Breastfeeding in bed....

[Muse84]

I have a 4 week old EBF baby. I suppose we're both still learning how to BF - it was painful for a long time (I have enlisted help from lactation consultant). But it all seems a bit fiddly at the moment.....so I can't imagine a time when he will just latch on in my bed without me having to turn lights on, sit myself up, watch what he's doing and use both hands to get him attached.

My question is, will he learn? Will this change to the point where I can just lie him next to me for nighttime feeds and let him get on with it?!

Its a while back for me now (youngest is 7) but I used to feeding lying down in bed with the baby lying next to me on whichever side I was feeding from (so I would be lying on my side). They'd pretty much latch themselves on and I'd go back to sleep. Next feed I would swap to the other side, so the baby would be put on the other side and we'd get re settled and repeat.

I fully accept that you might not want to co sleep though, but I clearly remember the horror I felt the first time I fell asleep sitting propped up in bed with a baby in my lap and with time felt that the lying down was safer all round (and meant I got more sleep too)

He will, absolutely! I had similar issues at the start with my first and it all massively improved at around 6 weeks I think. There comes a time when you just kind wave them vaguely at your boob and they do it all themselves, and THAT's when you sigh a massive sigh of relief that you don't have to get out of your warm bed and faff about with bottles, particularly with a winter baby! Hang on in there, I think BFing is massively harder at the start and then the whole thing swings the other way and you reap the rewards.

Yep I bf until my wee boy was just over 2 and I swear he was like a bloodhound eventually. We sleep in pitch black and it would take him seconds whilst still pretty much sleeping to latch. I couldn't see my hand if I tried lol. It's amazing when it happens.