Did breastfeeding come easily to you and your baby? - Page 3

[cjuniverse]

Voted 'other'.

Sort of. There was pain and an awkward latch and he was a constant marathon nurser (EXTREME sleep deprivation, I'm talking less than 2 hours in a 5 day period...probably at least part of the explanation for my PPS).

However, supply was always good, he learned to latch quickly, grew/developed well...until about 9 months when he went on strike. Then, I almost lost it (both supply-wise and mentally). We both rebounded beautifully after 12 nightmarish days.

So, all in all, easy and good. But, there were some (very) rough patches.

[TattooedMama]

I am fair skinned and had some minor (normal?) sore nipples with the first 2. All three kids have been naturals at nursing. The worst problem I have had to date was a SEVERELY cracked nipple when my ds#3 was 11 weeks old. Go figure?

[the_lissa]

I said yes, but one child yes, one child no.

[mzfern]

I voted yes... but there was a learning curve for a few weeks. Not nearly as bad as some nursing pairs, though. I was SO surprised how strong and wigglely a baby only a few hours old can be!!!

[rambunctiouscurls]

NO. We had an improper latch that caused a lot of pain, bleeding nipples, blisters etc! It was sooooo painful to sit through a session. Thankfully, I went to a breastfeeding clinic and the LC helped me to be creative with her to get her latched on Right.

9 months later, we are still going strong. I'm so glad I was determined to succeed!

[TigerTail]

Hrm? Other, I suppose, if you consider bloody nipples, engorgement, mastitis etc to be huge obstacles. Did milk come in my breasts after colostrum as it was supposed to? Did we figure out latch? Did I nurse all my kids 'successfully' as long as we mutually chose to? Yes, yes, & yes.

[greenjenny]

I voted yes, but after reading everyone elses replies, I guess I had a few problems, it just never occoured to me to not do it. My 1st was a breeze, but i was living with my parents then and my mom was a big help and support. With my 2nd all was well until I had a wicked time with thrush, and had really sore nipples and could only nurse on one side, but that was ok except that still 7 years later i still have one big boob and one small one with #3 my milk came in really late and i was so frustrated I ended up giving her a bottle at night for the first 2 nights, but after that smooth sailing, untill she was 22 months and I got mastitis on vacation-but she was too far gone in her love affair with the "munchie" for me to even concider weaning then. So, overall I had a pretty easy time.

[april77]

DD - no, not at all. Bad latch, sleepy baby combined with overactive let-down that drowned her and made her not want to nurse at all led to jaundice, hindmilk/foremilk problems, mastitis, and cracked bleeding nipples with toe-curling pain

DS - came easily. A little soreness but he latched well and loved to nurse from the beginning. Our only bump was realizing we needed to eliminate dairy.

[Ruthla]

I had some trouble with my first. She latched on well after birth, but then when my milk came in I got so engorged that she couldn't latch on anymore and my breasts turned purple. A friend of mine (who happens to be a nurse) came over with a breastpump and taught me how to use it (I think she basically pumped me the first time) and then DD needed a little help learning how to latch on again. I used ebm in an SNS for a day or so until she figured it out. By the time she was a week old she had the nursing thing down pat, even though it took me almost 2 months to wean off the pump- I was too scared to get even a little full.

With my next two babies, I knew to pump before I got to that point and neither baby had any trouble latching on after birth or at any time afterwards.

I voted "other."

[Sagesgirl]

Sort of.

My eldest daughter, the first time I nursed her she latched on so perfectly that the doctor and nurse standing there were amazed. The next day the idiots in the observation nursery gave her a bottle, and there went my easy time. We spent the rest of the time I was in the hospital with both of us bawling every time I tried to feed her. It wasn't until I got home from the hospital and was easily able to discard all the crap I was told by the nurses to do (the pillows, etc) that thngs smoothed out, and even then it wasn't 100% smooth sailing. She used to kick the living crap out of me whenever I let down, and as her little feet were level with my incision site, this was excruciating.

Linda was born a month early, and was minute in comparison to my boob. She had the typical mild nursing problems of preemies. She was sleepy and had a lazy suck. For some reason we also had to swaddle her in order to get her to calm down enough to nurse--she wouldn't stay latched on otherwise; she'd just pop off and look around & get distracted. She also did the kicking thing.

Esther? Not one problem, not one issue. She latched on about five or ten minutes after birth and spent most of the next half hour attached to me. She had a prodigious appetite even as a newborn, the only baby out of three to actually nurse 15 minutes straight on one side and then the other (for some reason, this is what they wanted to see from day one in the Navy hospital).

I answered others because, although I had issues, they were on the whole quite minor compared to what others have gone through. I had thrush, but never mastitis. I had latch problems, but never cracked nipples. (I did have a baby bite hard enough to draw blood, but I gritted my teeth and nursed anyway.)

[siobhang]

i put other.

With one, I was worried about supply (I had a breast reduction) so the first few weeks were pretty frantic, pumping, using the SNS, etc. Turns out I have a full supply.

with two, it was a breeze from the start, despite the hospital's best efforts.

[NYCVeg]

Nope--it was absolutely horrific. 2 full months of bleeding, soreness, thrush, OAL, oversupply, latch issues, SEVERE pain (enough so I was generally crying through nursing) and deep, deep depression in part due to my feelings of failure and, of course, the physical pain. We finally discovered I have Raynaud's syndrome--which means I will never nurse without some discomfort. Teeth have been a nightmare--broken skin many times, often gritting MY teeth through nursing. Dd has never taken a bottle, a sippy, or a paci, would not be cup or syringe fed, and is only now JUST getting a teeny bit interested in solids at 12 mos--so I've never had ANY break.

I am working my a$$ off to make it to 2 years of nursing, but I have no certainty about whether we'll make it.

My LLL leader says I am the poster child for nursing through difficulties.

[angelpie545]

I voted "other". With my first it took her forever to learn to latch, and it turned out to be a problem with my nipple and her mouth being a little small. After some time with a lactation consultant and her growing a little, we established a pretty good nursing relationship. With my second she latched on right away and sucked me dry... I know that's not possible...but it sure felt like it!

[treemom2]

I voted other because I have two children and different experiences with both of them. With DD she was a c-sec in the hospital. All of the nurses (except for one) discouraged me from bfing (even though I asked them to help me repeatedly--I had inverted nipples and problems positioning when I tried it alone). One nurse told me that bfing was too much work and proceeded to pop a formula bottle into DD's mouth as I watched. This happened pretty much the whole time I was in the hospital--until the last night when a very kind nurse came on duty and helped me get DD positioned and latched--she even gave me some nipple shields to help my inverted nips come out. When I got home I still had problems getting DD latched correctly and like pp had the bleeding cracked nipples for what seemed like forever. I was determined though that my DD would only have BM and somehow we made it work until she weaned. With DS nursing came very easily--probably cause I'd done it before. We did have some problems with his latch--he only wanted the nipple and I have an overactive letdown so we had problems with him gagging and choking during letdown. We also had problems with clogged ducts for a while. However, we were able to correct these things (thanks to the MDC mamas) and he is still nuring today!!

[brackin]

I voted "other," because it was very difficult at first with DD (I had flat nipples), but after 3.5 years of her nursing, DS had NO trouble latching on!

[Jennifer3141]

Not with my DD.

It was pure hell the first three weeks.

I didn't have any milk. It was INSANE. We coslept from day 1, she nursed on demand around the clock, I consulted with LCs, LLL, our pediatrician, EVERYONE. When DD became dehydrated, we supplemented but I kept nursing her around the clock.

Week THREE arrived, I woke up at 8:30 in the morning and I could not move. My breasts were so enormous and engorged that I could not sit up. DH laughed his butt off while he was pulling me up. And they were spraying EVERYWHERE. DD latched on and that was the end of the formula until I got pregnant 5 months later.

I was this >< close to giving up on nursing entirely and so disappointed and mad.

When DS was born, he nursed like a champ and I had no problems except for a mild case of mastitis when he was about 6 months old because I wasn't taking care of myself.

I have weird nursie boobs.

[NewMama2007]

Wow, this should be on a Likert scale or something (easy, somewhat easy, very easy, hard, somewhat hard, very hard, etc). I chose yes though, because while there were blisters and cracks, it could have been worse. I was expecting worse! We just plowed through that first week and it worked beautifully after that.

[Mrs.PhD]

We had a rough start with my oldest, apparently she was sucking challenged and was a thruster. We continued and it got much better in a few weeks.

My 2nd was much better, but still had a few challenges. Still worth it every step of te way. There was the normal pit falls each time too (sore nipples, thursh, infections.....)

I often think because it was so hard to start and we were so determined it is one of the reasons we kept at it so long (27 months) Not long for many here, but longer then anyone else I know in real life. (other then my mom who nursed me until I was over 3 years old.)

[PNWmama]

It's been a rough road for us. I have inverted nipples and had to use a nipple shield for the first 8 weeks. When ds finally learned how to latch onto my nonexistant nipples, I developed thrush, which I've basically had continually since then to varying degrees. No matter what I do, that darn thrush keeps returning. During my worst outbreak I had cracked and bleeding nipples, and ds was spitting up my blood . It hasn't been bad for a little over a month, so maybe all my efforts are starting to work.
Let me say it's all been worth it though!

[waylonsmama]

DS has been a great nurser since the beginning. We never really had any problems except some sore nipples.