Help me help my friend

[ChelseaWantsOut]

My longtime best friend just told me she's pregnant!  Hooray!

With her first baby, she said she had to use a nipple shield thingie to nurse him because her breasts were too big and would have suffocated him otherwise(???), and she stopped nursing altogether around 4 mos and pumped for several more months.  I have no experience nursing with very large breasts (or anything other than very small breasts), but I'm thinking with the right info/support it would be possible for her to have an easier/more satisfying nursing experience this time.  I can tell she wants a better nursing experience because every time she sees me nursing she says, "I'm so glad that's going so much better for you than it did for me," or similar.  Thoughts?  Links?  TIA!

[averlee]

I don't understand about the suffocating, and I'd bet she got some misinformation early-on. I'd recommend the books, the La Leche league book (the womanly art of breastfeeding) is really good, but my favorite was Bestfeeding. It has lots of photos, which I found very helpful.

Different positions can help, side lying can be great. Big breasted women can sometimes feed from the "top" breast while side-lying. The "laid back breastfeeding" positions work well with breasts of any size, also.

Also, sometimes with very big breasts, you have more flexibility of positioning. My good friend with the G-cups would sit "criss cross applesauce" and lay her baby over her knees, and just lean slightly forward, plopping her nip right in baby's face. My smaller-by-comparison D-cups wouldn't reach my lap without a pillow.

[ewe+lamb]

I agree with averlee, sounds misinformed from my pov not very confident about her body - maybe - not sure, just a suggestion, the nipple shields sound abit like a sort of security blanket thing that you give to kids, try and point her to join the mdc community here as well, lots of mothers with big or small breasts post and can help her build her confidence as well. Can you both go to a LLL meeting lots of support and correct information there - there is the LLLi forum as well if there's not a meeting near you, the book recommendations are good too, and the new edition of the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding is just fantastic - so much better than the last one, I don't know Bestfeeding but have only heard good things about it.  It sounds like she needs good information and lots of confidence boosting.  She's really lucky to have a friend like you.