What if breastfeeding don't work? page 2

[Blueberry]

Congratulations!
Breastfeeding is a lot about the state of the mind... also not allowing others to bully you (including health professionals), remembering that the charts were based on bottle-fed babies and in the end following your gut feeling - I know it sounds very "fluffy" but nothing is simple once you have a baby that is 100% dependant on you.
My first child was a struggle - great pregnancy, traumatic delivery and 4 months painful learning to breastfeed (yes babies know nothing about clock and sometimes they just feed for nearly 24 hours with a few small naps preferably still attached to you!) - fed him for 18months!
my second child was magic - great pregnancy, great delivery, fantastic breastfeeding for 2 years!
It will all work out
and yes I would recommend LLL and Mothering.com for moral support and other people to whom breastfeeding is the norm to feed a baby!
Ania

[billp]

My wife successfully breastfed both our children. She had some initial difficulties with the first one, basically due to inexperience. She went to a breastfeeding consultant and that made a big difference, especially holding our daughter so she could get a good latch and making sure her mouth was in the right place.

Basically it is a learning experience for both mother and baby, and it always takes a new baby a few weeks to truly get the hang of it, even up to six weeks. Babies are not very good at learning at that age.

My observation is that mothers who supplement what their milk with formula end up not breastfeeding. The baby finds it so much easier to suck form a bottle and the milk is sweeter, even though both are bad for the baby and make it fat, so the bay insist on a bottle. Mother's who've had a normal birth very rarely don't have enough milk so long as they don't feed the child formula. Mothers who give birth by Caesarian seem to find it much harder, I think because their body doesn't realise they have given birth at all.

For some reason, giving a baby any other type of food seems to reduce milk production. Either formula or when a baby gets interested in food about five months. Some natural process we don't understand.

[Kace]

Congratulations! Hope you're feeling OK.

I breastfed all my three (am still feeding my 27-month-old). My youngest has a whole range of food allergies (dairy, wheat, soya, shellfish, nuts - she thankfully outgrew her egg and her white fish allergy a few months ago). I was determined to breastfeed her even though it meant eliminating everything she is allergic to from my diet. I was under a lot of pressure from family and medical professionals to stop feeding her and give her formula. She is actually also allergic to the first anti-allergy formula she was prescribed and that I only let her try to get everybody off my back (should have gone with my instincts!). I never tried her on the completely hypoallergenic one (Neocate) when I saw the list of ingredients on the side of the tin - it is like a chemistry text book. Yuck.
With my first, the first four weeks of feeding were horrible (didn't get much useful support at the beginning) - I had cracked and bleeding nipples, he was feeding every two hours day and night, I cried every time I fed him because it hurt so much - and then after about a month, he sorted out his latch and we never looked back. With the girls I knew what I was doing from the beginning and never had those same problems.
It would be a good idea to get in touch with local breastfeeding support groups before July so that you know who to turn to for advice and help in those first days.

[Bron]

Congatulations!!! It sure is a wonderful time But yes, the hard work comes after the baby is born. (I breastfed for 12 years, from 1999 to last year, and my youngest was my biggest challenge. Born too fast and in shock, she wouldn't breathe so they suctioned her. She had oral issues for about 18 months, bit me constantly. Add a dairy allergy that caused her saliva to burn through my skin... I've also been helping women to breastfeed for 8 years).

Totally agree with getting amongst women who are feeding. The main reason, I believe, we have so much trouble is because we never see it. How do we know how to drive a car before we even get behind the wheel? Cos we've seen it every day (almost) of our whole lives. But we hardly ever see women breastfeed (I never once saw someone feed before I had my youngest).

These are great videos of what is referred to as 'baby led attachment'. Attachment issues may occur when we try and get in and help the baby on. Unless they've got drugs in their system (and even then, once the drugs are gone, they can still do this), they have strong instinctual reflexes to attach themselves. It is quite wonderful to watch

A video of a newborn 'crawling' to and attaching to the breast
Breast Crawl Video - Initiation of Breastfeeding by Breast Crawl

Mothers trying this when bub is older

Biological Nurturing sample scenario

This book is fabulous (the website may be useful too)

Home

Also agree about finding how what is normal in a newborn. Feeding 12+ times a day is normal (cos their tummy is so tiny. Day 1 it is a mere 5ml, day 3, just 10ml and day 10 only 30ml - about an ounce. Not sure what the other sizes are in imperial sorry. Up to day 28, it grows to around 60-120ml). Breastmilk is very easily digested so they empty out pretty quickly. That's why a good sling can be a life saver

[Bron]

Kace, those stats may not be quite accurate (it used to be believed). Now we can add in the percentage who can't feed due to emotional trauma (caused by abuse). And in our western society, we have lost so much information on how to breastfeed, it is no surprise so many women don't get the breastfeeding relationship they want

[bionicsamm]

I always tell soon to be parents that breastfeeding is the hardest thing they'll ever do. That's not to say that it won't be easy but more to say that if you go in to it thinking it's a breeze and you meet a roadblock, it makes it easier to give up. I agree that having formula on-hand is like having cookies and chips readily accessible when you're trying to be healthy. It's so easy to give into temptation when your baby is nursing for the 15th time that day and your nipples are cracked and sore. When you know that you're the only source of food, you're likely to get 'er done

I breastfed both my kids. One for 13 months and one for 15 months (both self-led weaning.) The first one was a breeze, she always nursed easily, slept through the night at 6 weeks old. The second one was very difficult. He nursed every 2 hours until he weaned at 15 months. He was an aggressive eater too, so for the first month, I literally cried every time he latched on because it hurt so bad. Sometimes I had to bite on a towel LOL! I would 100% do it again, without a doubt, there is nothing comparable to watching your baby nurse, watching them pretend suckle in their sleep, it makes everything ok.

[dado]

formula-fed babies have lower intelligence than breast-fed babies

breastfeeding can't 'not work'

if you want a stupid kid, you give him formula.

[dado]

you shouldn't have kids if you view anything to do with raising your child as 'hard' or 'difficult' or any derivative of this sentiment

if you don't love breastfeeding, don't have a kid

stop watching tv

[dado]

you spit on the Raw Balls Nature Process (RBNP) when you paint beautiful things like raising a child with an ugly brush

you should get a zumba robot, the one that vacuums

[tradawg]

In Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions" there's a recipe for formula that's about as good as you're going to get if breast feeding isn't an option.