I think there was a similar discussion here several months ago. ITA, I was one of those women that tried my best to educate myself before my baby arrived. I read several BF books, hung out on BF forums, etc.. Well, I had the BF newbie exp from hell. I had extreme pain I was crying at each nursing session), even after sticking it out for 6 wks, and when my ob asked how things were going at my 6 wk pp appt, I said, "good, except I am still in so much pain when I BF." He told me, by 6 wks, the pain should have improved quite a bit (his wife BF'd, so I believe he was able to tell me this b/c of her exp). In the books, they tell you there will be pain but it gets better. What they don't tell you is how much pain is normal and how much is abnormal and the length of time the pain should last. Turns out I had a bad case of ductal thrush (from the IV antibiotics I got during L&D) AND my son was severely tongue tied. The books that I had read did NOT address either one of these issues, b/c trust me, I read and re-read and re-checked my latch a zillion times. I got so sick of ppl telling me, "well, if it hurts, it means something is wrong with your latch." Then I dealt with a whole slew of docs who were wishy washy about whether or not my son was really tongue tied and if clipping the frenulum would even help. Several just told me to wait it out and it would grow longer!!!!
I ended up re-consulting with my LC (who had originally mentioned that my son did look like he was tongue tied, even the stupid ped ENT was wishywashy about this), and she got in touch with the ped/ob to get thrush tx organized AND she hooked me up with a ped who actually took extra classes in clipping tongue tied babies for the sole purpose of BFing (he said my son's was the worst case he had seen yet AND he was really shocked I was able to BF him at all, he actually patted me on the back for sticking it out... so did my ob and my LC). It still took a few wks after my son's frenulum was clipped before things got better. However, I must say I was pretty upset at the fact that I really tried to prep myself for BFing and d/t lack of info in the books about my specific situations, I kept thinking, *I* was doing something wrong, when I wasn't. It turns out I had another friend who pretty much dealt with the same exact scenario, and she also got the run around, had to see THREE LC's, before one was able to pinpt the tongue tied problem AND finally saw a ped who said clipping it wouldn't hurt, so it was worth a try.
So, "no" I do not think the books give a realisitc view of BFing, b/c I was expecting the worse and it was even worse than what I thought it would be, even though I braced myself for it.
I ended up re-consulting with my LC (who had originally mentioned that my son did look like he was tongue tied, even the stupid ped ENT was wishywashy about this), and she got in touch with the ped/ob to get thrush tx organized AND she hooked me up with a ped who actually took extra classes in clipping tongue tied babies for the sole purpose of BFing (he said my son's was the worst case he had seen yet AND he was really shocked I was able to BF him at all, he actually patted me on the back for sticking it out... so did my ob and my LC). It still took a few wks after my son's frenulum was clipped before things got better. However, I must say I was pretty upset at the fact that I really tried to prep myself for BFing and d/t lack of info in the books about my specific situations, I kept thinking, *I* was doing something wrong, when I wasn't. It turns out I had another friend who pretty much dealt with the same exact scenario, and she also got the run around, had to see THREE LC's, before one was able to pinpt the tongue tied problem AND finally saw a ped who said clipping it wouldn't hurt, so it was worth a try.
So, "no" I do not think the books give a realisitc view of BFing, b/c I was expecting the worse and it was even worse than what I thought it would be, even though I braced myself for it.
