MSE Pregnancy Club 25

Bamama

Haha yep. Landed! Though it doesn't feel like I'll be around much longer to enjoy it. Will come and keep an eye ofc but...5 weeks til due date!

Aida_2

Bamama wrote: »

Haha yep. Landed! Though it doesn't feel like I'll be around much longer to enjoy it. Will come and keep an eye ofc but...5 weeks til due date!

True! Hope your little one will be here on time:D

martafdz

I was typing a very long post when my phone decided to reset itself...
Savage, that's a great bargain. What have they told you about expressing at the antenatal? I had an argument yesterday with the woman from the breastfeeding group with regard to expressing milk. She told me I should not express at all before 6 weeks, but I told her I had special bottles that mimic the breast and avoided nipple confusion, but she did not want to hear about it and left the room without a word shortly after. My DH said she was acting as if she had some personal problem. She said "nobody but you should feed the baby, it is a mum's job", and I just had to tell her that I disagreed with the statement because it excluded the dads. Imo, making the dad participate more is not just asking him to change nappies. He should be part also of the good things, specially if new products and technology mean that he can use the bottle to feed the baby with breastmilk and at the same time avoid the nipple confusion problem. The calma bottles are designed so the baby needs to suck in the same way. I don't see what the problem is on me giving her the breast and my DH using these specific bottles at other times, so I can have a bath or a nap in the meantime. It just made me jump and put face of an angry dog for the rest of her session, to the point where the midwife came at the end to talk to me separately and say that they did not want to brainwash anyone and asked about what I thought. I am all for trying, but I do not want to feel a failure if I cannot breastfeed, I do not want any pressure and I want to share the experience with my husband. Neither of us was breastfeed. None if his brothers either. We are all ok. I do think is best, and I will try, but I also think they make you feel as if it is your only option if you want to be a good mum. Some mothers cannot breastfeed, maybe they do not have enough milk, they get mastitis all the time, they are on certain prescriptions, they had mastectomy, etc. I think it is wrong to assume everyone in the class can breastfeed and will want to do it, to start with, but also to say that only breast with no pumping was a bit over the top for me. They said nothing about formula or any issues you might have when breastfeeding, nothing about sore nipples, blocked ducts, mastitis or just milk not coming. I want to be given a choice. They presented breastfeeding as this magical and perfect bonding activity with only benefits, but I think that approach might make some women feel they are not fulfilling their role if it turns out they cannot do it afterwards. Sorry, I am ranting now!!!

ikkle87

Marta, you don't have to use the Calma bottles for feeding hun, Jakey is 5 weeks old on Monday and has been fed breastmilk in Tommee Tippee CTN bottles and MaM Anti Colic bottles, he also has a dummy and has no problem with latching on to my boobs.

As well as different types of bottles there are certain techniques for giving a bottle of milk to a breastfed baby. http://blog.nurturedchild.ca/index.php/2010/12/10/baby-led-bottle-feeding/ << that is a good blog about it.

Also for info about anything and everything breastfeeding related the kellymom site is fab! kellymom.com

regarding waters: mine were broken at the hospital, when they were broken it felt like a trickle like I'd wet myself, same sensation when I sat up but when I stood up they did gush, my waters were pink tinged too. Waters breaking doesn't necessarily mean contractions will start though x

carrie78

Thanks for adding me Aida.

This is my first baby. Still seems slightly surreal. Am currently working my last set of nightshifts!! YEY!!

Carrie

martafdz

Thank you ikkle, that's a lot of useful information. It just annoyed me that this woman kept telling me that I should not express milk at all until way after 6 weeks. I thought only a couple of bottles were suitable, but for what you say, others work too, so she was just being pushy and irrational, in my opinion.

ikkle87

In my experience as a mummy so far you get advice from HV, experts etc throughout. Some of it you listen to and follow, some of it you listen to and pretend to follow to the expert. You will speak to one person who will say don't do x,y and z and another professional who will say x,y and z is ok. It's swings and roundabouts is this parenting malarky. I would just say go into it all open minded, I think saying you can't express, you can't share feeding responsibilities, you can't use formula etc just adds extra negativity and pressure on a mum and breastfeeding is hard enough at the beginning anyway.

babymonster2

ikkle's right, they put way too much pressure on which in turn makes it harder to breast feed successfully!

marta I went to an antenatal class this week and they recommended not using bottles for the first six weeks BUT they recommended using a cup instead (not an ordinary one, it's kind of flat on one side) and in our area they've started providing them to new mums free to encourage expressing in the hope that it will motivate more women to continue to breastfeed! The idea is hat you tip the cup and the baby laps up the milk which mimics the same action they use in breastfeeding. Will try and find the a picture of one online for you.

My only problem was as only one of two second time mums in the group and the only one who'd breastfed successfully they all wanted to know about expressing and had to admit I hadn't done it until I started weaning her :rotfl: Daddy didn't feel any less close for not having fed her (he likes his sleep!) but I can totally understand why people would want to express and share.

Welcome carrie

got-it-spend-it

Marta- I'm sorry you came across such an unhelpful midwife . I personally couldn't have coped with the added pressure of expressing in the early days, but everyone is different. I was told the reason that the suggest not to express for six weeks or so was because during that time your supply is still levelling out, and expressing can confuse this and cause overproduction. Again, everyone is different though and some people will be more susceptible to this than others. At the end of the day you have to do what suits you and your baby.

Today will be spent mostly making DS1's birthday cake- he is three on Monday- no idea where that time went :rotfl:.

mlbarrett

Congrats dribblekitten! :j

Hi newbies! :wave: