Advice for first time breastfeeders? - Page 2

[jojoboy]

Originally Posted by maddymama

Hi Mama,
You've gotten tons of great advice from other mamas here on this thread. For me, it's all about the latch. Don't feel bad for spending a ton of time in the first few days/feedings getting the latch correct. It will save your some pain and frustration later on.
~maddymama

:

The first few days (3-5 day) are designed for you to practice your latch - your baby really won't be getting that much milk from you anyway, so take time to get the latch right (you should not be in pain) each time you nurse, even at night.

And especially since this is your first baby - master one hold first and then move on to laying down or other positions. Laying down nursing is harder to get right than one of the sitting/holding positions, so get a sitting position mastered and then practice the lying down. This extra patient practice early on will make breastfeeding much much much better. Good luck mama!!

[Red Pajama]

You've gotten tons of great advice. I'll add only a few more.

For hospital birth, make sure your breastfeeding is written up in your birth plan. Things to consider are pacifiers, sugar water for low blood sugar, giving baby to you to nurse immediately, and (it happened to me) what to do in the event of a C-section.

Once you're home, pay no attention to those that say that nursing to sleep is a bad habit. It's a delightfully peaceful way to go to sleep. I recommend nursing to sleep for as long as it works!

[FeminineFigure]

All great advice; however, don't assume everything will be difficult. You just never know. I assumed I'd have an easy birth--I would never have thought I would have had a c-section. And I assumed that breastfeeding might be hard because I have sensitive nipples. But nursing ended up easy for me. After the hoopla of the c-section--they even took him away for a little bit because they thought he wasn't breathing enough, he latched on within about 5 seconds and never looked back. I was sore for about 4 days (just on latch-on) which the Lanolish cream helped, but that's it.

I read up on so much, stressed about paci's, bottles, etc. I was against the paci. My doctor saw how easy he took to nursing and she (who is very, very AP/natural childbirth friendly) said she thought a paci may be nice for him. And it was. And I got over my guilt. It was a lifesaver for some early car rides! And guess what? At about 12 weeks, he very suddenly would not take the paci anymore. End of that.

And if you don't have trouble nursing, don't be completely afraid of supplementing with a bottle. I started at about 2-3 weeks. Gave him a bottle once or twice per week. Starting at about 8 weeks, my mother watches him 1x/week for about 8-10 hrs (I own my own business and needed to work some days without him), and he bottle feeds. Effortlessly. Just use a low-flow nipple. And don't stress if there are no problems!