Preparing for breastfeeding...what do I need?

[dozyjosie44]

I'm due in a few weeks and I'm hoping to bf. I haven't bought any feeding equipment yet. No bottles, steriliser, breast pump, nothing. I guess I wanted to see how I got on with breastfeeding before spending lots of money on things I may or may not use.

But as time goes on I'm feeling a bit under prepared. If you bf did you buy anything in advance or can it all wait until your feeding preference becomes clearer?

Stretchy crop tops or support vests until your supply settles and you know what size you are (give it 6-12 weeks), or cheap Amazon nursing bras.

I needed a shitload of muslins because I had an oversupply. Breast pads weren’t sufficient 😂

Something to protect your mattress from milk leaks (not guaranteed and doesn’t mean you don’t have enough milk)

Have you considered doing an antenatal breastfeeding class? At the very least, watch some YouTube videos of positioning and attachment. I found the ‘flipple technique’ really helpful to get a good latch with my second. It’s also worth considering antenatal colostrum harvesting.

Lansinoh have done an excellent job marketing themselves as essential but studies have found nipple creams to be no more effective than your own breast milk for healing cracked nipples. Remember that if it is painful after the first 10-20 seconds you should unlatch baby and try to get a deeper latch. Cracks/breaks/bleeding are indicative of a problem. Ask for help until you are blue in the face of you have to. Find out what your local hospital/community midwives/health visitors/LLL/NCT offer and research local lactation consultants.

I bought some nice breastfeeding pyjamas from seraphine which were suitable for seeing visitors in and comfortable to lounge around the house in. Felt very luxurious for me! I still wear them now 18 months later having just stopped feeding.
The other thing I found useful but not immediately required was a haaka style collection device got lots of milk off in the early days for no effort

@Ineedastyleicon

Breasts.

Sorry, couldn't resist!

My thought exactly 😆

3rd time round for me iv got -

•Day time nursing bra's (Asda are my favourite, iv got m&s this time and they don't have any support )
•Marielle bra's for night time (to hold me in and put pads in, they pull down easily and are cheap on Amazon)
•Lansinoh nipple balm - Use this from 1st feed!
•Breast pads, also think Lansinoh are best again amazon.

Extras
•Haaka to collect milk on the other side
•breast milk bags to store that milk
•2 mam self sterilising bottles incase I want a break / to use for the collected milk.

If I want a pump I'll get one once he is here and more bottles if I want/need them.

As for clothes wear a vest top with something over it jumpers in winter (Pull the jumper up and vest top down, or a light cardigan in summer iv never wasted money on breastfeeding clothing.

Oh and a breastfeeding cover if you want one, I personally use one in public and when family come round but lots of people don't bother

Things I found most useful:
Lansinoh nipple cream
Nipple shields (due to flat nipples) - I was advised to express on top as they can impact supply, so I also had a breast pump
The womanly art of breastfeeding book - really put my mind at ease when I was worried about supply etc
Breast pads, I used the lansinoh ones - you leak a LOT
Unwired nursing bras, I got some hotmilk ones online

I would recommend getting some syringes from Amazon and when you're 37 weeks start hand expressing colostrum so if you do struggle you have that ready in the freezer for baby. Then you won't need to spend a fortune on bottles and formula which you may not need.

I struggled to find videos showing you how to hand express when pregnant, but I have since found this lady's page called Olivia Hinge on Instagram olivialactationlconsultant (I have put under scores under each word for her handle but it keeps making it one word!) she has some amazing videos in her highlights

Honestly I didn't have a clue when I started and I got lucky that one of my midwives actually knew a bit about breastfeeding. Believe it or not midwives aren't trained in breastfeeding, can you believe that? Seems crazy to me

I think you should buy a profiled bottle of formula with a teat in case of emergencies. Your baby could be screaming if hunger in the middle of night and you will have no way of helping

Unlimited supply of biscuits/drinks for the long night hours.

Ok based on these comments and a bit more research this morning I now have:

4 x maternity bras.
Disposable nipple pads (will order reusable later.)
Nipple cream.
Emergency pre made formula bottles with teats.
Pregnancy pillow which will double up as a bf pillow.
Big water bottle.

Going to get a lot of primark strappy tops and some extra muslins tomorrow. These will come in useful whether I continue to bf or not. At the moment it's looking quite possible that I might need a planned section so I hope that doesn't hinder my milk coming in too much.

The planned c section did impact my milk it was very slow but I kept offering to baby and pumping in the hospital and eventually we got there.

Good luck!

In advance I bought Lansinoh, a sports water bottle, portable phone charger and a little basket for all the snacks – flapjacks and jelly babies. That way I could be pinned to the sofa for hours but be OK.

I bought reusable breast pads but couldn’t get on with them, found the disposable ones were crap too. I just got used to leaking and it wasn’t a long era until boobs settled down anyway.

I bought LOADS of muslins but DD was not a sicky baby and they only got used to cover her head while I was eating sausage rolls. We use them as tea towels now, and for DIY.

On day 3 DP ran out and got a little manual pump to clear an engorged boob as I can’t hand express for the life of me.

I fed for 4.5 years and realised all you need is to feed your baby on demand. A ring sling wouldn't go amiss for this purpose. Sleep with your baby safely and feed during the night as they need. Save yourself sleep deprivation and stress. Your baby wants to be near you and to establish milk supply and this is the only thing you should concentrate on in the four months following birth.

I hope you get this. Every mother should. I had two years off work and focused on my baby 100% of that time and I am forever grateful that I was able to do that. I believe it's made the world of difference to my daughter, as have those 4.5 years of liquid gold.

@crispmidnightpeace

I fed for 4.5 years and realised all you need is to feed your baby on demand. A ring sling wouldn't go amiss for this purpose. Sleep with your baby safely and feed during the night as they need. Save yourself sleep deprivation and stress. Your baby wants to be near you and to establish milk supply and this is the only thing you should concentrate on in the four months following birth.

I hope you get this. Every mother should. I had two years off work and focused on my baby 100% of that time and I am forever grateful that I was able to do that. I believe it's made the world of difference to my daughter, as have those 4.5 years of liquid gold.

This is really good advice.

I ended up co sleeping with my daughter when she was 5 months and this was around the time she really started to pile weight on. I wonder if this is why sometimes, although I responded to her whenever she cried in the night she was waking frequently because she wasn't happy in her cot.

My DD is 13mo now and although for me the first 6 months were really hard, I am now eternally grateful that we found our way to continuing.

If I had another I would co-sleep from the start to save myself the trauma of sleep deprivation and impact that had on my mental health, I would make sure I had already reached out to a IBCLC accredited lactation consultant in pregnancy incase I needed professional help, I would learn how to feed her in a sling (never managed this and it would have made my life so much easier!!!).

OP I've seen you're having a c-section, I've heard lots of mums say lots of skin to skin the moment baby is born can help your milk come in. Wishing you all the luck x

Definitely Muslin cloths, breast pads and nipple cream! Sports or maternity bras also xx

The womanly art bf book has a specific section on bf after c section

@dozyjosie44 I am also having a planned section after 2 natural births, when your closer to the birth look up hand expressing colostrum on youtube, might put your mind at ease if you can see some milk

You need muslins (everyone needs muslin's!) reusable breast pads, a sleep bra (to hold the pads in place) and a nursing bra - buy at around 38 weeks, and only one of each because you may change in the first 2 weeks post partum. You don't need anything else, that's the beauty of breastfeeding.

A couple of tight fitting vest tops and loose fitting tops over the top makes feeding more discreet

I brought up 4 without muslins, they might be useful, they might be nice to have but not everybody needs them.