Breast feeding, pros and cons

seven-day-weekend

Breast feeding is best for the child, certainly initially, to get all the antibodies etc.

My friend had told me how wonderful it was, like post number 4 above and I never considered any alternative.

Well I hated it. I hated the fact that I felt like a dairy cow. I hated the fact it was always me that had to do it. I hated the fact that I couldn't have a night out with my husband. I NEVER felt the closeness and contentment my friend had told me about.

I would have carried on with it as I still felt it was best, but I got an abscess and couldn't feed on that side and eventually it was just a lot easier to bottle-feed. I think I lasted about six weeks.

I would have have tried breastfeeding again if we'd had another, because I still fele it is best for the child.

But not if the mum is feeling resentful, trapped and unhappy like I was. Myself and my son were both happier after I put him on the bottle.

So, although I believe it to be best, be aware that not everyone is happy doing it.

onlyroz

Regarding the breast shells, yes I think that nad-nad is right that there is a pourer thing at the top, so they couldn't be worn at night. As for whether you could wear them generally during the day, I used to but at the time I was working from home, so it didn't matter if it showed a bit through my clothes. Otherwise, they're the most useful when you're feeding/pumping off the other boob, because I used to find that I'd leak quite spectacularly from the one that wasn't being fed off - until I discovered the breast-shells. And yes, you can get them from Boots in the baby area. Not too expensive either.

Otherwise, cut up an old towel into bra-sized squares. I found that these worked much better than the useless disposable pads for catching the drips. My mum also made some for me, which she was very proud of - I remember her showing them off to all my friends that came to visit, much to my embarrassment.

lovelyjubley

Hello Dan

The most helpful thing anyone did for me was to give me proven researched information. With this information I could then decide what I thought was best/normal for my baby.

For the first 6 weeks of breast feeding many women find the problems insurmountable, this is the time when you need personal help from an experienced breast feeding mother or a breastfeeding counsellor. It is useful if you visit a breastfeeding support group whilst you are pregnant.

I recommend LLLI | Home, I am not sure where in Lincs you live, I am in Sleaford and will hopefully have a breastfeeding support group up and running around December. There is a breast feeding peer support group run at a Sure Start centre in Lincoln, but the next nearest LLL support group I could find was in West Bridgford. If you are interested pm me and I will try and find the details for you.

Here is the nct Lincoln link NCT Lincoln Breastfeeding

As this is MSE site I have to state the obvious :-)

£10 per tin of formula X 52 weeks = £520, plus bottles, teats, sterilizer, brush, tablets...

(sorry I am taking a previous posters word for formula prices as I have no idea and no time to research)

If you join a library and reserve books online you do not have to pay a reservation fee. Go to Amazon and put in breastfeeding and see which books you like the look of. Personally I reccomend The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, ISBN 0-912500-98-0.

Breastfeeding Network 0870 900 8787
NCT BF supporter line 0870 444 8708
La Leche League 0845 120 2918
Assoc of BF Mothers 020 7813 1481

Congratulations and Best wishes to you and your partner

Caroline

nadnad

as seven day weekend said above it is tough and you do feel all these feelings, i especially did at the start but then there were the times when i just felt that it was lovely and amazing that I could feed my child! and once you get past the really tough times at the start it gets easier. My boy is 10 weeks now and I keep giving myself an out - as i initially I said I'd feed for 4 weeks to give him a good start, then I said I'd go to 8 and now I'm saying 12 weeks as 3 months was always my goal. But the thing is I love feeding him especially at night, so we'll see, I might just keep going. As for not being able to go out, well me and my OH went out on friday night for the first time, the baby goes down at 7.30 and doesnt wake until 2am for a feed. My friend babysat and I had expressed a bottle just in case. We had a good night and its lovely to know that we can start going out the odd time now. But as previously said its just what you feel comfortable with.

carol9uk

hi, hope you dont mind me joining in. breastfeeding my 10 day old son and wandering if there is certain food that i should take to make the milk more filling and which foods you should avoid.

thanks

Hell_Dans_Un_Handcart

carol9uk wrote: »

hi, hope you dont mind me joining in. breastfeeding my 10 day old son and wandering if there is certain food that i should take to make the milk more filling and which foods you should avoid.

thanks

You don't need to avoid anything unless your son is especially windy (in which case it's a good idea to keep a food diary to spot what might cause it). Drink only in moderation (if you're safe to drive, you're safe to feed).

BM is designed to not be especially filling, so baby wakes regularly for it At ten days he may want to spend all day feeding anyway, very normal. It's always a good idea to get plenty of good fats and proteins, though, and oats are good for increasing production if you're worried about that.

foreversomeday

Hi Carol - other than only drinking alcohol in moderation, there's no special diet you need to eat while breastfeeding or anything to avoid. If you take any medication you should check with your doctor or the pharmacist too though just to be sure it won't affect your milk.

Other than that though you don't need to do anything special - just make sure you eat a healthy well balanced diet and keep yourself hydrated while you are feeding - train your husband to bring you glasses of water, and/or station bottles of water around the house!

Breast milk isn't as "satisfying" as formula milk but it contains everything your baby needs and is designed to be taken little and often, rather than formula milk which is designed to be fed in a particular amount every 4 hours. It starts off more watery like a drink and becomes richer and more filling as your baby feeds (which is what makes them look "drunk" when they have finished sometimes!)

While parents of bottle fed babies can count ounces of milk drunk, parents of breastfed babies can count nappies to see if their babies are getting enough food. Your baby should be producing roughly 6-8 dirty nappies a day (dirty meaning either number 1s or number 2s!) - if they aren't, then you should contact a doctor.

Good luck and well done so far :T

carol9uk

thanks for the advice, OH wants to put him on formala as HE is fed up of being woken up at night. i dont. i ended up ding that last time with my 13 year old when he was a baby as i didnt cope with when the milk came through. i have to wind him after every feed and change he nappies about 5 times a day. sometimes he sleeps about 4 hours then wakes for a feed some times its 1 to 2 hours.
i feel bad enough not being able to do much as i had a c section, OH called me a bad mother.

thanks again

foreversomeday

If you don't mind me saying your OH doesn't sound very supportive.

Tell him if he doesn't want to be woken at night he can sleep on the sofa!

deedee1968

onlyroz wrote: »

Regarding the breast shells, yes I think that nad-nad is right that there is a pourer thing at the top, so they couldn't be worn at night. As for whether you could wear them generally during the day, I used to but at the time I was working from home, so it didn't matter if it showed a bit through my clothes. Otherwise, they're the most useful when you're feeding/pumping off the other boob, because I used to find that I'd leak quite spectacularly from the one that wasn't being fed off - until I discovered the breast-shells. And yes, you can get them from Boots in the baby area. Not too expensive either.

Otherwise, cut up an old towel into bra-sized squares. I found that these worked much better than the useless disposable pads for catching the drips. My mum also made some for me, which she was very proud of - I remember her showing them off to all my friends that came to visit, much to my embarrassment.

I found washable breast pads did the trick