easier births, a lovely husband who helped, took me to MLU clinic every day with dd2 for the first few days while I got the hang of it.

Mentally what helped was knowing dd1 was fine! Bottle feeding was fine so if it didn't work out with dd2 it didn't really matter. I took it one feed at a time and just felt each feed was a success and if that was it so be it. I also introduced a dummy after about 5 days because she would suck constantly, there was no confusion, if she wanted comfort the dummy gave it to her and if she wasn't satisfied id feed her. Fed dd2 until 8wks pregnany with dd3.

Dd3 was born and luckily my nipples where still tough from feeding dd2 so had no problems at all. I mainly loved bf because I'm lazy and bottle feeding required being organised!

Good luck xx

With ds1 we only lasted 3 weeks bf.
He couldn't put the effort in to bf properly and ended up jaundiced. I mistook long sleeps for happy baby, but he didn't have the energy to wake up and cry.
With DS2 it was more successful, and I'm glad I tried as it put to rest the feelings of guilt/failure from first attempt, but I gave up at 4 months (earlier than I needed to within maternity leave) because it just wasn't a pleasurable/satisfying thing for me. He was also a large baby and needed ridiculous amounts of milk when I switched to bottles.