Is it ever NOT hard at the beginning? - Page 3

[justthinkn]

I have a dear friend who - IMHO - does everything wrong with breastfeeding, other than she does it She read a little pamphlet on nursing before her first birth (v. the tomes I read ), she gives formula supplements before her milk comes in, she schedules feedings basically from the beginning, she enjoys lots of free space between her and her babies from the beginning, she sees 1 yr as the maximum rather than minimum goal to shoot for... (And really, she is a great person, so please don't flame her - she's a loving mother who has read very different things than many of us have, and she has great kids and a great relationship with them.)

Anyway, my point is, if I had done any of what she routinely has done, my breastfeeding relationship with DD surely would not have survived. But my friend never had a SINGLE issue with nursing. Do I think this is cosmically unfair, since I did everything "right" and never achieved a full supply? Yeah, but that's off-topic The point is, lots of uninformed people have great nursing relationships, and I'm sure you're off to an even better start than most of them, b/c you're here, learning lots of great things!

[Sarah W]

I never had any issues. We played around with BFing the day DD was born and seemed to work it out between us, the next day my nipples were a bit sore, and that was it. Smooth sailing until a small bout of thrush. She had a preference for one side, but not that affected us.

[Biscuits & Gravy]

In my experience it can depend on the baby! My first son didn't latch on correctly for 6.5 weeks and we had every problem in the books. My newborn son latched on immediately and has been nursing well since then. No problems aside from some nipple tenderness for the first few days.

With my first I was determined to make it work, no matter what. That attitude got me through, along with my mom's advice to take it one feeding at a time. I got through each nursing session hoping that maybe the next one would be better, and eventually it was. I also surrounded myself with support. My H was supportive, I went to LLL meetings and nursing mom groups, called friends who were successful nursing moms and ignored advice that didn't support what I wanted to achieve which was EBFing my baby.

Good luck!!

[Patchfire]

It's been easy for me... three times.

That said, if I had had ds first, before I knew quite as much as I did then, it would have been harder. He didn't want to latch on at first, but because I was at home and relaxed and knew I had milk (I had nursed through pregnancy and was tandem nursing), we just were patient. Dh actually fixed it around 24 hours postpartum, when he reminded me to try a different hold - one that dd1 had hated from the get-go, naturally.

But both of my dds latched on easily and we have had very few problems. With dd1, I had a couple of plugged ducts between 6 and 12 months, and one bout of mastitis at 18 months, all down to *me* doing too much.

I will say that dd2 was the fastest of the bunch - she fully latched on within 10 minutes of birth... she had a full nursing before she ever deigned to open her eyes.

[roxyrox]

It wasn't hard for me at all. Ds latched on in the pool after he was born for a few minutes. After that he slept 12 hours and when we were home I was a bit unsure what I was doing. I just kept trying to latch him and eventually it worked. I kept waiting for it to be "sore" or "engorged" as I had read about that but it never happened! By day 3 I felt like a pro and could even feed ds whist walking around making tea for visitors!

[GooeyRN]

I had/have a difficult time with both kids, but I do know many that havent had any problems at all.

[soccermama]

DS latched on right away and had no problems until about 3 months in and my milk supply went south - meaning, barely pumping an ounce a day, had to start supplementing formula at the end of each nursing session.......DS did a wonderful job, mama - not so much. But, now, from joining MDC, I've certainly learned a ton more - ways to produce more milk and keep it constant. Good luck to you!!