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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Share your BFing advice here!
I'm breastfeeding minibini (well, trying) and it sure is hard to get the hang of it. What breastfeeding tips do you ladies have for new moms? Maybe this will be helpful to the other ladies due soon too 
Re: Share your BFing advice here!
BFing is hard, hard, hard. Do you have a clinic nearby? I had awesome nurses that helped me at the hospital then more nurses at a BFing clinic we went to a couple of times after bringing DS home.
They mostly helped me with getting him to latch, looking at his jaw to make sure he was actually drinking(it's very distinctive). Besides that I had oatmeal for breakfast every morning and Milk Maid tea in the afternoon to build up my supply.
Sorry I'm not more help. BFing is hard and it hurts, but it does get better after a month or so... I promise.
Good luck!
The best advice that I received was put LO to your breast as much as you can. To start with LO will take for EVER to eat and probably fall sleep while eating.
It does get easier. One of my Mum friends didn't want to go past 6 months when our LOs were a month old, now at 4 months she doesn't want to give up when she goes back to work (9 months).
I tucked a burp rag into the bottom of my nursing bra to catch the leaks. Nursing was a messy event for a good month and a half.
BabyD fed better when on a schedule, and worse when trying to go on-demand. He would latch better, suck better, and feed better vs latch/release/repeat, suck/pause/pause/suck, and nursing frequently for short periods (snacks) instead of long enough to get full and get the hind milk.
We had some struggles getting BabyD to open up wide enough to get the nipple in the mouth so his lips were back far enough for effective sucking. When he had an improper latch my nipples hurt. When he had a proper latch I had only some discomfort.
Nursing is hard work. At one point I was one day away from saying "that's it!" and going with pumping and bottle feeding.
I set a series of goals for myself/us. Two days, to get colostrum and antibodies. Two weeks, for more antibodies and to see if nursing was working well enough that BabyD was thriving. Six weeks, to see if nursing was working well enough for both of us. (we almost didn't go past six weeks, it was that frustrating) Three months to see if I was still up to it. I wanted to stop at three and ended up nursing until five months. I had to get the flu shot and the H1N1 shot then, on doctor recommendation, keep nursing for two weeks past the last shot to make sure I made antibodies and passed them on.
Learn how to properly hand express. Useful when you are engorged and need to release pressure in order to get a proper latch. Extremely useful to get the last bit out for your frozen supply. I did full expressions by hand due to some bad timing while on our travels. Even in the car a few times, in traffic, under the nursing cover. Just wasn't a good time to pull over so I expressed and fed BabyD by bottle.
Store milk. You might want/need to do something and can leave a bottle. I had such fluctuating supply that at times I would give BabyD a bottle from the supply, then pump out to confirm that my production had dipped a lot. Then I would give BabyD another bottle at the next feeding, skip a pumping, then either latch or pump at the feeding after that. Depended. If I felt full, then latch. If I didn't, then pump out to keep stimulation for supply then wait. My supply went excess or low for no reasons I could figure. Was quite frustrating.
My milk did not fully come in until the end of the sixth day. So, I was told to feed him on each breast for 15 min. each, then pump on each breast for 15 minutes each, while DH topped him up on formula. Every 3 hours. This means I was busy with my boobs for a full freaking hour. But by the 7th day I was fully engorged. And could just breast-feed exclusively.
It took a 4 1/2 weeks for bf to be established and it not to hurt like hell. I got mastitis and got sick as hell. I wondered what was going on since it hurt so much and found out that he has a little bit of a tongue tie, but he adapted.
BF can be really hard, and if you had a reduction and you have a earlybird of a baby, so you have a few challenges, you are both learning. When I was a baby I hated BF because I did not know how to suck right and breastmilk would come out of my nose. Don't be too hard on yourself. I like FayeD's idea of setting goals. Good luck.
www.kellymom.com
She has it all. What specific issues are you having? From your sig it looks like he was early, which really makes it a lot harder.
ETA: I stalked you, and wow, that must have been scary. Did you lose much blood? That can dilute your hormones and make it hard to bring your milk in.
I would rent a pump from the hospital (they really are better than normal pumps) and bring your milk in/establish supply with it until he grows a bit and gets better at nursing (if that's the problems you're having).
Nothing as technical as everybody else shared...although I do third the recommendation for renting the hospital pump if you can, even if its only for the first month, it will make a huge difference getting your supply up (and possibly a small stash as well)
A few things that always worked for me in the begining: get a few seasons of some shows people have reccomended (Boardwalk Empire is a good one) a comfy chair, lots of water, and a boppy, and just made your peace with the fact you might be there for awhile, because somedays you are just going to have to hunker down, get comfortable, and make it work.
As everyone says, it is allot of work. My midwife told me to set smaller goals. First, get to 6 weeks, then to 3 months, etc, because in the begining, when it is hard and you are so frustrated its a killer to think about "well crap, I gotta do this for 6 more months, no effing way" ....at least that worked for me, and now we are on month 7 and still doing it, (although not exclusively).
Lastly , try a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. I always felt like it helped with supply first thing in the morning, although I was so tired I might have just been wishing for that.
Good Luck!
Everyone here has given a lot of good advice. To add (or reitterate), get help. A good LC is advice and support. BFing is hard. I've struggled both times with latch. Put B to the breast as much as possible - literally all day if you can stand it. I dont' have big supply and we supplemented with W (though not sure if we needed to or if the MWs were just anxious), and we solo-bf with M until her first UTI at 2 months. A lot of how I managed was lettin them sleep on me, feed whenever they wanted, even if it wasn't a feed - just for comfort. It helkped build up my supply. Get a hospital grade pump, like others suggested too. I tried with an electric Medela nad then the LC lent me a hospital one and it was SUCH a difference. I went from not getting anything with pumping, to getting 1+oz a time. (But don't put too much store by not getting much in pumping - babies are the most efficient at getting milk out.)
I agree that you have a lot of extra struggles with B, if you had a reduction and he was early, but if he's gaining (or having the wet and dirty nappies) then you're doing great! But - and this is soooo important, if you supplement or end up formula feeding, it does not make you a bad mom. A happy mom makes a happy baby.
Also, I strongly agree with setting small goals - that's what I did both times. It really helps you feel like you're getting somewhere. IF things are going well and B is thriving, but it hurts, try and push through. Someone told me recently that there is a wall -you will want to give up, and think you cant' go any further, but if you push thru that and get to the other side, you'll have smooth sailing. The first 2 months were really hard, but from 4 or so, it's been great.
And any time you need support we're here.
All I have to add is that it's not at as easy as it sounds. It was soooo painful for me in the very beginning and W was having latching issues. I bought some nipple guards to use that helped a little. Once I was past the first 3 weeks, it got much easier and I didn't need them anymore. I wasn't ready to quit when I did, but once his teeth came in, he made that decision a lot easier.
Did you talk to a LC at the hospital? They were so helpful for me.
I was probably quite lucky in that I had minor issues with starting bf DD and none at DS (so there is a bonus - #2 is much, much easier, this was also the experience several of my friends have had).
You've heard that a good latch is very important so if you think this is a problem please get someone knowledgeable to help you. I used nipple cream in the beginning, this probably helped the early issues.
What really helped me mentally is what I've learned at the bf course we attended that a vast majority of women are able to bf and that very often things don't work out due to insufficient support (of professionals and family). Or to put it other way, the number of women who can't breastfeed is much lower than the number of those who were convinced by their midwives, doctors, family etc that they don't produce enough milk/baby just does not want to bf etc. My mom was told that she was not producing enough milk because I was hungry and wanted to nurse all the time (most likely a growth spurth), she started supplementing which of course makes you produce less milk so it was a downward spiral. This was 30 years ago but it still happens, a friend of mine did the antenatal course but had not heard of growth spurths at all before she started bf, if this was the case for me I would have probably started suplementing during those days when DD was attached to me around the clock. My SIL was told by her doctor that she is "producing too much milk" and her baby "does not now how to drink" so if she does not stop bf they will have to remove her glands. I am not joking. And because she trusted her doctor she stopped bf.
So before I get flamed I am certainly not saying that everyone can bf but am saying that very often it is not the case of not being able to but not having enough support and not being informed enough.
here here
I agree with this, and I wasn't able to bf Finn at all and only for about 6 weeks with lila, because of my reduction. Having a reduction does, unfortunately, make bf'ing infinitely more difficult
I can imagine and it totally makes sense that it does. Kudos to you for doing your best, I am sure you got your fair share of discouraging advice. It just makes me so sad, and this is not only bf related, that people sometimes get wrong advice from health professionals and make decisions based on that. On the other hand it is sort of logical that you follow their recs, you don't always have time or resources to do all the research yourself.