Advice for 1st Time Breastfeeding Moms - Page 2

[Juliensiss]

~Avoid pacifiers and nipples from bottles for 2 weeks to avoid nipple confusion. 

~Don't let the nurses pressure you into bottle feeding.

~Ds nursed till he was 3 1/2 YEARS old! Don't let anyone give you grief.  He is almost 6 and totally adjusted, not a sissy.....

~If you cloth diaper BM poop is washable.

[mt_gooseberry]

I thought of some more stuff I wish I would have known:

*Pumping, if you end up doing any, is a learned skill, just like breastfeeding.  Expect to get more milk after you learn what techniques and which pumps work for you.  I ended up being able to get out the most milk with an Avent manual pump, even though most people will tell you electric is the only way to go.  I also know someone who got the most milk via manual expression!  Experiment to find what works best for you.

*If you get mastitis, the milk itself isn't infected, so don't worry about your baby drinking germy milk.  Continued nursing (though painful) will help clear up the infection.  However, if you get a thrush infection, your milk is contagious...continue nursing, just be sure that even if your baby doesn't show any symptoms, they still get treated (and vice versa if baby has symptoms and you don't). 

I'll probably keep having to post as I remember stuff!

[Jaimee]

Originally Posted by Juliensiss 

~If you cloth diaper BM poop is washable.

Both formula fed and breastfed poop are washable off cloth diapers.  No dunking, scraping, or soaking necessary- just throw it all into the wash.  Solid food poop is not washable and must be removed prior to washing or you'll end up with solid food particles at the bottom of your washing machine.

[sosurreal09]

well depends on the baby or the formula(?) my BF FF her DD and she had solid poops.

[Jaimee]

Huh, that's certainly not a typical reaction to formula!  I wonder if she was dealing with some allergy?  I teach cloth diapering 101 seminars at natural parenting stores and we always teach that until baby is eating solid foods, the poop can go straight into the washing machine and will be spun out.  I just wanted to be sure that any first time moms knew that if they were thinking of cloth diapering. 

[sosurreal09]

OOOh thanks for the clarification! I thought it was weird but I never had any experience with it besides her lol

[SoCaliMommy]

 pumping- don't worry about how much you pump out, it's not a reliable way to gauge your supply.

 nipple shields are not evil and won't always lead to problems if you use them. 

nursing a baby when they start to get teeth does not hurt, unless baby is latched on wrong or tries to be funny when they unlatch and scraps their teeth on you. I nursed my son til he was 4 years old when he self weaned.

[sosurreal09]

Hey we have the same name, spelled the same way! PP

[xakana]

"Do or do not, there is no 'try.'"

You cannot fail if you do your best. Do not be afraid and trust your body--not a scale or a pump (which cannot express as much as your baby).

Engorgement passes after the first few days if you don't encourage it by pumping or other unnecessary things. Your body has to figure out how much your baby needs, so at first, it may make a little too much. It WILL pass! Don't sabotage yourself by encouraging or discouraging your milk without need in the first week.

Don't allow formula in your house. "Just in case" is the formula company's slogan. One bottle is all it takes to interrupt the nursing relationship with some children. Avoid all bottles if you can for at least 6 weeks.

Give nursing 8 weeks. With the exception of medical issues and sleep deprivation, whatever you're struggling with should pass by then. It's like a magic switch flips and it just gets better.
 

Bed baby close. If you're not comfortable with bedsharing, have a bassinet or crib by your bed so you don't have to run to another room or wait until baby's crying to feed. A fussy baby has more issues latching, so the sooner you feed, the better! Rule of thumb for the first three months is "If the baby's awake and dry, offer the breast."

[Abraisme]

Yup, good advice.  Nearly everyone I know that was GOING TO BREASTFEED did and only a few of the people that I know that were "going to see if they could breastfeed" ended up being successful.  If you enter with the right attitude you're more likely to get through any struggles or tough times. 
 

Originally Posted by xakana 

"Do or do not, there is no 'try.'"

You cannot fail if you do your best. Do not be afraid and trust your body--not a scale or a pump (which cannot express as much as your baby).

Engorgement passes after the first few days if you don't encourage it by pumping or other unnecessary things. Your body has to figure out how much your baby needs, so at first, it may make a little too much. It WILL pass! Don't sabotage yourself by encouraging or discouraging your milk without need in the first week.

Don't allow formula in your house. "Just in case" is the formula company's slogan. One bottle is all it takes to interrupt the nursing relationship with some children. Avoid all bottles if you can for at least 6 weeks.

Give nursing 8 weeks. With the exception of medical issues and sleep deprivation, whatever you're struggling with should pass by then. It's like a magic switch flips and it just gets better.
 

Bed baby close. If you're not comfortable with bedsharing, have a bassinet or crib by your bed so you don't have to run to another room or wait until baby's crying to feed. A fussy baby has more issues latching, so the sooner you feed, the better! Rule of thumb for the first three months is "If the baby's awake and dry, offer the breast."

[Bird Girl]

I will say that we kept all our formula samples; we put them down with the earthquake supplies. I want my husband to be able to feed the baby if something should happen to me and, secondarily, if there is a major earthquake in our area, we will probably run into someone who needs that formula.

I've never actually opened a can of formula, however--all the samples we've ever received were stored until their expiration date, then pitched.

I would second the advice to just keep going in the first few weeks--newborns have tiny mouths (at least compared with my nipples) and there's some discomfort/pain at first, no matter how wide the latch or careful the mom.

The first rule of nursing newborns is to feed the baby--whether that means nursing, pumping, supplementing, or a combination. You cannot establish a good nursing relationship if you are terrified that the baby is going to dehydrate. If you don't feel confident, get help sooner rather than later. The second rule of nursing newborns is that they do not stay this young and helpless long; if you can keep pumping, you can establish your nursing relationship no matter what, whether that's at four days, four weeks, or four months. It took my first child many weeks of pumping and feeding, but she finally figured it out, and I nursed her for two years.

[sosurreal09]

To add to the above, it can be hard for a BFing mom b/c you can not measure what the baby is eating. I have seen too many moms start out great but doubt themselves b/c there was nothing to measure and start supplementing and eventually giving up. You need to trust your body and it's ability to feed your baby. I would seek help way before I would even think about supplementing a newborn. (even with BM) You need them to be sucking to produce and I would keep the baby latched on all day long if you think they may not be getting enough.

Also my DD was a screamer she screamer all-day-long with all the BFing she could handle and me wearing her skin to skin 12hrs a day if not more! Some babies are really high needs and don't doubt your parenting if you have a baby like this. The first year of her life was the most challenging of mine but I met her needs and never took the easy route (not AP) I always stuck to AP even with all the hardship I was going through and around 9 m/o it all started to change and at a year she was absolutely amazing! Now she is 19 m/o and so secure and happy and loving I couldn't ask for more. I know the way I parented her met her needs and let her be who she is. She truly trusts me and all I get are compliments about how well behaved she is and how secure she is. She will literally be at the park running up the big kids playground to the biggest slide and there will be something dangerous to one side of her (like a drop with no rail or something) and all I have to do is say "uhuh danger" and she will immediately turn around and just go down the slide. That happened yesterday actually and several parents came up to me in awe about how secure she was to be able to run through the park and really listen to me if need be. Anyway my point is don't panic and think you are doing something wrong if you have this kind of baby. I had a few moments of "OH NO what if she isn't getting enough milk" and on top of that my pedi stunk and was pushing formula from our first visit. I never gave her any though. I kept in touch with my MW and she always assured me she was doing great! When you have a "harder" baby it is easy to blame yourself that there MUST be something you are not doing right, but it's not always true. So trust yourself, trust your body, and trust your instincts. Don't let anyone else try to convince you that you are doing anything wrong b/c you will get a lot of unwanted advice!