Is it like riding a bike?

[Viriditas]

I'm pregnant with my second child.  My son, now 5 1/2, nursed until he was 3.  So when this baby is born it will have been 3 years since I've breastfed and almost 6 years since I've breastfed a newborn.

I was a surrogate 2 years ago and pumped exclusively for 4 months, which was really no fun by any stretch of the imagination.  But that was totally different than breastfeeding.

What I want to know is whether it will still be really hard in the beginning.  Will I have to learn everything all over again?  Will my nipples be as sore?  Or will I/my body remember what to do and it will be like second nature?

Anyone else have a big gap between kids?  Experiences?

 

[Jenni1894]

My DS was 3 1/2 when his sister was born.   He only nursed for 9 mos, sadly.  Anyways, yes, it's like riding a bike.  Once you get that baby in your arms it will come back to you.   But IMO better b/c you KNOW what you are doing.   However, in my experience, not only does the knowledge come back, so do the sore nipples.  And in my case, by #3 I was an old pro...lol...but along with that came clogged ducts, thrush and cracked bleeding nipples.   Which I never had with the other 2!!!

[CheriK]

Well, kind of.  DS and DD turned 7 the day after DD2 was born.  We had a really rough start to bf w/ the twins, but they nursed forever (DS weaned at 6, about the time I got pg again).  I expected DD2 to be easy to bf, after all I knew SO much more, was having a homebirth, had a great "tribe" of friends who were bf moms, LLL Leaders, IBCLCs . . . 

Knowing more certainly helped (nipples shouldn't be more than tender and certainly not cracking. . . good sign to get some help!), as did having that support network.  But it's not all about what you know, baby has a part to play, too.   DD2 had a tongue-tie so it took some time and intervention for everything to go smoothly.  And nursing an older baby/toddler is so different and fills so much more of your nursing time than those intense newborn days, that even with years of bf experience it all seemed pretty new and hard at first.  I remember at one point, with sore nipples & a baby who had to learn how to latch after her TT was clipped, thinking "I HATE breastfeeding" and feeling so guilty that I didn't love to nurse this new baby.  It took a lot less time and trauma to work through our issues w/ DD2, though, and I quickly got back to loving nursing.

Ed. - Forgot to add, I think it's so wonderful that you pumped for the baby.  I have one friend who was a surrogate and one friend who has twins through a surrogate and they both looked at me like I was nuts when I asked if their babies got breastmilk. 

[Viriditas]

Thank you both for your responses.  :)  It just feels like I've forgotten so much about having a newborn at this point!  It's weird to be expecting another when for several years DH and I had pretty much decided we weren't going to have any more.  We don't even have any baby stuff left.  And I got pregnant a LOT faster than I thought I would (like, hours to days after we decided to start trying).  So I'm trying to think of all the things I have to remember and re-learn (and buy!) and it feels pretty overwhelming!
 

Originally Posted by CheriK 

Ed. - Forgot to add, I think it's so wonderful that you pumped for the baby.  I have one friend who was a surrogate and one friend who has twins through a surrogate and they both looked at me like I was nuts when I asked if their babies got breastmilk. 

Thank you!  Pumping was never a doubt in my mind when I decided to be a surrogate.  I couldn't imagine birthing a baby and then NOT giving them the milk that my body automatically makes for them.  I actually wanted to pump for at least 6 months, even longer I hoped.  Deciding to stop pumping that soon was gut-wrenching, but I had a new job, it was the first out-of-the-home job I'd had had since DS was born, and I felt like the several hours a day I was pumping was making it even harder on both him and me.  I cried and cried, though.  Deciding to stop pumping was, by far, the most difficult and emotional part of the whole surrogacy experience for me.

 

[Yuba_River]

My Ds was 3 1/4 when DS2 was born. He hadn't been weaned that long, but it had been a while since nursing a newborn. It actually felt a little awkward at first, but the learning process was much shorter. I did have sore nipples because I was a little sloppy with his latch, but they healed quickly.


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[Dandelionkid]

In my case, I thought it would be like riding a bike- third kid- of course I know what I am doing. In not giving it much thought  I let my dd have a poor latch and she lost 20% body weight before I realized what was going on. Way easier to catch up than my first would have been though!!! My second born latched on like a pro and didn't need any extra nursing attention. Depends partly on the baby too.

[CheriK]

Originally Posted by Viriditas 

 It's weird to be expecting another when for several years DH and I had pretty much decided we weren't going to have any more.  We don't even have any baby stuff left.  And I got pregnant a LOT faster than I thought I would (like, hours to days after we decided to start trying).  So I'm trying to think of all the things I have to remember and re-learn (and buy!) and it feels pretty overwhelming!
 

 

That sounds familiar, LOL!  We had nothing left when DD2 came along.  But most of our friends were done having babies, so we got way more hand-me-downs than we could use.  Just put the word out and you'll get lots of "stuff."  The only thing I bought was a new silk (aka expensive) ring sling; to this day DH claims I had another baby to get that sling.  It mostly does come back to you though, especially because you know all those hard stages will pass so quickly (and you'll actually miss them when they're gone).

[kitty waltz]

My baby is now a month old, and his older siblings are 9 and 7.  I hadn't nursed in about 4 yrs, and yes it is like riding a bike.  I didn't have any difficulty with the latch or positioning, however I did have sore nipples for the first wk or 2.