Veteran Mommy (STM) Help

[newmomma8]

Ok, so does anyone feel like giving me their 1 best and 1 worst thing about BF'ing? I really want to try it again with baby #2, but I know many in my new group are FTM's.  So I figured I would turn to ya'll and ask what was the best/worst thing for you about BF'ing.

My main concern (I'm ignorant on the subject) is the type of food I eat.  I plan to read up on it and do my own research, I'm not asking for that. Just want your opinions on your own experiences.

[katka512]

Congrats on baby #2!
My favorite thing about BFing has been the snuggles with LO. When she was a newborn and would fall asleep on me, I absolutely loved it. Now, it's the only time she'll snuggle with me and I don't want to give it up.
The worst part for me was pumping. And I only did it once or twice a day. I hated it.
I never had issues with food I ate or with alcohol. Once LO stared sttn, I was comfortable having a drink at night. And she never had any food sensitivities, so I just ate like normal.

[zandeela]

I found it very hard to pump and work. I never had much of a supply as it was and had to supplement from the beginning. also, DH got to sleep all night since I did not feel right waking him up when I was the only one that could feed her.

I do miss the snuggles, DD is to busy to snuggle at this age...

[babycaps]

Congratulations!!!! That's so exciting!

I used to think that every baby should be offered BM. Until I BF my own. It's hard work and you do what you feel is best for you and your family, your LO!
With that being said, I still did it for almost 13 months and I can't wait to do it again when we have another baby!

The best part of it: SUPER convenient in the MOTN and during the day not having to worry about warming up milk, measuring milk, mixing milk, waiting for milk. And I did have to do all that for the first 3 weeks in which we had TONS of latch issues and I pretty much EPd. It was a PITA to measure, warm and clean all the bottles. I was SO relieved to fix the latch over time and then I started getting more sleep, LO and I got to snuggle a ton, he was less gassy, and actually slept longer between feeds than the days we used bottles!

I really miss the snuggles and the fact that there was one thing NO ONE else could do for LO. Especially once I came back to work and he was getting 3-4 bottles a day, when I was home and on weekends it was ALL mom and it was awesome!

I did have to cut out dairy for the first 4 months but it wasn't all that hard and I was easily able to add it back in. And LO has zero dairy intolerance now. Eats ALL. THE. DAIRY.

Alcohol-NBD there either. I only pumped and dumped once when I was at a concert and really freakin' drunk. I still drank here and there, enjoyed a beer or wine or margarita occasionally as well.

Equip yourself with knowledge, take a class, and do what you feel is right for you!

[Deleted]

Congrats on your BFP!

The Bad:
The hardest thing about BF was the entire first month. It was so hard. She nursed every 2 hours and an hour at a time sometimes. My nipples were so raw that I had to focus on not crushing her tiny head every time she latched on. The engorgement was super uncomfortable. I was the only one that could feed her. It was a tremendous amount of work, however, all these things weren't too bad for me bc I mentally prepared myself for it. I knew it was going to be hard so I was ready for the challenge and determined that nothing would stand in my way (I failed at BF DS so I really wanted to so this time around).

The good:
It's very convenient once you get the hang of it. I never had to wash or prepare bottles (more work than the first month of BF). The bond I have with her is so different from the bond I had with DS at this age. I'm her source of comfort and nutrition so I'm a very important person in her life. I didn't have to worry about traveling with bottles etc in public bc I just BF. She used to fall asleep super easy when she nursed. I recently weaned from nursing to sleep bc it stopped working but it wasn't a hard transition. Also, my weight just dropped off when nursing without really trying too hard. I had 10lbs that wouldn't budge but when she started solids she nursed less and it fell of pretty quick, within weeks.

As far as nutrition. I just continued taking my prenatal and ate the same as I always do. The only thing I have stuck with is oatmeal for breakfast to keep my supply up.

[Deleted]

Congrats!

The best things: bonding, convenience, and it's free.

The worst: pumping and being the only one able to help the baby during MOTN wake ups (because he needed to nurse). But I night weaned him at 5 months, so MH and I were able to switch off after that.

[jtizzay]

Congrats.

I love bf. I also had no issues except oversupply which was a pita when I couldn't go more than 2 hours without baby.

My least favorite was feeling engorged. By far.

My favorites in no order
Stats on how great it it for baby
Stats on how good it is for you
Convenience
Convenience when out
Convenience when having a fit
Cheaper if just nursing

[RandomName]

May 21, 2015 18:25:24 GMT -5 @lovethatdirtywater said:

Congrats!

The best things: bonding, convenience, and it's free.

The worst: pumping and being the only one able to help the baby during MOTN wake ups (because he needed to nurse). But I night weaned him at 5 months, so MH and I were able to switch off after that.

+1

[fish8412]

Congrats on your pregnancy!

Breastfeeding has been an amazing experience and I still nurse in the morning and at bedtime. LO loves the boob. I enjoy breastfeeding a lot more than I thought I would.

Honestly, the only negative was pumping. It was very time consuming and frustrating at first. Once you get the hang of it, it is routine.

Positives:
soooooooooo many snuggles!
lots of alone time and bonding with LO
health benefits for LO and mama
convenience

[newmomma8]

Thanks everyone. I think the hardest part for me at this point will be pumping because of my work schedule.

I leave the house at 6am and don't get home until 5:45pm. On the plus side, my company has a "Mother's Room" that is specifically for pumping Momma's. I also plan to take a full 12 weeks maternity, so not going back to work soon may help with getting a routine and waking up more throughout the night at first for more feedings.

Thanks so much! I know I can do research, but I appreciate everyone's personal experience on it. I really want it to work out this time!!

[katka512]

I also would recommend a good lactation consultant. The one in the hospital was terrible for me. The one at our pedis office was amazing. She watched me nurse, gave tons of tips, and did a weighted feed to see how much LO was getting. I could call her anytime with questions too.
I think she really got me and LO off to a great start.

[ang32]

I loved nursing my DD. We made it a whole year, and I look forward to nursing my next one.
Favs: the bonding, the convenience (no bottles to wash and I could feed her anywhere without having to mix formula), the health benefits to both mother and child
Least favs: my DD didn't like being covered with a nursing cover so I had to find places to slip away to nurse which wasn't easy when I was in public BUT sometimes the get-away time was nice. I do plan to nurse in public with my next one (hopefully!), my period came back 4 months PP and with it, my supply dipped every month which was stressful. But I learned that a calcium/magnesium supplement fixed that (just wish i learned it earlier on!). Also, I had to cut dairy out of my diet for almost 6 months due to my DD's milk allergy. But it wasn't a big deal- eating dairy-free took some getting used to, but eventusllly become easier. I reintroduced it back into my diet in Dec and she had no reaction so was able to start again it again at that point.

[ang32]

May 22, 2015 11:00:47 GMT -5 katka512 said:

I also would recommend a good lactation consultant. The one in the hospital was terrible for me. The one at our pedis office was amazing. She watched me nurse, gave tons of tips, and did a weighted feed to see how much LO was getting. I could call her anytime with questions too.
I think she really got me and LO off to a great start.

I second this!

[Deleted]

I would also like to say that if you have any problems you can't seem to "trouble shoot" get help from a lactation consultant ASAP.

Also, reading this book helped me tons. It was like my handbook and I referenced it for several weeks after I delivered.

[fishbulb]

Congratulations!

The good: cheap, convenient, and a special bond between the two of us.

The bad: I found myself resenting MH in the middle of the night because he didn't have to stay awake for the feeding portion of the MOTN wake ups. No one's fault, but at 2am it felt really unfair. Now it's NBD. MH does the diaper changes then I nurse while bedsharing. We all get more sleep now.

[Deleted]

May 22, 2015 20:51:12 GMT -5 fishbulb said:

Congratulations!

The good: cheap, convenient, and a special bond between the two of us.

The bad: I found myself resenting MH in the middle of the night because he didn't have to stay awake for the feeding portion of the MOTN wake ups. No one's fault, but at 2am it felt really unfair. Now it's NBD. MH does the diaper changes then I nurse while bedsharing. We all get more sleep now.

During the newborn stage my H got up and stayed up with me while I nursed so he can change the diapers. It was great.

[Deleted]

May 24, 2015 12:45:36 GMT -5 @babylentilbean said:

May 22, 2015 20:51:12 GMT -5 fishbulb said:

Congratulations!

The good: cheap, convenient, and a special bond between the two of us.

The bad: I found myself resenting MH in the middle of the night because he didn't have to stay awake for the feeding portion of the MOTN wake ups. No one's fault, but at 2am it felt really unfair. Now it's NBD. MH does the diaper changes then I nurse while bedsharing. We all get more sleep now.

During the newborn stage my H got up and stayed up with me while I nursed so he can change the diapers. It was great.

This next time around it will likely be different. He will probably get up with DD while I get up with the baby. I'm sure he will help me with some of the MOTN wake-ups but not all of them.

[babycaps]

I don't see why the husband shouldn't get up and help! It was not a negotiated deal at my house. He got up. He helped. He washed pump parts, bottles, changed diapers and got ME my MOTN snacks for the first month when I was famished all the time. The SO doesn't get to sleep just bc they don't have boobs!

[Deleted]

May 24, 2015 16:10:39 GMT -5 babycaps said:

I don't see why the husband shouldn't get up and help! It was not a negotiated deal at my house. He got up. He helped. He washed pump parts, bottles, changed diapers and got ME my MOTN snacks for the first month when I was famished all the time. The SO doesn't get to sleep just bc they don't have boobs!

I agree, and DH did get up with me, but that didn't change the fact that I HAD to get up for EVERY wake up for the first five months because of BFing (the point of this thread). After that, we took turns, so we each were able to sleep through some wake ups. That was a game changer.

[fishbulb]

May 24, 2015 16:10:39 GMT -5 babycaps said:

I don't see why the husband shouldn't get up and help! It was not a negotiated deal at my house. He got up. He helped. He washed pump parts, bottles, changed diapers and got ME my MOTN snacks for the first month when I was famished all the time. The SO doesn't get to sleep just bc they don't have boobs!

I 100% agree. That's why we do things differently now that we're both working again. Right after J was born I was on maternity leave for the first four months but MH could only take off 10 days. He helped some but he couldn't stay up half the night and work 10 hour shifts.

[babycaps]

P.S. I get it that a lot of times the SO works OTH and may need some extra sleep! But if a LO is waking up 4-5x, it's not unfair to say SO wakes up every other time or something?

[fishbulb]

May 24, 2015 19:24:14 GMT -5 babycaps said:

P.S. I get it that a lot of times the SO works OTH and may need some extra sleep! But if a LO is waking up 4-5x, it's not unfair to say SO wakes up every other time or something?

You're right babycaps. For the record he would get up for a few minutes each time but he would go back to sleep after the diaper change was done. However, knowing what I know now I would have made my expectations clear from the start. That is what OP wanted, right?

[Deleted]

Lol, I made it clear to my DH that I expected him to be up with me. I told him I would become resentful otherwise. He went to his new job and he and the guys were talking about newborns and what it's like. When he said he got up with me every time they were all dumbfounded. Apparently, the other wives didn't so it the same way.

[newmomma8]

Believe it or not, I haven't even thought about making him get up with me in the MOTN. I just figured why wake him and have both of us awake. But I tend to try to take care of everyone even when I shouldn't. So I guess we'll have to have a talk about him getting up and I guess trying to make a routine for ourselves.

[RandomName]

My BF always got up with me. He would do diapers and get baby from her room and bring her in to me. Then he'd sleep while I fed her and then he would wake back up put her back in her crib when I was done. We did that up until about 3-4 months when she was sleeping through the night. I think if I had to do it all on my own (and actually get out of bed) I would have stopped sooner. I'm not someone who likes to be woken up and I'm a dick when I'm tired. FFC?

[bennieangel]

My suggestion to anyone is to give it a try & see a LC a few times. Then decide what's right for you. I loved nursing & am glad it worked for us. But he stopped at 9 months & I pumped the last few & that was good too.

[kimberpoo]

Congratulations on your #2!

BFing took me about a week to get used to and get into the rhythm, and to get our technique down. I am SOOO glad I did it though. It made me feel very comfortable as a FTM knowing that LO was getting my antibodies and good nutrition. BFing (once you get comfortable with it) was just easy for me. LO starts fussing? BOOB. LO hungry? BOOB. LO can't sleep? BOOB. lol. No waiting on a bottle, no getting up out of bed at night.
the only issues with BFing for me was #1) I didn't supplement at all with formula until LO was 12 weeks, so before that I had to BF while I was out on the town. it was a challenge until I got my timing and technique down. #2) I decided to pump and build a stash of frozen milk for when I went back to work. pumping takes time and can be a bit uncomfortable at first. #3) if I missed a feeding or gave LO formula and didn't pump, I usually got overfull (I was a milk machine!!) and it was uncomfortable until I got it out.

Overall, I was very very glad I did it. I would recommend at least trying to everyone.
Good luck and congratulations again!

[fishbulb]

A random thought: be sure to pack some sort of nipple salve in your hospital bag. Newborns have to learn to breastfeed and it can be a little uncomfortable at first. Once he/she gets the hang of it and your nipples aren't sore, you can use it as a boob lube for when you pump.