nursing in bed

[tigermiep]

how on earth is this comfortable for anyone??? I cannot do the side-lying nursing thing with DS (1 month), but getting out of bed is wearing me out. He hates to sleep in his co-sleeper, but that's OT. anyway, when i try to lie on my side, with a pillow behind me and one under DS, I can't relax at all, and it's hard for DS to latch on. I have large breasts with nipples that point slightly to the sides, and we usually nurse in a football hold. When I nurse DS without a pillow under him (side-lying), he has trouble breathing because of all the breast tissue, so I have to hold and compress my breast with my opposite hand.

DS likes to nurse a lot. All the time. I was lucky today in being able to nurse him to sleep and have him nap for an hour and a half, almost 2 hours.

[alegna]

Practice!

It gets easier as they get bigger too.

-Angela

[AutumnAir]

It took a while for me to figure it out too. I also have larger breasts and for months I had to hold my breast in one hand to keep the latch okay. It's only in the last couple of months that I've started to be able to just flop one out and let her nurse!

Things that helped me were constantly trying new ways of doing it - I used to prop DD's head up on my arm, now I use a pillow to prop her up a bit... Experiment with angles and so on. Try feeding from the top breast rather than the bottom one (if that makes sense!) and see if that works better.

As they get older and better able to move and latch on by themselves it does get easier.

[lifeguard]

I still find side lying uncomfortable & his latch is often a little off when we do it. I'm also very large breasted & we much prefer the football hold.

What I have found is working better for us when I want to nurse lying down is for me to lie on my back with a pillow under my arm on the side I want to nurse. Then I lay him on top of me so he's sort half on his side & half on his stomach across my stomach. Sometimes getting him latched takes a minute but after that I can totally relax & just let his head rest on my arm. I wish I had a picture - I'm not sure I've described this well enough. Anyway, I only started doing this at about 8 weeks so I'm not sure how well it would have worked before but I wish I had tried - it makes my nights much more restful.

[SaraC]

Practice, practice, practice! With my first child I just couldn't get lying down to nurse and it was a real pain. I have flat nipples and I really had to help her stay latched on and it was just easier to be upright. But it was so tiring. With my second baby I vowed to learn to nurse lying down and I just kept at it and finally we both got better at it. Learning to nurse in any position is a process so just keep trying and hang in there. You will get it

[leavemealone]

Do you know someone who can come over and show you? My MWs assistant showed me how during the 3 day postpartum visit she does. That helped me a lot more than seeing pics or reading about it. I don't find the position to be extremely comfortable, but it does allow me some rest/sleep that I probably wouldn't get if I was sitting up.

[inhomecare]

I couldn't figure it out for a while either. I was trying to nurse with her on a pillow, but the realized that she was up too high. Now I am on my side and she is on her side also just on the bed. We are tummy to tummy. Play around with pillows and your arms until you find out what matches up. Here is a thread from the other day that has a website with great visuals: http://www.mothering.com/discussions...893&highlight=

[artgoddess]

hmmm, I never tried it with a pillow under my babies. It took probably 6 weeks or so for me to get it down with my first, and then only a couple weeks with my second. It just takes practice. Not only for you but for the babe. Keep trying!

[smibbo]

really heavy-duty nursing bra might help; the opening for the nipple is smaller than the breast ususally so when you pop it out, some of the breast is held in place by the nursing bra.

You may need to shop around to get a true nursing bra rather than the modern style "nurse-friendly" bras that just have a seperate latch to undo the whole front of the bra.

[dollyanna]

I think it has to do with the baby's size and head control, too. I remember thinking that everyone was crazy when they talked about side-nursing. I drove myself nuts trying to make it happen for the first month, gave up for the second month, and by 3 months it worked really, really easily. Maybe just try once a week until it seems effortless? In the meantime, have you tried half-reclining and having her on top of you? I don't know if it would work with big boobs... I was always slightly worried about sids, but I figured if something happened I would likely wake up.

[geenaleigh]

I had a lot of trouble in the beginning too. But my little one is now 9 months and it's very easy and comfortable. I think it has a lot to do with the babies size. Once they are a little bigger it's easier.