Joined: 22 August 2007 United Kingdom Posts: 9 Gender: Female
Posted: 25 August 2007 at 9:08am | IP Logged
i was just wondering if anybody had some advice, i know as i have four kids already i should be an expert at this but i have never had much luck with breast feeding! my first baby girl was a natural birth and i feed her for a few weeks then got an infection and found it all to much (was feeling a bit low to) then when she was 18 months i had twins by c section and tried again and managed for three weeks but the recovery from it was hard and looking after twins and a tot was not easy and i gave in . third pregnacy was with my dd and all went well i feed her for four weeks , then my dp was rushed to hospiatl and nearly died, well i kept it all together and had to run house and kids and coped well but my milk dried up and that was that.
im now 10 weeks with number 5 and i want so much to get it right this time, i dont know how every body else found it but from my experance i got little support from out side with breast feeding, i think midwifes think well shes had so many she must know what she is doing, but in my case its not so .
i would be greatfull of any help and advice you have.
Joined: 07 June 2006 United Kingdom Posts: 4088 Gender: Female
Posted: 25 August 2007 at 9:21am | IP Logged
I didnt get shown or told either chica with my first...well she knew what she was doing put it that way..she showed me. I managed about 6 months with tasja..then she bit me..so bottles for her.
With my second I managed about 2 months tops, hubs was away a lot, dealing with my eldest who had just started school..all got a bit much and I couldnt keep up with her and my milk dried up.
There is loads of info about breastfeeding on the site for you chica.
All I can say is give it a go, if you can do it then great, no matter for how long for, but if it doesnt work for you, then dont worry about it. All you can do is try chica, try not to stress about it..the more you wind yourself up, the more stressed about it your going to get....just relax...go with the flow...(sorry no pun intended) and see what happens
Joined: 17 June 2005 United Kingdom Posts: 3708 Gender: Female
Posted: 25 August 2007 at 9:47am | IP Logged
Hello and welcome to madmums!
Breastfeeding is a skill to be learned and it doesn't help if you don't have the support and correct advice. I breastfed my two children with the help of a local support group who met on a monday, it was run by health visitors and breastfeeding councillors and it became my lifeline. I can honestly say I wouldn't have gone beyond a few weeks if if wasn't for the other mums and facilitators at that group.
If I were you I'd find out if there's anything similar in your area. Ours had the added bonus of giving you breakfast, having a creche and doing 20 items of ironing for you for the first 10 weeks! I've now trained as a community mum, which means I've been given the same unicef baby friendly breastfeeding training as midwives. I just thought I'd try and give something back because I know I needed the support.
What helped me was getting as much information as I could to understand breastfeeding. A routine is good, but some days baby will be on a growth spurt and in order for your milk to catch up with baby's needs it'll feel like your feeding a lot and that it'll never end, but it does settle back down. Eventually feeding becomes really easy and so much less hassle than juggling bottles, although in the early days it might not feel like it ever will. But, as well, and you'll know this after having 4 children, those early days in perspective are so short really.
I'm now expecting twins around Christmas time and the amount of people telling me "well, you'll not be feeding yourself this time" has amazed me. I just smile and say "oh, I'll see how it goes", but I'm determined to do it. The chances are these babies will come early so they'll need my antibodies more than ever and I just know so much more now about the benefits of breastmilk and process of breastfeeding. Now, it may all go belly up, but I'm going to try my best for as long as I can.
There are loads of mums on here who can give you lots of help, keep in touch and we'll help you all we can!
Joined: 05 July 2006 United Kingdom Posts: 2294 Gender: Female
Posted: 25 August 2007 at 10:28am | IP Logged
Hi, I only breastfed my youngest 2 children due to lack of knowledge and support when i was younger and even then i think i only managed about a month each! But your right though, there isn't much advice given now by midwives in hospital, so i'd say do what Lynie suggested and find out as much as possible before your lo is born so your fully prepared. Its great that your planning on bf again, as i'm sure you dont need a lecture on the benefits for the child from their mothers milk... so find out all you can, and if there are support groups, help lines etc you can turn to them for advice too. Oh and dont forget, we run a buddy scheme here where you can ask for a personal buddy to help and answer any questions you have, and just generally have a chat about their experiences to aid you in any way they can. Good Luck with the rest of your pregnancy hun. Look forward to seeing you around x-x-x
Joined: 22 August 2007 United Kingdom Posts: 9 Gender: Female
Posted: 25 August 2007 at 11:11am | IP Logged
well thank you all so much , sounds silly but it helps just to know that there are people out there to just listen and give you there advice.
i will read up this time and find out as much as i can , my main problem is in live out in the country dont get me wrong i love our way of life but at times you can feel away from it all and on your own,.
i am going to join the buddy group on here .
thanks again for all your help.
oh and lyne with your attitude i can only see you feeding your twins going fine. thank you for all you said made me feel loads better
Joined: 11 January 2008 United Kingdom Posts: 583 Gender: Female
Posted: 11 January 2008 at 5:06pm | IP Logged
Hi there,
When I had my son (now 2) he was born with erbs palsy meaning he had no use of his arm from his shoulder to his fingers and held it at an awkward angle behind his back and was in SCABU for a few days. I wasnt allowed to feed him myself straight away and had to express milk into tiny lil syringes for him...I found this real hard. When I eventually tried feeding him for the first time we realised his arm was going to play a bigproblem so had to adapt and find a special way of holding him and supporting his bad arm at the same time....I perserved...however, by the 5th day of feeding, My nippled were cracked and bleeding meaning lil man got a mouthful of blood with his first mouthful! I was mortified and ready to throw in the towl when my friend mentioned nipple sheild...a thin sheild u use whilst actually feeding baby. I asked midwives and they point blank refused to allow me to try these, so, on the day I decided I could manage no longer my best friend bought a packet into the hospital. I gave them a go and OMG!! I have to say the relief was almost instant!! My nipples healed very quickly after that and although shortly after I got mastitis I still perserved through that too. I managed feeding for 6 months before my milk just wasnt enough any more. xx
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Topic: breast feeding
