To all the mom's-to-be who will be breastfeeding....my experience and what I learned that might help you

Since I know I got such great insight and advice on everything while I was preggers, I wanted to "give back" of sorts and figured I would post about this.....I figured I would share how it went/is going for me, since I know prior to giving birth I really didn't know much about it as a first time mom!(If you have questions that I can answer, feel free to fm me too...while I am far from an expert, I can always share my experience, although I know it can vary widely - I am sure there are far more qualified people on here too though!

I have to admit, I am a prude, well, kinda...and the fact that all the random people at the hospital saw more of me than I ever wished during labor and delivery is mortifiying, so while I wanted to try it out, I was not looking forward necessarily to breastfeeding and was seriously hoping to be able to "go it alone" without some woman watching me and giving me tips.....they did come to check up on how it was going in the hospital but it wasn't too bad at all...and amazingly I am more comfortable now with it...which even my dh thought wouldn't happen (yup, he can now even stay in the room or look at me when i am feeding her!)

I am not going to lie - the first few days were tough - clearly my nipples weren't used to being sucked (maybe tmi!) and literally it hurt when she first went on them, they even cracked and scabbed up a little - apparently her latch was never a problem, it was just a "hey now!" my body wasn't used to....luckily I stuck it out (although I gasped in pain every time she latched on!) and then tried to focus on relaxing....lots of deep breaths and then once she was on, it was less painful....this only lasted about two days but it felt like forever

I learned a few things from trial and error - and reading books and researching online highly recommend getting a few books even from the library and keeping them nearby - for a while I thought maybe I had some disease since my nipples cracked but it wound up being nothing and they are fine - again tmi!)

1. Its always easier to nurse if you relax..in the beginning I would tense whenever Samantha came near my breast....and so my grip on her was more tense and well, you can imagine - I was making the situation worse...

2. Never pull the baby off your breast (yes, learned this the hard way - no one could have told me that???ouch!!!!!! ) instead use your finger to somewhat break their "suction"/latch when they are done....

3. Before your milk comes in (again, we were so dumb we didn't realize when it first did!) - our ped recommended not trying to bf for more than 15 min at a time b/c otherwise your nipples will only become more irritated/painful and the baby will mostly just gum them...(if I had known that when I wfirst was trying for 40 min at a shot it might have helped - again, silly 1st time mom)

All in all, it is now a great pain free experience for me, and working out well...I have the medela pump too, although I have to admit, I haven't tried it out still but will soon. It really does get better and don't be afraid to try it, but also if it doesn't work, you are still a great mom anyway!

The weirdest part that has caused me some humiliation but dh and I laugh at it, is that literally I leak..yes, I am like the milk maching they have in stores by the coffee that drips milk when you are done using it or before you use it....when my body thinks its time for Samantha to eat, I drip....one day I had my shirt off and actually leaked all over the baby's outift without even realizing until dh mentioned "ahhem....", but if you don't see it as humorous then what can you do? So its our private joke now....

thanks for letting me share and good luck to you all!!!

Re: To all the mom's-to-be who will be breastfeeding....my experience and what I learned that might help you

thanks for taking the time! I really appreciate it!

Re: To all the mom's-to-be who will be breastfeeding....my experience and what I learned that might help you

As a past Bf'ing mom I totally agree with everything you said! Thank you for sharing and hopefully it will help the mommies-to-be. It is not fun in the beginning and just when you want to throw in the towel it gets easier!

Please ask questions and come on here for support because having supportive moms that have been there made all the difference in the world to me!

Re: To all the mom's-to-be who will be breastfeeding....my experience and what I learned that might help you

I think you answered all my fears - thanks!

Re: To all the mom's-to-be who will be breastfeeding....my experience and what I learned that might help you

Thank you for posting this! I am going to add this thread to my "notebook"

Re: To all the mom's-to-be who will be breastfeeding....my experience and what I learned that might help you

Thank you so much!! I have my breastfeeding class on Saturday. I wonder if they will even mention any of this stuff. It's so helpful to hear it from someone who's been there so recently.

Re: To all the mom's-to-be who will be breastfeeding....my experience and what I learned that might help you

thank you so much for posting this.
what specific books do you recommend (that you felt were helpful?)

Re: To all the mom's-to-be who will be breastfeeding....my experience and what I learned that might help you

thank you.. I needed some info.

Re: To all the mom's-to-be who will be breastfeeding....my experience and what I learned that might help you

Thank you for posting this!

Re: To all the mom's-to-be who will be breastfeeding....my experience and what I learned that might help you

thank you for posting that info

Re: To all the mom's-to-be who will be breastfeeding....my experience and what I learned that might help you

great info!!!!!!! I added to notebook b/c I am def going to try to bf and these are great tips! thank you

Re: To all the mom's-to-be who will be breastfeeding....my experience and what I learned that might help you

Make sure to get the breast pads, they help greatly with leaking

Re: To all the mom's-to-be who will be breastfeeding....my experience and what I learned that might help you

Posted by Stacey1403

Make sure to get the breast pads, they help greatly with leaking

Re: To all the mom's-to-be who will be breastfeeding....my experience and what I learned that might help you

Thanks for sharing!!

Re: To all the mom's-to-be who will be breastfeeding....my experience and what I learned that might help you

Thank you so much for posting this!